Reviews (61)

A Typical and Atypical Western
"Quigley down Under" stars Tom Selleck in the title role as an American sharpshooter who answers a help wanted poster for the best rifleman in the world. The job is in Australia and Quigley travels there not knowing exactly what the job is.

When he arrives in Australia, Quigley meets Crazy Cora, played by Laura San Giacomo. Cora is a slightly deranged American who believes Quigley to be her husband Roy. Cora continues to believe Quigley to be Roy even after he insists his name is Matthew Quigley.

When Quigley finally meets his new employer, Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman), he is disgusted to find out that Marston wants him to shoot Aborigines. Cora has become the self-designated defender of the Aborigines and gets abused by Marston for it. Quigley intervenes and winds up roughing Marston up a bit. Marston then has Quigley and Cora beaten and left in the desert to die.

"Quigley down Under" becomes, after this, a set piece movie about good versus evil. This is typical of the Western genre. In this Western though the good guys are a little "gooder" than usual. Both Quigley and Cora are pure hearts who only want what's right for the Aborigines. Cora is more determined to see it happen while Quigley is only interested in it so far as it gets him out of Australia alive.

The most interesting part of the movie is the relationship between Quigley and Cora. In most Westerns the woman is a one-dimensional cutout whose only raison d'etre is to stand by in horror as her man goes out to fight the bad guy. However, Cora is a fully fleshed out individual with both a history before Quigley and an existence independent of him. She still does the "stand by in horror" thing; but, it's with a sense of grace and composure you don't often get from that role.

From that relationship between Quigley and Cora is where I derive my four-star rating. Absent it, this movie would only get two stars from me. The Western is one of the most overdone genres in the cinema. To be able to find a unique spin on it after so many have been done is a well accomplished task.

Another plus for "Quigley down Under" is its cast. The three main players in this movie; Selleck, San Giacomo, and Rickman; are all first-rate actors. That Tom Selleck has not become a film star similar to Tom Cruise or Robert De Niro amazes me. He has an ability to fill a screen like so few actors can. The one actor who comes to mind by way of comparison is Charlton Heston. They both have that ability to project the necessary emotions and feelings of a scene without much effort. Laura San Giacomo is also another actor that I have a hard time figuring out why she hasn't become a star. Her portrayal of Crazy Cora in "Quigley" should have been a springboard to better roles but it hasn't panned out. Rickman is probably the one from this movie to have the best movie career to date. Rickman is one of the best bad guys going and even when he plays an angel ("Dogma") he still has that sideways sneer that makes you wonder what kind of a criminal he would be if he didn't find acting.

"Quigley down Under" is not your typical Western, which is why it might not be for those who enjoy movies like "Unforgiven" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales". However, it is a good movie from a non-Western genre standpoint and one that I'd recommend.

Tom Selleck's best ever
Like many TV actors, "Quigley"'s star Tom Selleck gave much attention, during and after his small-screen career, to attempting to break into movies. If he'd been born in 1926, instead of 1946, he would probably have gained fame, not as Thomas Magnum, but in Western films and/or TV series like this one. Quigley is the role he was born to play, and in Quigley's adventures he has made, to my mind, the best movie of his career.

This slam-bang actioner, though often labelled a "Western," actually takes place, not in the American West, but in the Crown Colony of Western Australia, probably around 1875 (there are still convicts there). Selleck plays Matthew Quigley, a soft-spoken marksman from Wyoming, who answers an advertisement by Australian rancher Marston (Alan Rickman) for "the finest long-distance marksman in the world." After three months on a sailing ship, he steps ashore at the port of Fremantle, where he promptly gets into a brawl with what turn out to be three of Marston's men, come to meet him, and is mistaken by displaced "native-born Texian" Crazy Cora Cobb (Laura San Giacomo) for her husband Roy. At Marston Water he offers a display of his skill with his primary weapon, a customized Sharps .45 buffalo gun, and impresses everyone, including Marston, who describes himself as "a student of your American West" and is a fast draw, pinpoint-accurate, and quietly proud of it. Only now does Quigley find out that he was being hired, not to kill dingoes (Australian wild dogs) as he thought, but to clear Marston's lands of the native Aboriginies. He promptly throws Marston out the French window of his own house, but is eventually overwhelmed by Marston's crew and, with Cora, taken out to the desert to die. Managing to kill the two men who fetched them there, he recovers his rifle and big Stetson, but loses the buckboard and horses. Trying to walk out, he and Cora are found by a clan of Aboriginies, who take them in, and when a group of Marston's men appears to hunt the natives down, Quigley takes up his Sharps in their defense. Eventually he eliminates Marston and all but three of his men in a sort of one-man "long hunt," climaxed by a shootout in which, though wounded and battered and admitting that he "never had much use" for handguns (he doesn't even carry one), he kills three men so fast that his shots sound like one.

Though there's a good deal of violence in this video--in fact, it will probably be too intense for kids under the age of 12 or so--none of it is gratuitous: each instance either serves to further the story in some way or is portrayed as an inevitable result of the choices and character of the person acting or being acted against. Selleck's Quigley is a '90's version of the classic John Wayne hero: soft-spoken, quietly competent, modest and unassuming (he "spent a night" in Dodge City once, and describes it as "a nice place to get some sleep"), chivalrous toward women and even a little unsure of how to react to them. (His early interactions with San Giacomo's Cora, on the Fremantle docks and in their first outback camp, add a whimsical touch to the movie's tone and should draw laughs from all watchers.) He also has an iron code of behavior, and he doesn't hesitate to learn even from the primitive Aborigines: one of the most delightful sequences finds them teaching him to use a spear-thrower and to suck water out of the sand through a bamboo--after which he repays them by conducting a class in the making and proper use of a rawhide lasso. Rickman is the kind of villain you love to hate: smooth, silky, sneering, yet acting from what seem to him to be completely valid reasons. San Giacomo may be "touched in the head," but she's also earthy, practical, and fiercely loyal to Selleck and to the orphaned Aboriginie baby they find; her story of how she came to be in Australia is touchingly delivered.

And, like most of the best movies, "Quigley" can serve as a starting point for some penetrating family discussion. Parallels will quickly be seen between the Aborigines' situation and, not only the experiences of the American Indian, but the "ethnic cleansing" through which the former Yugoslavia suffered, and which kids may have studied in school. Quigley seems not to be revengeful against Marston and his crew of 20-odd tough English and Irish until they act against the Aborigines who have been his and Cora's friends, and even then a case can be made for his killing as many of them as he can hit: afoot and outnumbered, he doesn't want them in the area and angry at him; after the second Aboriginie drive and the accidental killing of a storekeeper's wife, he is simply resolved to keep them from doing any more harm.

Though action is the movie's keynote, it is above all the story of how three people inspire one another to certain inevitable acts--in short, like all the best stories, it turns on character. And its characters will remain in the memory for a long time to come. (A side-benefit is the blood-stirring score by Basil Poledouris, which was one of the first CD's I ever purchased.) The cinematography gives a powerful sense of the size and loneliness of the Australian outback (filming was done in Alice Springs and other Australian locations), as well as of how important it is that Quigley seems far better able to adjust himself to it than Marston's men are willing to do. Director Simon Wincer, though not of American birth, has turned out a movie which, while not strictly a "real" Western, should become a classic of the genre. By my criteria, it's definitely a 10--or perhaps even a 12.

Great comedy
You will be laughing your tail off. Here is why:

Quigley (Tom Selleck), investigates a report on human right violations by the English settlers against the aboriginal population of Austria.

(Obviously, Quigley had improved the inter-racial relationships in his native Wyoming to perfection: black, indians, white, all live in equality, peace and harmony, and now he is on a mission to do the same in Austria)

Quigley quickly discovers the horrible truth, and being a superman, supperherro, suppersshooter, quickly brings justice. All bad guys (english, irish, scotch) are punished, aboriginals are free. No more slavery, genocide, collonialism and exploitation.

A blond Texan woman shares his passion and adopts a little black baby; the baby fell from a 200 feet cliff and survived!

Have fun!

Ernesto Ce Gevara

Western with a twist
This is an American Western to be sure, filmed in the outback! Classic good vs. bad! And lots of fun with the interaction between crazy Cora and Quigley! Fine acting all around and a nice twist at the end! Very enjoyable.

