And it's not even a Western-western, it's an Aussie western directed by the great George Miller!
Yeah, I know. I should like RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY or THE WILD BUNCH or at least SHANE better, but damnit I just don't. This one has it all--romance, a beautiful black horse snorting vapor at the full moon, a score that makes a grown man sob, and Kirk Douglas in a double roll as an asshole rancher and the twin brother whose leg the asshole rancher shot off because Spurr was caught in a romantic tryst with the money-grubbing asshole's wife...
And great mountain scenery and a young hero with a tragic past who's persecuted because he's one of the "mountain people" and yet isn't accepted by the "mountain people" because he hasn't proved himself. Yet.
And a beautiful but strong girl who needs recusing by the tragic hero on a lonely cliff in the middle of nowhere. I mean, dangit, it brings a fella to tears!
This is it--everything a movie should be and so few aren't. A truly great western and my number one favorite.
I've not seen this one, but I do have the novel. Maybe it's time I give it a go! Kirk Douglas is a hell of an actor. I just saw him in Lonely are the Brave--fine flick.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I didn't know there was a novel. I thought the movie was based on an Aussie folk poem. Maybe the script was novelized? I'll have to look it up. Kirk's always great but the secondary actors are good, too, including Tom Burlinson in the lead role, and the legendary Jack Thompson as Clancy. The sensibility reminds me of another of my favorite movies--THE BLACK STALLION by Carol Ballard.
ReplyDeletePete
Hey Pete,
ReplyDeleteI think you're correct. My mass-market paperback doesn't say it's a novelization/tie-in, just that it's "a novel by Elyne Mitchell." But the cover has stills from the flick. Copyright is from 1982, first printing, Angus & Robertson Publishers & Snowy River Productions. There's the tip-off!
Yeah, it must be a novelization. I'm going to look for it. I highly recommend the poem, too. It's a lot like Kipling, if I remember right. Been a while...
ReplyDeletePete