A real Aussie Western – Chips Rafferty vows to march cattle across country to escape the Japanese advance… but only after he gets permission from the government. This film proved you didn’t need Aussies to make great Aussie movies – but you do need sensitive collaborators willing to spend time here, as Henry Watt did.
It’s got everything: great opening scene of a farmer (John Nugent Hayward) punching holds in his water tanker and burning his house; Chips Rafferty rising to the challenge; a two up game; an aboriginal horseman who agrees to go away for one-two years “just give me five minutes to tell the wife” (Clyde Combo); a new chum male juvenile lead (Peter Pagan); a fat comic relief Pommy (John Fernside); a squatter’s daughter (Daphne Campbell) and her kid sister (Helen Grieve) and their wise mum (Jean Blue); an exciting river crossing; horses dying and some men pulling out; capturing the brumbies; a moonlight romantic rendezvous followed by q night time stampede; Daphne racing to the plane; stunning photography full of great images of dust swirling around cattle.
Rafferty is great value – confident, good looking even, in a way. He’s a lot more comfortable than the male romantic lead – but you hardly notice him. Daphne Campbell is pretty and spirited (she pashes Pagan even though she’s got a boyfriend) – and, what’s more, classy (too classy for Pagan - you get the sense she’s glad to see him go). The film slows down a lot in the second half; while the film had a good solid story it lacks subplots you need in cattle drive films.
No comments:
Post a Comment