Boring CD, good movie
In glancing at the reviews I see that many of them are for the moive which is much better than the soundtrack. I've liked the title theme since I first heard it and always wanted the CD for that reason. Out of the 11 tracks I was disappointed to find that I really liked only about three selections, maybe one or two more than that. #1 Main Title is good and #11 Matthew Quigley amounts to about three different versions of the tune, it might be even better.
Out of the eleven tunes six have varying degrees of the theme worked into them in some way, thats what makes the CD boring, so little variety. I think I did like #4 Marston's Murderers, actiony but no Quigley bits. #4 Native Montage had no Quigley and certainly nothing Native to it, guess it was all right otherwise.
All I can really recommend this album for are the two Quigley selections, easily the best on the CD. Shiloh Rifle, the company that made the Sharps that Selleck used in the movie still uses the title selection on their website 12 years later, that's how good that tune is. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Tom Selleck plays Matthew Quigley, the cowboy hero in this traditional Western, set very untraditionally in Australia. After some macho silliness in the opening minutes, the story settles into a surprisingly evocative tale of Quigley, a sharpshooter who had come to the country to work for a land baron (Alan Rickman) and who is on the mend after a brutal attack. In the company of a woman (Laura San Giacomo) abused by that same baron, Quigley gets his strength and his shooting skills back while healing in the midst of aboriginal people as well as some stunning Australian settings.Director Simon Wincer (Phar Lap) brings a lot of integrity to this rare horse opera from contemporary Hollywood. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (61)

A Typical and Atypical Western
"Quigley down Under" stars Tom Selleck in the title role as an American sharpshooter who answers a help wanted poster for the best rifleman in the world. The job is in Australia and Quigley travels there not knowing exactly what the job is.

When he arrives in Australia, Quigley meets Crazy Cora, played by Laura San Giacomo. Cora is a slightly deranged American who believes Quigley to be her husband Roy. Cora continues to believe Quigley to be Roy even after he insists his name is Matthew Quigley.

When Quigley finally meets his new employer, Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman), he is disgusted to find out that Marston wants him to shoot Aborigines. Cora has become the self-designated defender of the Aborigines and gets abused by Marston for it. Quigley intervenes and winds up roughing Marston up a bit. Marston then has Quigley and Cora beaten and left in the desert to die.

"Quigley down Under" becomes, after this, a set piece movie about good versus evil. This is typical of the Western genre. In this Western though the good guys are a little "gooder" than usual. Both Quigley and Cora are pure hearts who only want what's right for the Aborigines. Cora is more determined to see it happen while Quigley is only interested in it so far as it gets him out of Australia alive.

The most interesting part of the movie is the relationship between Quigley and Cora. In most Westerns the woman is a one-dimensional cutout whose only raison d'etre is to stand by in horror as her man goes out to fight the bad guy. However, Cora is a fully fleshed out individual with both a history before Quigley and an existence independent of him. She still does the "stand by in horror" thing; but, it's with a sense of grace and composure you don't often get from that role.

From that relationship between Quigley and Cora is where I derive my four-star rating. Absent it, this movie would only get two stars from me. The Western is one of the most overdone genres in the cinema. To be able to find a unique spin on it after so many have been done is a well accomplished task.

Another plus for "Quigley down Under" is its cast. The three main players in this movie; Selleck, San Giacomo, and Rickman; are all first-rate actors. That Tom Selleck has not become a film star similar to Tom Cruise or Robert De Niro amazes me. He has an ability to fill a screen like so few actors can. The one actor who comes to mind by way of comparison is Charlton Heston. They both have that ability to project the necessary emotions and feelings of a scene without much effort. Laura San Giacomo is also another actor that I have a hard time figuring out why she hasn't become a star. Her portrayal of Crazy Cora in "Quigley" should have been a springboard to better roles but it hasn't panned out. Rickman is probably the one from this movie to have the best movie career to date. Rickman is one of the best bad guys going and even when he plays an angel ("Dogma") he still has that sideways sneer that makes you wonder what kind of a criminal he would be if he didn't find acting.

"Quigley down Under" is not your typical Western, which is why it might not be for those who enjoy movies like "Unforgiven" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales". However, it is a good movie from a non-Western genre standpoint and one that I'd recommend.

Tom Selleck's best ever
Like many TV actors, "Quigley"'s star Tom Selleck gave much attention, during and after his small-screen career, to attempting to break into movies. If he'd been born in 1926, instead of 1946, he would probably have gained fame, not as Thomas Magnum, but in Western films and/or TV series like this one. Quigley is the role he was born to play, and in Quigley's adventures he has made, to my mind, the best movie of his career.

This slam-bang actioner, though often labelled a "Western," actually takes place, not in the American West, but in the Crown Colony of Western Australia, probably around 1875 (there are still convicts there). Selleck plays Matthew Quigley, a soft-spoken marksman from Wyoming, who answers an advertisement by Australian rancher Marston (Alan Rickman) for "the finest long-distance marksman in the world." After three months on a sailing ship, he steps ashore at the port of Fremantle, where he promptly gets into a brawl with what turn out to be three of Marston's men, come to meet him, and is mistaken by displaced "native-born Texian" Crazy Cora Cobb (Laura San Giacomo) for her husband Roy. At Marston Water he offers a display of his skill with his primary weapon, a customized Sharps .45 buffalo gun, and impresses everyone, including Marston, who describes himself as "a student of your American West" and is a fast draw, pinpoint-accurate, and quietly proud of it. Only now does Quigley find out that he was being hired, not to kill dingoes (Australian wild dogs) as he thought, but to clear Marston's lands of the native Aboriginies. He promptly throws Marston out the French window of his own house, but is eventually overwhelmed by Marston's crew and, with Cora, taken out to the desert to die. Managing to kill the two men who fetched them there, he recovers his rifle and big Stetson, but loses the buckboard and horses. Trying to walk out, he and Cora are found by a clan of Aboriginies, who take them in, and when a group of Marston's men appears to hunt the natives down, Quigley takes up his Sharps in their defense. Eventually he eliminates Marston and all but three of his men in a sort of one-man "long hunt," climaxed by a shootout in which, though wounded and battered and admitting that he "never had much use" for handguns (he doesn't even carry one), he kills three men so fast that his shots sound like one.

Though there's a good deal of violence in this video--in fact, it will probably be too intense for kids under the age of 12 or so--none of it is gratuitous: each instance either serves to further the story in some way or is portrayed as an inevitable result of the choices and character of the person acting or being acted against. Selleck's Quigley is a '90's version of the classic John Wayne hero: soft-spoken, quietly competent, modest and unassuming (he "spent a night" in Dodge City once, and describes it as "a nice place to get some sleep"), chivalrous toward women and even a little unsure of how to react to them. (His early interactions with San Giacomo's Cora, on the Fremantle docks and in their first outback camp, add a whimsical touch to the movie's tone and should draw laughs from all watchers.) He also has an iron code of behavior, and he doesn't hesitate to learn even from the primitive Aborigines: one of the most delightful sequences finds them teaching him to use a spear-thrower and to suck water out of the sand through a bamboo--after which he repays them by conducting a class in the making and proper use of a rawhide lasso. Rickman is the kind of villain you love to hate: smooth, silky, sneering, yet acting from what seem to him to be completely valid reasons. San Giacomo may be "touched in the head," but she's also earthy, practical, and fiercely loyal to Selleck and to the orphaned Aboriginie baby they find; her story of how she came to be in Australia is touchingly delivered.

And, like most of the best movies, "Quigley" can serve as a starting point for some penetrating family discussion. Parallels will quickly be seen between the Aborigines' situation and, not only the experiences of the American Indian, but the "ethnic cleansing" through which the former Yugoslavia suffered, and which kids may have studied in school. Quigley seems not to be revengeful against Marston and his crew of 20-odd tough English and Irish until they act against the Aborigines who have been his and Cora's friends, and even then a case can be made for his killing as many of them as he can hit: afoot and outnumbered, he doesn't want them in the area and angry at him; after the second Aboriginie drive and the accidental killing of a storekeeper's wife, he is simply resolved to keep them from doing any more harm.

Though action is the movie's keynote, it is above all the story of how three people inspire one another to certain inevitable acts--in short, like all the best stories, it turns on character. And its characters will remain in the memory for a long time to come. (A side-benefit is the blood-stirring score by Basil Poledouris, which was one of the first CD's I ever purchased.) The cinematography gives a powerful sense of the size and loneliness of the Australian outback (filming was done in Alice Springs and other Australian locations), as well as of how important it is that Quigley seems far better able to adjust himself to it than Marston's men are willing to do. Director Simon Wincer, though not of American birth, has turned out a movie which, while not strictly a "real" Western, should become a classic of the genre. By my criteria, it's definitely a 10--or perhaps even a 12.

