TV mini series review - "Robbery Under Arms" (1985) **

 I remember when this came out and by that stage no one was reading the book any more but we were aware it was a classic. In the early 20th century it was hugely popular, thanks mostly to theatre adaptations - it was filmed a bunch of times. The novel was less read as the century went on but it popped up again during the 70s-80s history boom.

Part one - Starlight robs a train, we meet the Marston brothers (Steve Vidler, Charles Cousins), they meet Starlight, steal cattle, go to Adelaide, meet the girls. At the end Dick is arrested.. There's a lot of on the nose colonial TV drama dialogue. A lot of punching people.

Part two - Dick escapes. They bust Starlight out of prison. Go the gold fields. Run into the sisters. Get busted again. Young brother gets captured, they rescue him. This was getting repetitive. Meet dodgy bushranger who takes magistrate hostage.

Part three - the horserace sequence where Starlight undercover again (repetitive). The final confrontation. Death.

The cast is fine. Steve Vidler essentially has the lead. Sam Neill has charisma. Deborah Coulls is fun in the best female part, Kate, the trashy sister. Jane Menelaus is the sister of Vidler and Cummins hot for Neill. Liz Newman has the worst dialogue as Gracey - "I hate you Dick Marston". 

Ed Devereaux is solid as the boy's dad but the mini series misses chances to dramatise the dysfunction of this relationship. The mini series fails to make the big moments tell - the boys deciding on to go bushranging, the tension of almost being busted, being busted, the excitement of escape. It feels like they're determined to get things over and odne with.

There's a lot of cricket. A big game in Adelaide, and one on the gold fields.

Production values are divine. Directed by Ken Hannam and Donald Crombie. It doesn't milk the drama. Too much trivia. Going for Butch and Sundance. Doesn't work At the end it's quite effective when the gang are preparing for their final shoot out. That's when it felt moving. I think melodrama was more the way to go than a romp.