Quigley the Australian

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Movie
German title Quigley the Australian
Original title Quigley down under
Country of production USA , Australia
original language English
Publishing year 1990
length 115 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Simon Wincer
script John Hill
production Stanley O'Toole
Alexandra Rose
music Basil Poledouris
camera David Eggby
cut Peter Burgess
Adrian Carr
occupation

Quigley the Australian (Quigley down under) is a Western-style Australian adventure film starring Tom Selleck in the title role.

content

The American sniper and buffalo hunter Matthew Quigley is hired by the Australian landowner Elliott Marston, owner of the Marston Waters Ranch, to shoot poaching dingoes on his property .

As soon as he arrives at the port, he messes with a few men who want to take young women with him to their farm as playmates, but among them is one who thinks absolutely nothing of it and fights back violently. He comes to her aid and the woman, who is called crazy Cora , finally goes along voluntarily when she takes him for her husband Roy and it turns out that the unpleasant contemporaries he has just fought with are employees are the Marston he is supposed to work for. Your job is to take Quigley to the ranch. There Quigley demonstrates his shooting skills with his Sharps buffalo rifle, which has an additional diopter sight . This enables him to hit a target at a distance that other rifles cannot reach. Then he mentions that he doesn't know what to do with Colts. Marston explains that he considers himself the fastest shooter in Australia and that he would like to compete with American shooters. But at the evening meal, to which Marston has invited Quigley, the alleged wild dogs turn out to be Aborigines that Marston wants to drive from his land.

When Quigley refuses to kill the defenseless aborigines by throwing Marston out of his own house through a closed window, he himself becomes the target of Marston's wrath and is said to be out of the way. Two of Marston's men are supposed to transport him away in a cart and suspend him with the crazy Cora two days' ride away. He can kill the two men, but in the desert the two only survive with the help of the Aborigines. So he suddenly becomes an ally of the Aborigines.

He and Cora finally observe how Marston's people hunt the Aborigines, how they shoot them and push them over cliffs. Quigley shoots some of the murderers, the others flee and tell Marston about the encounter. On the way Quigley also learns of Cora's tragic fate. Fearing Indians , she accidentally suffocated her child when he cried. When her husband returned, he said nothing more to her and sent her on the next ship from Texas to Australia because he wanted nothing more to do with a woman who had killed his son out of fear.

Quigley succeeds in advancing with a captured horse into a settlement, where he buys provisions and ammunition from the local dealer. Again there is a wild shooting with Marston's men. The building in which Quigley has holed up is set on fire - but he can escape in time. In the meantime, Cora remains behind in the desert, as it would have been impossible to take her and an Aboriginal baby with us. During the night a fatal situation arises - dingoes attack the cave in which Cora is hiding with the baby on their foray into the hunt. The baby begins to cry and scream, Cora is tempted to cover the baby's mouth and nose - like she once did her own child - in order to suppress the screams. But before it is too late, Cora manages to overcome her trauma : She lets the child scream as loud as it wants, takes a revolver and defends herself and the child against the wild dogs.

Quigley returns from the desert thirsty for revenge. He is eventually captured by Marston's people. Marston believes Quigley can only handle the gun; he therefore forces him to a revolver duel, scornfully explains that this is the “first lesson” and joins the last two henchmen - the others were either killed by Quigley or disappeared the night before for fear of Quigley - to the revolver duel. It turns out that Quigley is excellent at handling revolvers , because he is faster and shoots Marston and his two men. Quigley explains to the dying Marston that Marston is not that fast with the Colt. Besides, he said himself only that he couldn't do anything with a Colt and not that he couldn't handle it. The three Aborigines who had to work for Marston on the ranch are returning to their people.

A squad of British soldiers arrives to take Quigley away because he has been charged with various crimes he has not committed, including a. Arson is wanted. They want to hang him on the gallows , but their leader, Major Ashley-Pitt, wants to provoke Quigley to try to escape so that they can shoot him immediately. But suddenly a huge cloud of dust appears, enveloping everything and when it clears again, a dense chain of threatening Aborigines can be seen on all the hills around the ranch; the British prefer to leave in a hurry.

When Quigley wants to book a boat trip home to the States at the end of the film, the ticket seller has Quigley's profile under his desk and reaches for a percussion pistol under the table . He asks Quigley his name. Cora suddenly appears in the door and he spontaneously says his name is Roy Cobb. The clerk withdraws his hand from the gun. Quigley and Cora leave the office. Suddenly Cora no longer calls him Roy, but rather Matthew Quigley - with her he has found the woman of his life and she has overcome the loss of her husband. The two begin a new life together on their return trip to America.

Awards

  • 1991 - Golden Reel Award from Motion Pictures Sound Editors (MPSE, Guild of Sound Editors), USA for Tim Chan for the best sound
  • 1992 - English Critics' Film Awards (ALFS) for Best British Actor of the Year for Alan Rickman

criticism

“The film quotes well-known myths and typical plot elements of the classic western with a wink and skill. Nice conversation. "

- Lexicon of international film

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quigley the Australian. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used