Great comedy
You will be laughing your tail off. Here is why:

Quigley (Tom Selleck), investigates a report on human right violations by the English settlers against the aboriginal population of Austria.

(Obviously, Quigley had improved the inter-racial relationships in his native Wyoming to perfection: black, indians, white, all live in equality, peace and harmony, and now he is on a mission to do the same in Austria)

Quigley quickly discovers the horrible truth, and being a superman, supperherro, suppersshooter, quickly brings justice. All bad guys (english, irish, scotch) are punished, aboriginals are free. No more slavery, genocide, collonialism and exploitation.

A blond Texan woman shares his passion and adopts a little black baby; the baby fell from a 200 feet cliff and survived!

Have fun!

Ernesto Ce Gevara

Western with a twist
This is an American Western to be sure, filmed in the outback! Classic good vs. bad! And lots of fun with the interaction between crazy Cora and Quigley! Fine acting all around and a nice twist at the end! Very enjoyable.

Boring CD, good movie
In glancing at the reviews I see that many of them are for the moive which is much better than the soundtrack. I've liked the title theme since I first heard it and always wanted the CD for that reason. Out of the 11 tracks I was disappointed to find that I really liked only about three selections, maybe one or two more than that. #1 Main Title is good and #11 Matthew Quigley amounts to about three different versions of the tune, it might be even better.
Out of the eleven tunes six have varying degrees of the theme worked into them in some way, thats what makes the CD boring, so little variety. I think I did like #4 Marston's Murderers, actiony but no Quigley bits. #4 Native Montage had no Quigley and certainly nothing Native to it, guess it was all right otherwise.
All I can really recommend this album for are the two Quigley selections, easily the best on the CD. Shiloh Rifle, the company that made the Sharps that Selleck used in the movie still uses the title selection on their website 12 years later, that's how good that tune is. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

A strong candidate for the designation of most thrilling action movie ever made (the turbo-charged exhilaration of its full-throttle highway chases has never been equaled), the second part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic trilogy is also a magnificently imagined movie myth. Like the Star Wars trilogy (by that other George) the Mad Max films draw their inspiration from the works of mythologist Joseph Campbell. In the 1979 original, Max (Mel Gibson) is a policeman, the last guardian of civilization and order in a devastated world reduced to chaos. But when a leather-clad gang of sadomasochistic speed demons mows down Max's family, his remaining connections to humanity are also permanently severed. After brutally exacting his revenge, Max wanders off into the wasteland alone, "a burned out shell of a man" who (to paraphrase The Searchers) is destined to wander forever between the winds. In The Road Warrior, Max rediscovers a sliver of his shattered humanity, and a spark of redemption, when he helps an embattled colony of pioneers fight off the savages who are after that most precious of all commodities: "guzzline." Max is transformed into a legendary hero, just as Mel Gibson was catapulted to international movie stardom. With its final stirring images, The Road Warrior transcends its genre (whatever that may be--science fiction? Western? action adventure?) and becomes something timeless. It's a great movie. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (117)

One of the best action movies ever made.
Movie:
The Road Warrior, set seven or so years after the events of Mad Max. Max is now a heartless man, wandering the wastlands of the outback. The third world war has left the world in total ruin, and many have turned to the cruelness of the gangs that rule the wastland. The few that maintain the humanity are few. Max stumbles apon an little sliver of civilization which is constantly assulted by evil biker gangs. Soon he finds himself involved in their flight for survival. The last chase scean is epic compaired to anythng made to date. This movie as many movie buffs like me say, is possibly the best Action/Scific movie ever made. One might think that it is a very poor movie to the small amont of talking, this just adds to the brillance of the movie! This is kind of like Star Wars: Even if you don't like it, you have to see it at least once.
Movie 5 out of 5 stars
DVD:
Whoever owns the rights to this breakthrough-of-a-movie is out of his mind! Shure the picture and sound quality is good, but look at the extras! Zero, nada, zip. What a good way to ruin a great movie's DVD!
DVD: 1 out of 5 stars

The best, hands down
This is easily one of the greatest action movies ever made (and, personally, I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made, period.) It is also one of those rare movies that defines its genre, and yet, at the same time, transcends its genre. Actually, you have three different genres being represented in this film that, in the years since, have become intertwined as the norm for this type of movie because of "The Road Warrior"'s influence. You have the much-copied post-apocalyptic wasteland, populated by barbaric savages and helpless victims; you have the classic western and the classic western's "reluctant hero," represented here by Mad Max, the drifting loner, scarred by his past, who only comes to the aid of others when it serves him; and, of course, you have the spectacular car chases, amazing stunts and crashes and huge explosions of the modern action movie. "The Road Warrior" brought all three of these elements together, and you can still see them in movies today, such as the much-inferior "Waterworld" and "The Postman" (man, Costner must've liked this movie too--you'd think he'd get it right eventually.)
And, as an action movie, "The Road Warrior" has yet to be topped. All of the stunts, chases, crashes, explosions you see on the screen are 100% real. No computer enhancement, no technical junk -- when you see a guy drive into a car on a motorcycle and he flies about 75 feet through the air, it's real. And when I say this movie transcends its genre, I'm talking about the style in which it's directed. All of the action becomes almost operatic because of the expert direction and musical score. It comes across as a beautiful-looking action movie, in spite of all the violence and carnage.
I wouldn't hesitate to rate "The Road Warrior" as one of the best action movies of all time and Mel Gibson's Mad Max as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) action "hero" in cinema history. If this movie were made today, the writers would probably have him cracking lame one-liners throughout the film, but, instead, Max hardly speaks at all (the strong, silent type that also goes with the western genre) -- his actions speak for him. I wish Hollywood at least attempted to make action movies and action movie heroes like this these days (well, come to think of it, I guess they did attempt it with "Waterworld," and that became one of the biggest money-losers in film history, so I guess the moral is: Don't try to duplicate perfection.)

MEN OF THE WORLD, WATCH THIS
This is quite possibly the greatest MAN movie ever made. Cars, guns, blood, exploding heads. I can't even begin to say how much I love this movie. It is truly a fantastic spectacle and the best sequel I've ever seen.

Not very interesting
I guess the folks who made this movie decided to make an all-out pitch to a mediocre audience: it's all about cars and gasoline and violence.

The way it is put together is mildly interesting, but incoherent. The purported hero, Mad Max, has been subjected to an enormous personal loss (his wife and child) which occupies about ten seconds of the movie. He finds a bunch of liberal-hippie types running a gas refinery (??? huh ???) in the middle of the outback, in a world where gasoline means life or death. The liberal-hippie types are being attacked by a really weird group of folks, including a very obvious gay couple. There is a feral boy with a razor-sharp boomerang who knows more than anyone else.

It seems hard to find any connection between this movie and anything in reality.

Recommended only for curiosity value.

This is what it has come to...
Okay, here's the deal. Mad Max (Max Rockatansky) is THE baddest BELIEVABLE movie hero that ever was and will be. Enough said. ... Read more

Reviews (61)

A Typical and Atypical Western
"Quigley down Under" stars Tom Selleck in the title role as an American sharpshooter who answers a help wanted poster for the best rifleman in the world. The job is in Australia and Quigley travels there not knowing exactly what the job is.

When he arrives in Australia, Quigley meets Crazy Cora, played by Laura San Giacomo. Cora is a slightly deranged American who believes Quigley to be her husband Roy. Cora continues to believe Quigley to be Roy even after he insists his name is Matthew Quigley.

When Quigley finally meets his new employer, Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman), he is disgusted to find out that Marston wants him to shoot Aborigines. Cora has become the self-designated defender of the Aborigines and gets abused by Marston for it. Quigley intervenes and winds up roughing Marston up a bit. Marston then has Quigley and Cora beaten and left in the desert to die.

"Quigley down Under" becomes, after this, a set piece movie about good versus evil. This is typical of the Western genre. In this Western though the good guys are a little "gooder" than usual. Both Quigley and Cora are pure hearts who only want what's right for the Aborigines. Cora is more determined to see it happen while Quigley is only interested in it so far as it gets him out of Australia alive.

The most interesting part of the movie is the relationship between Quigley and Cora. In most Westerns the woman is a one-dimensional cutout whose only raison d'etre is to stand by in horror as her man goes out to fight the bad guy. However, Cora is a fully fleshed out individual with both a history before Quigley and an existence independent of him. She still does the "stand by in horror" thing; but, it's with a sense of grace and composure you don't often get from that role.

