Review of The Man from Snowy River (1982) by Art S — 13 Feb 2014

Part of my Australian education. This film was based on an 1890 poem by Banjo Paterson (who also wrote "Waltzing Matilda"). It takes place around that time and it's a western, focused on cattle ranching and on horses and horsemen.

But let's categorize it as a family film, because it is so overly sentimental and so dripping with cloying music that I'm not sure adults can properly enjoy it. However, kids of a certain age (there is an adolescent love affair) might find it appealing.

The aerial shots of horses (and horse-riding) in the Australian Alps are admittedly pretty glorious. Kirk Douglas chews the scenery in a dual role, clearly there to assist TV director George Miller (not the famous one who made Mad Max) to crack the American market.

I don't think it worked (but Crocodile Dundee succeeded just a few years later).