Amazon.com Video Essentials206205
A conventional boy-and-his-horse story set against the red rocks of remote Australian mountains. (If there's a wide-screen edition, grab it. The scenery is one of the movie's strongest features.) Tom Burlinson is Jim Craig, a young man left stranded after his father's death who is struggling to save the family farm. He proves his manhood during a hair-raising hunt over the wooded slopes in search of an escaped stallion. The great, grizzled, Australian character actor Jack Thompson (the idealistic lawyer in
Breaker Morant) is the tough, older horseman who takes the lad under his wing. The director, George Miller (not to be confused with the action-master who made the
Mad Max films) allows costar Kirk Douglas to mug and grimace and prance far too much in a duel role as a pair of lovable old coots who hate each other's guts. Luckily, one of the coots has a handsome daughter (Sigrid Thornton, an Elizabeth McGovern-type with grit), who also has a way with horses. So it isn't all rocks and pine trees.
--David Chute
Video Description
With its unforgettably heroic story, its stunning cinematography, and acting performances that are uniformly excellent, THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER is one thrilling adventure you won't want to miss. Set during the 1880's, when the Australian frontier was as wild and dangerous as the American West, the film follows the exploits of a handsome youth (Tom Burlinson) who sets out to tame a wild herd of horses. Taking on a challenge many men had attempted before him, he rides deep into the treacherous and untamed wilderness of his native timberlands where boys become men fast - or die trying. Featuring Kirk Douglas in a remakable dual role and highlighted by a climactic chase involving 40 horsemen and 90 wild stallioins thundering across snow-covered peaks, THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER is destined to become a legendary film!