From that relationship between Quigley and Cora is where I derive my four-star rating. Absent it, this movie would only get two stars from me. The Western is one of the most overdone genres in the cinema. To be able to find a unique spin on it after so many have been done is a well accomplished task.

Another plus for "Quigley down Under" is its cast. The three main players in this movie; Selleck, San Giacomo, and Rickman; are all first-rate actors. That Tom Selleck has not become a film star similar to Tom Cruise or Robert De Niro amazes me. He has an ability to fill a screen like so few actors can. The one actor who comes to mind by way of comparison is Charlton Heston. They both have that ability to project the necessary emotions and feelings of a scene without much effort. Laura San Giacomo is also another actor that I have a hard time figuring out why she hasn't become a star. Her portrayal of Crazy Cora in "Quigley" should have been a springboard to better roles but it hasn't panned out. Rickman is probably the one from this movie to have the best movie career to date. Rickman is one of the best bad guys going and even when he plays an angel ("Dogma") he still has that sideways sneer that makes you wonder what kind of a criminal he would be if he didn't find acting.

"Quigley down Under" is not your typical Western, which is why it might not be for those who enjoy movies like "Unforgiven" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales". However, it is a good movie from a non-Western genre standpoint and one that I'd recommend.

Tom Selleck's best ever
Like many TV actors, "Quigley"'s star Tom Selleck gave much attention, during and after his small-screen career, to attempting to break into movies. If he'd been born in 1926, instead of 1946, he would probably have gained fame, not as Thomas Magnum, but in Western films and/or TV series like this one. Quigley is the role he was born to play, and in Quigley's adventures he has made, to my mind, the best movie of his career.

This slam-bang actioner, though often labelled a "Western," actually takes place, not in the American West, but in the Crown Colony of Western Australia, probably around 1875 (there are still convicts there). Selleck plays Matthew Quigley, a soft-spoken marksman from Wyoming, who answers an advertisement by Australian rancher Marston (Alan Rickman) for "the finest long-distance marksman in the world." After three months on a sailing ship, he steps ashore at the port of Fremantle, where he promptly gets into a brawl with what turn out to be three of Marston's men, come to meet him, and is mistaken by displaced "native-born Texian" Crazy Cora Cobb (Laura San Giacomo) for her husband Roy. At Marston Water he offers a display of his skill with his primary weapon, a customized Sharps .45 buffalo gun, and impresses everyone, including Marston, who describes himself as "a student of your American West" and is a fast draw, pinpoint-accurate, and quietly proud of it. Only now does Quigley find out that he was being hired, not to kill dingoes (Australian wild dogs) as he thought, but to clear Marston's lands of the native Aboriginies. He promptly throws Marston out the French window of his own house, but is eventually overwhelmed by Marston's crew and, with Cora, taken out to the desert to die. Managing to kill the two men who fetched them there, he recovers his rifle and big Stetson, but loses the buckboard and horses. Trying to walk out, he and Cora are found by a clan of Aboriginies, who take them in, and when a group of Marston's men appears to hunt the natives down, Quigley takes up his Sharps in their defense. Eventually he eliminates Marston and all but three of his men in a sort of one-man "long hunt," climaxed by a shootout in which, though wounded and battered and admitting that he "never had much use" for handguns (he doesn't even carry one), he kills three men so fast that his shots sound like one.

Though there's a good deal of violence in this video--in fact, it will probably be too intense for kids under the age of 12 or so--none of it is gratuitous: each instance either serves to further the story in some way or is portrayed as an inevitable result of the choices and character of the person acting or being acted against. Selleck's Quigley is a '90's version of the classic John Wayne hero: soft-spoken, quietly competent, modest and unassuming (he "spent a night" in Dodge City once, and describes it as "a nice place to get some sleep"), chivalrous toward women and even a little unsure of how to react to them. (His early interactions with San Giacomo's Cora, on the Fremantle docks and in their first outback camp, add a whimsical touch to the movie's tone and should draw laughs from all watchers.) He also has an iron code of behavior, and he doesn't hesitate to learn even from the primitive Aborigines: one of the most delightful sequences finds them teaching him to use a spear-thrower and to suck water out of the sand through a bamboo--after which he repays them by conducting a class in the making and proper use of a rawhide lasso. Rickman is the kind of villain you love to hate: smooth, silky, sneering, yet acting from what seem to him to be completely valid reasons. San Giacomo may be "touched in the head," but she's also earthy, practical, and fiercely loyal to Selleck and to the orphaned Aboriginie baby they find; her story of how she came to be in Australia is touchingly delivered.

And, like most of the best movies, "Quigley" can serve as a starting point for some penetrating family discussion. Parallels will quickly be seen between the Aborigines' situation and, not only the experiences of the American Indian, but the "ethnic cleansing" through which the former Yugoslavia suffered, and which kids may have studied in school. Quigley seems not to be revengeful against Marston and his crew of 20-odd tough English and Irish until they act against the Aborigines who have been his and Cora's friends, and even then a case can be made for his killing as many of them as he can hit: afoot and outnumbered, he doesn't want them in the area and angry at him; after the second Aboriginie drive and the accidental killing of a storekeeper's wife, he is simply resolved to keep them from doing any more harm.

Though action is the movie's keynote, it is above all the story of how three people inspire one another to certain inevitable acts--in short, like all the best stories, it turns on character. And its characters will remain in the memory for a long time to come. (A side-benefit is the blood-stirring score by Basil Poledouris, which was one of the first CD's I ever purchased.) The cinematography gives a powerful sense of the size and loneliness of the Australian outback (filming was done in Alice Springs and other Australian locations), as well as of how important it is that Quigley seems far better able to adjust himself to it than Marston's men are willing to do. Director Simon Wincer, though not of American birth, has turned out a movie which, while not strictly a "real" Western, should become a classic of the genre. By my criteria, it's definitely a 10--or perhaps even a 12.

Great comedy
You will be laughing your tail off. Here is why:

Quigley (Tom Selleck), investigates a report on human right violations by the English settlers against the aboriginal population of Austria.

(Obviously, Quigley had improved the inter-racial relationships in his native Wyoming to perfection: black, indians, white, all live in equality, peace and harmony, and now he is on a mission to do the same in Austria)

Quigley quickly discovers the horrible truth, and being a superman, supperherro, suppersshooter, quickly brings justice. All bad guys (english, irish, scotch) are punished, aboriginals are free. No more slavery, genocide, collonialism and exploitation.

A blond Texan woman shares his passion and adopts a little black baby; the baby fell from a 200 feet cliff and survived!

Have fun!

Ernesto Ce Gevara

Western with a twist
This is an American Western to be sure, filmed in the outback! Classic good vs. bad! And lots of fun with the interaction between crazy Cora and Quigley! Fine acting all around and a nice twist at the end! Very enjoyable.

Boring CD, good movie
In glancing at the reviews I see that many of them are for the moive which is much better than the soundtrack. I've liked the title theme since I first heard it and always wanted the CD for that reason. Out of the 11 tracks I was disappointed to find that I really liked only about three selections, maybe one or two more than that. #1 Main Title is good and #11 Matthew Quigley amounts to about three different versions of the tune, it might be even better.
Out of the eleven tunes six have varying degrees of the theme worked into them in some way, thats what makes the CD boring, so little variety. I think I did like #4 Marston's Murderers, actiony but no Quigley bits. #4 Native Montage had no Quigley and certainly nothing Native to it, guess it was all right otherwise.
All I can really recommend this album for are the two Quigley selections, easily the best on the CD. Shiloh Rifle, the company that made the Sharps that Selleck used in the movie still uses the title selection on their website 12 years later, that's how good that tune is. ... Read more

Reviews (117)

One of the best action movies ever made.
Movie:
The Road Warrior, set seven or so years after the events of Mad Max. Max is now a heartless man, wandering the wastlands of the outback. The third world war has left the world in total ruin, and many have turned to the cruelness of the gangs that rule the wastland. The few that maintain the humanity are few. Max stumbles apon an little sliver of civilization which is constantly assulted by evil biker gangs. Soon he finds himself involved in their flight for survival. The last chase scean is epic compaired to anythng made to date. This movie as many movie buffs like me say, is possibly the best Action/Scific movie ever made. One might think that it is a very poor movie to the small amont of talking, this just adds to the brillance of the movie! This is kind of like Star Wars: Even if you don't like it, you have to see it at least once.
Movie 5 out of 5 stars
DVD:
Whoever owns the rights to this breakthrough-of-a-movie is out of his mind! Shure the picture and sound quality is good, but look at the extras! Zero, nada, zip. What a good way to ruin a great movie's DVD!
DVD: 1 out of 5 stars

