The Sundowners

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Feb 2 As a world traveling sheepshearer in 1980's I can tell you the lifestyle, attention to detail, laid back attitude, hard work, fights, shed living and nomatic life is accurate in this film. I cry when I watch it. The competitiveness in the shearing shed is daily and real. The independence and lifestyle, as real as can be shown on the screen. I know, I lived it for 10 years of my life. See more Alec B 02/20/2024 Billed as an epic, but this is more episodic and character driven and that is by no means a bad thing. Also everyone in the cast is more low key than you might expect which was a welcome choice. See more Teresa R 04/27/2023 I found this movie entertaining and enjoyable. See more 03/20/2022 Billed as an epic, but this is more episodic and character driven and that is by no means a bad thing. Also everyone in the cast is more low key than you might expect which was a welcome choice. See more steve d 07/20/2020 The characters were flat and also unlikable. See more 01/09/2020 During this era Hollywood produced films that were essentially travelogues to bring in audiences from middle America who wanted to see other parts of the world depicted in fabulous Technicolor. This was one of the more successful and it earned a Best Picture nomination but other than shots of beautiful scenery and strong performances from Deborah Kerr, Glynis Johns and Peter Ustinov there is not much to recommend it. Modern audiences with little patience will likely be bored by the film as it is lacking in any real plot and the visuals will be less stunning than it was when less people were able to travel to Australia. Australian Paddy Carmody, Robert Mitchum, is a drifter who travels around the country working mainly as a sheepherder for various different employers. His wife Ida, Deborah Kerr, is irritated by this lifestyle and she and their young son Sean, Michael Carmody, Jr., plot to have him settle somewhere. In order to do this they need to have enough money to purchase a house and hope that if Carmody takes on a new job he will bring in these funds and find himself attached to a new town. When Carmody takes up a job as a sheepherder in Cawndilla he employs the stuffy British Rupert Venekker, Peter Ustinov, whom the family quickly befriend. Venekker is pursued by the vivacious barmaid Mrs. Firth, Glynis Johns, but their burgeoning romance is threatened by his intent to leave and move to another town and her other suitors. Carmody is initially successful as a professional sheepshearer while Ida takes on the role of chef for the men and becomes a close confidant of the wives of the women in the town. Carmody invests all of their savings in a horse, known as "Sundowner", but eventually agrees to settle down much to the delight of his wife. One thing that differentiates this film from others of it's era is it's positive depiction of marriage as Ida is no nagging shrew and she and her husband argue over his irresponsible actions while remaining supportive of one another. There is a surprisingly frank scene at the opening of the film in which the two make love and their banter back and forth seemed like that of two people who have been together for a long time and know each other's boundaries. Kerr and Mitchum also add dimension to the characters as although Mitchum's accent slips into his familiar American drawl far too often they are convincing as two hard living, Aussie larrikins. As usual Kerr is on hand to play a disciplinary figure of sorts but there is a warmth to her Ida that is missing in some of her other characterizations and the suspicion with which she regards her husband is the lens through which we view him. She should be applauded because she takes a role that does not have a great deal of layers in the screenplay and makes her more complex with her fear of losing her husband and security really coming to the fore. Mitchum is weaker than Kerr but he still gets the wounded pride of Carmody after he loses a sheep shearing competition as has great chemistry with his on screen wife. They are the real reason to watch the film as although Johns and Ustinov are fun in supporting roles there is not enough of them in the film to justify the two and a half hour running time. Where the film stumbles is in the fact that it has very little plot to run on and yet it is extremely long and largely feels padded with unnecessary scenes and ‘plot points' like Mitchum getting into a brawl at the local pub one night. Had the film been just 90 to 100 minutes it would have been a lot easier to like and were it just a study of the relationship between the Carmodys with a few turns from colorful supporting characters thrown in. Director Fred Zinnemann was often responsible for over long pieces of ‘entertainment' that could have had a lot of fat cut off of them but this was certainly a better film than A Nun's Story (1959) which put me to sleep. See more Read all reviews

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