The best, hands down
This is easily one of the greatest action movies ever made (and, personally, I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made, period.) It is also one of those rare movies that defines its genre, and yet, at the same time, transcends its genre. Actually, you have three different genres being represented in this film that, in the years since, have become intertwined as the norm for this type of movie because of "The Road Warrior"'s influence. You have the much-copied post-apocalyptic wasteland, populated by barbaric savages and helpless victims; you have the classic western and the classic western's "reluctant hero," represented here by Mad Max, the drifting loner, scarred by his past, who only comes to the aid of others when it serves him; and, of course, you have the spectacular car chases, amazing stunts and crashes and huge explosions of the modern action movie. "The Road Warrior" brought all three of these elements together, and you can still see them in movies today, such as the much-inferior "Waterworld" and "The Postman" (man, Costner must've liked this movie too--you'd think he'd get it right eventually.)
And, as an action movie, "The Road Warrior" has yet to be topped. All of the stunts, chases, crashes, explosions you see on the screen are 100% real. No computer enhancement, no technical junk -- when you see a guy drive into a car on a motorcycle and he flies about 75 feet through the air, it's real. And when I say this movie transcends its genre, I'm talking about the style in which it's directed. All of the action becomes almost operatic because of the expert direction and musical score. It comes across as a beautiful-looking action movie, in spite of all the violence and carnage.
I wouldn't hesitate to rate "The Road Warrior" as one of the best action movies of all time and Mel Gibson's Mad Max as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) action "hero" in cinema history. If this movie were made today, the writers would probably have him cracking lame one-liners throughout the film, but, instead, Max hardly speaks at all (the strong, silent type that also goes with the western genre) -- his actions speak for him. I wish Hollywood at least attempted to make action movies and action movie heroes like this these days (well, come to think of it, I guess they did attempt it with "Waterworld," and that became one of the biggest money-losers in film history, so I guess the moral is: Don't try to duplicate perfection.)

MEN OF THE WORLD, WATCH THIS
This is quite possibly the greatest MAN movie ever made. Cars, guns, blood, exploding heads. I can't even begin to say how much I love this movie. It is truly a fantastic spectacle and the best sequel I've ever seen.

Not very interesting
I guess the folks who made this movie decided to make an all-out pitch to a mediocre audience: it's all about cars and gasoline and violence.

The way it is put together is mildly interesting, but incoherent. The purported hero, Mad Max, has been subjected to an enormous personal loss (his wife and child) which occupies about ten seconds of the movie. He finds a bunch of liberal-hippie types running a gas refinery (??? huh ???) in the middle of the outback, in a world where gasoline means life or death. The liberal-hippie types are being attacked by a really weird group of folks, including a very obvious gay couple. There is a feral boy with a razor-sharp boomerang who knows more than anyone else.

It seems hard to find any connection between this movie and anything in reality.

Recommended only for curiosity value.

This is what it has come to...
Okay, here's the deal. Mad Max (Max Rockatansky) is THE baddest BELIEVABLE movie hero that ever was and will be. Enough said. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Good erotic thriller is somewhat eroded by pretense
Based on the book by Dorothy Porter, THE MONKEY'S MASK is a watchable but also rather pretentious "erotic" mystery.
When a literature student Mickey (Abbie Cornish) goes missing, the girl's parents hire lesbian PI Jill Fitpatrick (Susie Porter- I'm not sure if she's any relation to the author) to try and locate their daughter. The only evidence of her last appearance is a videotape of Mickey reading a sexually explicit feminist poem, which will offend prudes, but which personally I found quite amusing. They're just words, after all.
To try and piece together the clues as to Mickey's whereabouts Jill interviews the girl's lecturer Diana (Kelly McGillis) who has actually been encouraging her students to write like that. I wish my teachers had been that cool. Pretty soon Diana becomes the prime suspect. However Jill finds herself attracted to Diana; who is a straight married woman, and soon the pair begin an elicit affair which puts the whole case in jeopardy.
This Australian film is a bit pretentious, as with a lot of "art" movies, but THE MONKEY'S MASK does manage to keep viewers watching with its plot twists and tricky camerawork. It gets a few demerit points for the amount of awful poetry in the film, but on the plus side there are numerous lesbian scenes between McGillis and Porter. DVD extras include a short film by the movie's director, Samantha Lang, a Dorothy Porter interview and a reading from the book (which I found boring), as well as cast and crew bios and samples of songs from the movie's soundtrack.
THE MONKEY'S MASK is a good movie, but personally I found the poetry irritating. But that's just me, so if you enjoy and appreciate poetry, you'll probably raise my rating by 1 star. I'm just an uncultured chump anyway.

very erotic
frankly, I just wanted to see this film for its eroticism, which I heard was incredible. but the story is actually a pretty entertaining one, albeit slow at times. i expected little, got more than i thought, but still, this flick is an easy rental at best. those are my two cents....

Painful Dialogue, Predictable and Slow
What a mess of a movie that likely had good intentions at the start..The dialogue is painful and cliche, the movie is slooow, the story predictable...an average mystery (thus makes it somewhat worth seeing...as was the organization of the film, though too sloow), it has an underlying lesbian theme, but the women had no chemistry,zero, had it not been that their clothes were off, you'd think they were just aquaintances....I don't reccommend this film too highly..friends came over my home and saw it, and were dissappointed as I was to show it (I warned them) It was nice to see Kelly McGillis playing the bisexual predator english professor, every young coed's fantasy..but even McGillis was held hostage by the material, primarily the screenplay...
Best to rent..

Monkey Business
A dissapointment. Sadly, neither of these actresses were wearing masks in this film.What in the hell happened to Kelli McGillis? Don't expect to see anyone even closely reminiscent of the sensual Top Gun actress of long ago. McGillis is simply wooden in this role. Susie Porter is somewhat of a toad who appears to be wearing the same outfit throughout the movie's entirety. The acting is poor, the frequency of obscene language is distracting, the storyline is silly and the actresses chemistry is as romantic as a mud sandwich. Don't waste your time with this one or you'll end up feeling like a monkey.

Truly horrible.
I was looking forward to this movie, and was distinctly disappointed from the first frame to the last. The characterizations were comic, sterotypical and shallow as if they had been fleshed out by one Kelly McGillis' "bohemian" students. And no one really looked good, as if they had already gone overbudget paying Kelly and couldn't afford enought make-up to cover all the actress' blemishes. Finally, the erotic scenes were odd, awkward and uninspired with absolutely no chemistry between the two principles. Susie Porter actually had more chemistry with Kelly Mcgillis' husband and seemed to enjoy her intimate moment with him more than any other in the film. One final note: There is an offensive moment that attempts to give credence to the notion that lesbians are predatory: When the Susie Porter character has a falling out with her lover, she goes to her lesbian friend for support -- the friend takes this as a nice opportunity to fondle Susie's breast...
... ... Read more

Reviews (117)

One of the best action movies ever made.
Movie:
The Road Warrior, set seven or so years after the events of Mad Max. Max is now a heartless man, wandering the wastlands of the outback. The third world war has left the world in total ruin, and many have turned to the cruelness of the gangs that rule the wastland. The few that maintain the humanity are few. Max stumbles apon an little sliver of civilization which is constantly assulted by evil biker gangs. Soon he finds himself involved in their flight for survival. The last chase scean is epic compaired to anythng made to date. This movie as many movie buffs like me say, is possibly the best Action/Scific movie ever made. One might think that it is a very poor movie to the small amont of talking, this just adds to the brillance of the movie! This is kind of like Star Wars: Even if you don't like it, you have to see it at least once.
Movie 5 out of 5 stars
DVD:
Whoever owns the rights to this breakthrough-of-a-movie is out of his mind! Shure the picture and sound quality is good, but look at the extras! Zero, nada, zip. What a good way to ruin a great movie's DVD!
DVD: 1 out of 5 stars

The best, hands down
This is easily one of the greatest action movies ever made (and, personally, I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made, period.) It is also one of those rare movies that defines its genre, and yet, at the same time, transcends its genre. Actually, you have three different genres being represented in this film that, in the years since, have become intertwined as the norm for this type of movie because of "The Road Warrior"'s influence. You have the much-copied post-apocalyptic wasteland, populated by barbaric savages and helpless victims; you have the classic western and the classic western's "reluctant hero," represented here by Mad Max, the drifting loner, scarred by his past, who only comes to the aid of others when it serves him; and, of course, you have the spectacular car chases, amazing stunts and crashes and huge explosions of the modern action movie. "The Road Warrior" brought all three of these elements together, and you can still see them in movies today, such as the much-inferior "Waterworld" and "The Postman" (man, Costner must've liked this movie too--you'd think he'd get it right eventually.)
And, as an action movie, "The Road Warrior" has yet to be topped. All of the stunts, chases, crashes, explosions you see on the screen are 100% real. No computer enhancement, no technical junk -- when you see a guy drive into a car on a motorcycle and he flies about 75 feet through the air, it's real. And when I say this movie transcends its genre, I'm talking about the style in which it's directed. All of the action becomes almost operatic because of the expert direction and musical score. It comes across as a beautiful-looking action movie, in spite of all the violence and carnage.
I wouldn't hesitate to rate "The Road Warrior" as one of the best action movies of all time and Mel Gibson's Mad Max as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) action "hero" in cinema history. If this movie were made today, the writers would probably have him cracking lame one-liners throughout the film, but, instead, Max hardly speaks at all (the strong, silent type that also goes with the western genre) -- his actions speak for him. I wish Hollywood at least attempted to make action movies and action movie heroes like this these days (well, come to think of it, I guess they did attempt it with "Waterworld," and that became one of the biggest money-losers in film history, so I guess the moral is: Don't try to duplicate perfection.)

MEN OF THE WORLD, WATCH THIS
This is quite possibly the greatest MAN movie ever made. Cars, guns, blood, exploding heads. I can't even begin to say how much I love this movie. It is truly a fantastic spectacle and the best sequel I've ever seen.

Not very interesting
I guess the folks who made this movie decided to make an all-out pitch to a mediocre audience: it's all about cars and gasoline and violence.

The way it is put together is mildly interesting, but incoherent. The purported hero, Mad Max, has been subjected to an enormous personal loss (his wife and child) which occupies about ten seconds of the movie. He finds a bunch of liberal-hippie types running a gas refinery (??? huh ???) in the middle of the outback, in a world where gasoline means life or death. The liberal-hippie types are being attacked by a really weird group of folks, including a very obvious gay couple. There is a feral boy with a razor-sharp boomerang who knows more than anyone else.

It seems hard to find any connection between this movie and anything in reality.

Recommended only for curiosity value.

This is what it has come to...
Okay, here's the deal. Mad Max (Max Rockatansky) is THE baddest BELIEVABLE movie hero that ever was and will be. Enough said. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

twisted sleeper, great character portrait
I am surprised by the other review posted of this film. This was the full length feature debut by Kiwi film maker Allison Maclean who was first brought to attention with her short film "The Kitchen Sink." It is at all times a dark and emotional film, and even unnervingly humorous at some points. It fully delves into the complex and generally tenuous relationships between women. It shows the intense jealousy and rivalry that can co-exist with a fierce loyalty and comraderie all at once between two intelligent and successful women. While I have read reviews of this film that hint at a lesbian relationship between the two adult female leads, I never picked up on it, but did read a strong possiblity of that attraction between Lane (Hardin) and Angela (Bossley). I think the contrast of the good and evil in the established relationship between Lane and Christina, and then getting to see the evolution of both those elements through the development of the almost perverse friendship between Lane and Angela is fascinating. This film is a beautiful portrait of the conflicted relationships that exist between women in our modern society and the fact that there is a male sexual relationship thrown in is almost secondary and not comepletely necessary for the ultimate storyline. The bleak and harsh New Zealand back-drop is a perfect setting for this story as well. I own this film personally and can without a doubt recommend this for at least a pre-purchase veiwing. Also of note: Director Allison Maclean directed the first 2 episodes of HBO's Sex and the City

A thriller that never thrills
Limp, lackluster plot with uninspired acting and uninteresting characters. The only possible point of interest is Marcia Gay Harden of 'Miller's Crossing.' She hasn't had many good parts other than that film, and this isn't one of them. ... Read more

Reviews (117)

One of the best action movies ever made.
Movie:
The Road Warrior, set seven or so years after the events of Mad Max. Max is now a heartless man, wandering the wastlands of the outback. The third world war has left the world in total ruin, and many have turned to the cruelness of the gangs that rule the wastland. The few that maintain the humanity are few. Max stumbles apon an little sliver of civilization which is constantly assulted by evil biker gangs. Soon he finds himself involved in their flight for survival. The last chase scean is epic compaired to anythng made to date. This movie as many movie buffs like me say, is possibly the best Action/Scific movie ever made. One might think that it is a very poor movie to the small amont of talking, this just adds to the brillance of the movie! This is kind of like Star Wars: Even if you don't like it, you have to see it at least once.
Movie 5 out of 5 stars
DVD:
Whoever owns the rights to this breakthrough-of-a-movie is out of his mind! Shure the picture and sound quality is good, but look at the extras! Zero, nada, zip. What a good way to ruin a great movie's DVD!
DVD: 1 out of 5 stars

The best, hands down
This is easily one of the greatest action movies ever made (and, personally, I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made, period.) It is also one of those rare movies that defines its genre, and yet, at the same time, transcends its genre. Actually, you have three different genres being represented in this film that, in the years since, have become intertwined as the norm for this type of movie because of "The Road Warrior"'s influence. You have the much-copied post-apocalyptic wasteland, populated by barbaric savages and helpless victims; you have the classic western and the classic western's "reluctant hero," represented here by Mad Max, the drifting loner, scarred by his past, who only comes to the aid of others when it serves him; and, of course, you have the spectacular car chases, amazing stunts and crashes and huge explosions of the modern action movie. "The Road Warrior" brought all three of these elements together, and you can still see them in movies today, such as the much-inferior "Waterworld" and "The Postman" (man, Costner must've liked this movie too--you'd think he'd get it right eventually.)
And, as an action movie, "The Road Warrior" has yet to be topped. All of the stunts, chases, crashes, explosions you see on the screen are 100% real. No computer enhancement, no technical junk -- when you see a guy drive into a car on a motorcycle and he flies about 75 feet through the air, it's real. And when I say this movie transcends its genre, I'm talking about the style in which it's directed. All of the action becomes almost operatic because of the expert direction and musical score. It comes across as a beautiful-looking action movie, in spite of all the violence and carnage.
I wouldn't hesitate to rate "The Road Warrior" as one of the best action movies of all time and Mel Gibson's Mad Max as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) action "hero" in cinema history. If this movie were made today, the writers would probably have him cracking lame one-liners throughout the film, but, instead, Max hardly speaks at all (the strong, silent type that also goes with the western genre) -- his actions speak for him. I wish Hollywood at least attempted to make action movies and action movie heroes like this these days (well, come to think of it, I guess they did attempt it with "Waterworld," and that became one of the biggest money-losers in film history, so I guess the moral is: Don't try to duplicate perfection.)

MEN OF THE WORLD, WATCH THIS
This is quite possibly the greatest MAN movie ever made. Cars, guns, blood, exploding heads. I can't even begin to say how much I love this movie. It is truly a fantastic spectacle and the best sequel I've ever seen.

Not very interesting
I guess the folks who made this movie decided to make an all-out pitch to a mediocre audience: it's all about cars and gasoline and violence.

The way it is put together is mildly interesting, but incoherent. The purported hero, Mad Max, has been subjected to an enormous personal loss (his wife and child) which occupies about ten seconds of the movie. He finds a bunch of liberal-hippie types running a gas refinery (??? huh ???) in the middle of the outback, in a world where gasoline means life or death. The liberal-hippie types are being attacked by a really weird group of folks, including a very obvious gay couple. There is a feral boy with a razor-sharp boomerang who knows more than anyone else.

It seems hard to find any connection between this movie and anything in reality.

Recommended only for curiosity value.

This is what it has come to...
Okay, here's the deal. Mad Max (Max Rockatansky) is THE baddest BELIEVABLE movie hero that ever was and will be. Enough said. ... Read more

Reviews (61)

A Typical and Atypical Western
"Quigley down Under" stars Tom Selleck in the title role as an American sharpshooter who answers a help wanted poster for the best rifleman in the world. The job is in Australia and Quigley travels there not knowing exactly what the job is.

When he arrives in Australia, Quigley meets Crazy Cora, played by Laura San Giacomo. Cora is a slightly deranged American who believes Quigley to be her husband Roy. Cora continues to believe Quigley to be Roy even after he insists his name is Matthew Quigley.

When Quigley finally meets his new employer, Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman), he is disgusted to find out that Marston wants him to shoot Aborigines. Cora has become the self-designated defender of the Aborigines and gets abused by Marston for it. Quigley intervenes and winds up roughing Marston up a bit. Marston then has Quigley and Cora beaten and left in the desert to die.

"Quigley down Under" becomes, after this, a set piece movie about good versus evil. This is typical of the Western genre. In this Western though the good guys are a little "gooder" than usual. Both Quigley and Cora are pure hearts who only want what's right for the Aborigines. Cora is more determined to see it happen while Quigley is only interested in it so far as it gets him out of Australia alive.

The most interesting part of the movie is the relationship between Quigley and Cora. In most Westerns the woman is a one-dimensional cutout whose only raison d'etre is to stand by in horror as her man goes out to fight the bad guy. However, Cora is a fully fleshed out individual with both a history before Quigley and an existence independent of him. She still does the "stand by in horror" thing; but, it's with a sense of grace and composure you don't often get from that role.

From that relationship between Quigley and Cora is where I derive my four-star rating. Absent it, this movie would only get two stars from me. The Western is one of the most overdone genres in the cinema. To be able to find a unique spin on it after so many have been done is a well accomplished task.

Another plus for "Quigley down Under" is its cast. The three main players in this movie; Selleck, San Giacomo, and Rickman; are all first-rate actors. That Tom Selleck has not become a film star similar to Tom Cruise or Robert De Niro amazes me. He has an ability to fill a screen like so few actors can. The one actor who comes to mind by way of comparison is Charlton Heston. They both have that ability to project the necessary emotions and feelings of a scene without much effort. Laura San Giacomo is also another actor that I have a hard time figuring out why she hasn't become a star. Her portrayal of Crazy Cora in "Quigley" should have been a springboard to better roles but it hasn't panned out. Rickman is probably the one from this movie to have the best movie career to date. Rickman is one of the best bad guys going and even when he plays an angel ("Dogma") he still has that sideways sneer that makes you wonder what kind of a criminal he would be if he didn't find acting.

"Quigley down Under" is not your typical Western, which is why it might not be for those who enjoy movies like "Unforgiven" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales". However, it is a good movie from a non-Western genre standpoint and one that I'd recommend.

Tom Selleck's best ever
Like many TV actors, "Quigley"'s star Tom Selleck gave much attention, during and after his small-screen career, to attempting to break into movies. If he'd been born in 1926, instead of 1946, he would probably have gained fame, not as Thomas Magnum, but in Western films and/or TV series like this one. Quigley is the role he was born to play, and in Quigley's adventures he has made, to my mind, the best movie of his career.

This slam-bang actioner, though often labelled a "Western," actually takes place, not in the American West, but in the Crown Colony of Western Australia, probably around 1875 (there are still convicts there). Selleck plays Matthew Quigley, a soft-spoken marksman from Wyoming, who answers an advertisement by Australian rancher Marston (Alan Rickman) for "the finest long-distance marksman in the world." After three months on a sailing ship, he steps ashore at the port of Fremantle, where he promptly gets into a brawl with what turn out to be three of Marston's men, come to meet him, and is mistaken by displaced "native-born Texian" Crazy Cora Cobb (Laura San Giacomo) for her husband Roy. At Marston Water he offers a display of his skill with his primary weapon, a customized Sharps .45 buffalo gun, and impresses everyone, including Marston, who describes himself as "a student of your American West" and is a fast draw, pinpoint-accurate, and quietly proud of it. Only now does Quigley find out that he was being hired, not to kill dingoes (Australian wild dogs) as he thought, but to clear Marston's lands of the native Aboriginies. He promptly throws Marston out the French window of his own house, but is eventually overwhelmed by Marston's crew and, with Cora, taken out to the desert to die. Managing to kill the two men who fetched them there, he recovers his rifle and big Stetson, but loses the buckboard and horses. Trying to walk out, he and Cora are found by a clan of Aboriginies, who take them in, and when a group of Marston's men appears to hunt the natives down, Quigley takes up his Sharps in their defense. Eventually he eliminates Marston and all but three of his men in a sort of one-man "long hunt," climaxed by a shootout in which, though wounded and battered and admitting that he "never had much use" for handguns (he doesn't even carry one), he kills three men so fast that his shots sound like one.

Though there's a good deal of violence in this video--in fact, it will probably be too intense for kids under the age of 12 or so--none of it is gratuitous: each instance either serves to further the story in some way or is portrayed as an inevitable result of the choices and character of the person acting or being acted against. Selleck's Quigley is a '90's version of the classic John Wayne hero: soft-spoken, quietly competent, modest and unassuming (he "spent a night" in Dodge City once, and describes it as "a nice place to get some sleep"), chivalrous toward women and even a little unsure of how to react to them. (His early interactions with San Giacomo's Cora, on the Fremantle docks and in their first outback camp, add a whimsical touch to the movie's tone and should draw laughs from all watchers.) He also has an iron code of behavior, and he doesn't hesitate to learn even from the primitive Aborigines: one of the most delightful sequences finds them teaching him to use a spear-thrower and to suck water out of the sand through a bamboo--after which he repays them by conducting a class in the making and proper use of a rawhide lasso. Rickman is the kind of villain you love to hate: smooth, silky, sneering, yet acting from what seem to him to be completely valid reasons. San Giacomo may be "touched in the head," but she's also earthy, practical, and fiercely loyal to Selleck and to the orphaned Aboriginie baby they find; her story of how she came to be in Australia is touchingly delivered.

And, like most of the best movies, "Quigley" can serve as a starting point for some penetrating family discussion. Parallels will quickly be seen between the Aborigines' situation and, not only the experiences of the American Indian, but the "ethnic cleansing" through which the former Yugoslavia suffered, and which kids may have studied in school. Quigley seems not to be revengeful against Marston and his crew of 20-odd tough English and Irish until they act against the Aborigines who have been his and Cora's friends, and even then a case can be made for his killing as many of them as he can hit: afoot and outnumbered, he doesn't want them in the area and angry at him; after the second Aboriginie drive and the accidental killing of a storekeeper's wife, he is simply resolved to keep them from doing any more harm.

Though action is the movie's keynote, it is above all the story of how three people inspire one another to certain inevitable acts--in short, like all the best stories, it turns on character. And its characters will remain in the memory for a long time to come. (A side-benefit is the blood-stirring score by Basil Poledouris, which was one of the first CD's I ever purchased.) The cinematography gives a powerful sense of the size and loneliness of the Australian outback (filming was done in Alice Springs and other Australian locations), as well as of how important it is that Quigley seems far better able to adjust himself to it than Marston's men are willing to do. Director Simon Wincer, though not of American birth, has turned out a movie which, while not strictly a "real" Western, should become a classic of the genre. By my criteria, it's definitely a 10--or perhaps even a 12.

Great comedy
You will be laughing your tail off. Here is why:

Quigley (Tom Selleck), investigates a report on human right violations by the English settlers against the aboriginal population of Austria.

(Obviously, Quigley had improved the inter-racial relationships in his native Wyoming to perfection: black, indians, white, all live in equality, peace and harmony, and now he is on a mission to do the same in Austria)

Quigley quickly discovers the horrible truth, and being a superman, supperherro, suppersshooter, quickly brings justice. All bad guys (english, irish, scotch) are punished, aboriginals are free. No more slavery, genocide, collonialism and exploitation.

A blond Texan woman shares his passion and adopts a little black baby; the baby fell from a 200 feet cliff and survived!

Have fun!

Ernesto Ce Gevara

Western with a twist
This is an American Western to be sure, filmed in the outback! Classic good vs. bad! And lots of fun with the interaction between crazy Cora and Quigley! Fine acting all around and a nice twist at the end! Very enjoyable.

Boring CD, good movie
In glancing at the reviews I see that many of them are for the moive which is much better than the soundtrack. I've liked the title theme since I first heard it and always wanted the CD for that reason. Out of the 11 tracks I was disappointed to find that I really liked only about three selections, maybe one or two more than that. #1 Main Title is good and #11 Matthew Quigley amounts to about three different versions of the tune, it might be even better.
Out of the eleven tunes six have varying degrees of the theme worked into them in some way, thats what makes the CD boring, so little variety. I think I did like #4 Marston's Murderers, actiony but no Quigley bits. #4 Native Montage had no Quigley and certainly nothing Native to it, guess it was all right otherwise.
All I can really recommend this album for are the two Quigley selections, easily the best on the CD. Shiloh Rifle, the company that made the Sharps that Selleck used in the movie still uses the title selection on their website 12 years later, that's how good that tune is. ... Read more

Reviews (117)

One of the best action movies ever made.
Movie:
The Road Warrior, set seven or so years after the events of Mad Max. Max is now a heartless man, wandering the wastlands of the outback. The third world war has left the world in total ruin, and many have turned to the cruelness of the gangs that rule the wastland. The few that maintain the humanity are few. Max stumbles apon an little sliver of civilization which is constantly assulted by evil biker gangs. Soon he finds himself involved in their flight for survival. The last chase scean is epic compaired to anythng made to date. This movie as many movie buffs like me say, is possibly the best Action/Scific movie ever made. One might think that it is a very poor movie to the small amont of talking, this just adds to the brillance of the movie! This is kind of like Star Wars: Even if you don't like it, you have to see it at least once.
Movie 5 out of 5 stars
DVD:
Whoever owns the rights to this breakthrough-of-a-movie is out of his mind! Shure the picture and sound quality is good, but look at the extras! Zero, nada, zip. What a good way to ruin a great movie's DVD!
DVD: 1 out of 5 stars

The best, hands down
This is easily one of the greatest action movies ever made (and, personally, I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made, period.) It is also one of those rare movies that defines its genre, and yet, at the same time, transcends its genre. Actually, you have three different genres being represented in this film that, in the years since, have become intertwined as the norm for this type of movie because of "The Road Warrior"'s influence. You have the much-copied post-apocalyptic wasteland, populated by barbaric savages and helpless victims; you have the classic western and the classic western's "reluctant hero," represented here by Mad Max, the drifting loner, scarred by his past, who only comes to the aid of others when it serves him; and, of course, you have the spectacular car chases, amazing stunts and crashes and huge explosions of the modern action movie. "The Road Warrior" brought all three of these elements together, and you can still see them in movies today, such as the much-inferior "Waterworld" and "The Postman" (man, Costner must've liked this movie too--you'd think he'd get it right eventually.)
And, as an action movie, "The Road Warrior" has yet to be topped. All of the stunts, chases, crashes, explosions you see on the screen are 100% real. No computer enhancement, no technical junk -- when you see a guy drive into a car on a motorcycle and he flies about 75 feet through the air, it's real. And when I say this movie transcends its genre, I'm talking about the style in which it's directed. All of the action becomes almost operatic because of the expert direction and musical score. It comes across as a beautiful-looking action movie, in spite of all the violence and carnage.
I wouldn't hesitate to rate "The Road Warrior" as one of the best action movies of all time and Mel Gibson's Mad Max as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) action "hero" in cinema history. If this movie were made today, the writers would probably have him cracking lame one-liners throughout the film, but, instead, Max hardly speaks at all (the strong, silent type that also goes with the western genre) -- his actions speak for him. I wish Hollywood at least attempted to make action movies and action movie heroes like this these days (well, come to think of it, I guess they did attempt it with "Waterworld," and that became one of the biggest money-losers in film history, so I guess the moral is: Don't try to duplicate perfection.)

MEN OF THE WORLD, WATCH THIS
This is quite possibly the greatest MAN movie ever made. Cars, guns, blood, exploding heads. I can't even begin to say how much I love this movie. It is truly a fantastic spectacle and the best sequel I've ever seen.

Not very interesting
I guess the folks who made this movie decided to make an all-out pitch to a mediocre audience: it's all about cars and gasoline and violence.

The way it is put together is mildly interesting, but incoherent. The purported hero, Mad Max, has been subjected to an enormous personal loss (his wife and child) which occupies about ten seconds of the movie. He finds a bunch of liberal-hippie types running a gas refinery (??? huh ???) in the middle of the outback, in a world where gasoline means life or death. The liberal-hippie types are being attacked by a really weird group of folks, including a very obvious gay couple. There is a feral boy with a razor-sharp boomerang who knows more than anyone else.

It seems hard to find any connection between this movie and anything in reality.

Recommended only for curiosity value.

This is what it has come to...
Okay, here's the deal. Mad Max (Max Rockatansky) is THE baddest BELIEVABLE movie hero that ever was and will be. Enough said. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Dein Perry's Tap Dogs is a different kind of tap-dance show, emphasizing rugged masculinity, driving rock music, and a set rooted in the Australian steel industry. Now Perry tells his own story in the 2000 autobiographical drama Bootmen. Anyone who saw the summer 2001 blockbuster Pearl Harbor will find a familiar plot: A reckless hotshot tests the patience of his mentor, but his undeniable talent lands him a rare work opportunity. He leaves behind his friends and his girl, and when he returns unexpectedly, he finds that his girl has taken up with his best friend. In this case, the hotshot is hoofer Sean (Adam Garcia, who cofounded the original Tap Dogs troupe and played the lead in the stage version of Saturday Night Fever), and the best friend is his brother, Mitchell (Sam Worthington), who had a one-night stand with his girl (Sophie Lee). Along the way, Sean decides to create his own dance troupe and put on a benefit show, which allows for elements of The Full Monty and Brassed Off (depressed industrial town needs a lift) and October Sky and Billy Elliot (father doesn't approve). OK, so the plot isn't any great shakes, but the dancing is terrific--flashy, hard-edged, and gritty, using steelworks machinery as props. If you're a fan of Tap Dogs, you'll enjoy this backstage look at the troupe, but if you're here just for the dancing, you might prefer to start with the original full-length show. --David Horiuchi ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Dein Perry's Film Version of "Tapdogs" Ignites Sparks"
Dein Perry's Aussie stage sensation "Tap Dogs" is the basis for this frenzied, fast-paced dance musical about a young steel worker who creates an industrial stength tap show to raise money for a very worthy cause. Yes, the plot is old hat. So are the characters, the subplots and the ending. But this isn't David Mament. And that's o.k. It's "Full Monty," "Summer Stock," "Andy Hardy" and "Billy Elliott" revisited. You also get handsome faces, pretty girls, orange sunsets, crashing waves, a pumped-up score and a great performance by Adam Garcia. If case you've forgetten, Garcia created the role of Tony Manero in the London stage production of "Saturday Night Fever." Here, he dances on steel beams, pipes and metal floors while Perry turns up the heat using some of his famous "TapDogs" routines. If you want escapism, you'll find it here. You'll also succomb to Garcia's charms in much the same nanner as those lucky enough to catch him live in London's West End.

Bootmen..Andy Hardy meets The Full Monty meets STOMP!!
BOOTMEN with all its predictablity, is still an entertaining film mainly because of the engaging characters and the fact that it has something that is missing in film for so many years..tap dancing! Set in a small town near Sydney, Australia, a steel worker (Adam Garcia as Sean)yearns to be a professional tap dancer. Along the way, he is discouraged by his father(also a steel worker), has a falling out with his brother (Sam Worthington as Mitchell) over a girl, and fails at his chance to be on a tap chorus line in a major stage production in Sydney. He decides, againts all odds, to create his own tap dancing show and recruits friends to be in his production. Then he is given permission at the steel mill to use an empty warehouse to rehearse and renovate to put on his show. At first, the show is to showcase his talent, but when the steelmill announces a layoff and shutdown, he uses the show as a benefit to raise money for awareness and re-training for the soon to be unemployed steel workers. The sublot is Sean's brother's illegal automobile chop shop business and his affair with Sean's girlfriend which seems a little heavyhanded compared to the upbeat foreground of the main plot. Otherwise, BOOTMEN delivers on inventive tap dancing to a Rock 'n' Roll beat, a decent plot, and characters to care about.

Bootmen
WOW! I loved the dancing - masculine fellas showing how to really TAP! The idea of using a warehouse for the final setting, along with a dance done in some shallow water was WAY TOO COOL!

The story plot not that bad either!

An incredible venture into dancing, acting, and feeling good
Recently became a fan of Adam Garcia after seeing him in Riding in Cars with Boys and Coyote Ugly. So I looked this video up. This is really the best. He's the lead obviously and the viewers get a chance to see him do his thing and dance like crazy. My sons watched it and now they are going to take tap this fall. Something I wanted to do. I thought it was great. The critics probably hated it. They hate his newest release the 1st 20 million is always the easiest, but they