Chips Rafferty Movies

Outback was based on Kenneth Cook's novel Wake in Fright. Gary Bond plays a naive young Australian teacher who is tragically unprepared for his new position in the outback. The community he has been sent to is populated almost exclusively by amoral, primitive toughs, more interested in slaughtering kangaroos and sexual carousing than in such niceties as education or propriety. The methodical shattering of Bond's dearly held values plunge the young teacher deeper into degeneracy. Outback was so graphic in its original Australian version that 15 minutes had to be cut before American distributor Group W would consider touching it. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sam Moran (Richard Boone) is a Honolulu charter-boat captain who leads fishing expeditions in the tropical paradise. When his daughter is found murdered at the party of a wealthy young playboy, he seeks the truth about the murder. Convinced the playboy is guilty, he enlists the help of his friend Kittibelle (Joan Blondell), who runs an alcohol abuse treatment center. Sam runs into a wall of silence obviously built by hush money and islanders fearful of reprisals from the rich and powerful family. The determined dad fights to uncover the information that will land the murderer in jail as he avenges the death of his daughter. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Australian film favorite Chips Rafferty plays a scenery-chewing pirate captain in "Hitting the High Seas." Signing on as sailors, the Monkees discover that their captain is planning to hijack the luxury-liner the Queen Anne (other sources claim that the target is either the Queen Mary or the Queen Elizabeth, suggesting that the episode was considerably rewritten before filming). The boys try to organize a mutiny, only to find themselves on the business end of the skipper's sword. Songs: "Daydream Believer" and "Star Collector". Written by Jack Winter, "Hitting the High Seas" was originally telecast on November 27, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This colorful remake of the 1935 version again concerns the crew and treatment of the HMS Bounty by a cold hearted sadistic captain. Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard) boards the ship in Portsmouth, England, to embark on a mission to bring tropical breadfruit trees to Jamaica. Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando) is the aristocratic second mate who welcomes the new captain aboard. Christian's view of the captain sours with the cruel treatment of the crew and the dangerous decision to round Cape Horn. The Bounty sails into the teeth of a ferocious winter storm which is another in a long line of indignities suffered on the journey. John Mills (Richard Harris) is punished for stealing cheese. A sailor is ordered to stay aloft in the crow's nest, nearly resulting in death. The crew finds temporary paradise in Tahiti before Bligh's behavior becomes intolerable for the once faithful Christian. The crew revolts and sends the captain on his way in a small rowboat. Settling on Pitcairn Island, the crew soon realizes they may never see England again. Mills burns the ship to insure the trip is never made. Christian attempts to save the only means of transportation of their new island home. Lewis Milestone directed the film which was plagued by constant cost overruns to the tune of 18 million dollars. Brando's legendary ego clashed with results as turbulent as the fictitious trip around stormy Cape Horn. The movie retained slightly over half the cost of the production price tag in its initial release. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Director Fred Zinnemann was riding a crest in the '50s with movies like High Noon, From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma, and his success continues in this western-style drama set in Australia in the 1920s. Ida Carmody (Deborah Kerr) is married to Paddy (Robert Mitchum), a sheep drover whose nomadic existence makes him blissfully content. Neither Ida nor their son Sean share his love for roaming, in fact, Ida convinces her husband to take on a job as a sheep-shearer so they can finally have enough to get a mortgage on a farm. At first Paddy agrees but obviously does not know his own mind because in no time at all, he rebels -- though that is not the end of it. Peter Ustinov is also featured as Vanneker, a bachelor who comes to stay with the family, and Glynis Johns plays a hotelkeeper out to change Vanneker's non-marital status. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Australian film favorite Chips Rafferty is both star and producer of Walk Into Hell. Filmed on location in New Guinea, the story concerns the cultural clash between Australian laborers and the local natives. Rafferty plays Steve McAllister, whose job it is to supervise construction of an airfield for the convenience of a New Guinea-based oil company. Any hopes that Steve harbors for peaceful coexistence with the natives are dashed when white hunter Jeff Clayton (Pierre Cressoy) thoughtlessly kills a sacred white bird. Highlights include an edge-of-chair snake attack and an authentic tribal dance ceremony (scenes of bare-breasted native women were judiciously trimmed for American audiences). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first of two films based on characters created by novelist Moore Raymond, this tells of a mischievous Australian boy (Colin Peterson), Smiley, who wants a bicycle, but the funds aren't available. He goes through numerous adventures in his quest for his "dream" vehicle, the most heart-pounding of which involves drug smugglers. In the end, Smiley finally gets his coveted bike. This slim narrative is bolstered by the appearance of several reliable character actors, notably Australian film stalwart Chips Rafferty and British stage legend Ralph Richardson (as a bush parson). Smiley was followed by an unnecessary sequel, Smiley Gets a Gun. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Australian film favorite Chips Rafferty is virtually the whole show in The Phantom Stockman. Rafferty plays the Sundowner, a "good bad man" who robs from the rich and gives to the poor -- after keeping a slice of the loot for himself, of course. Aligning himself with heroine Kim Marsden Jeanette Elphick, The Sundowner (Rafferty) routs a gang of cattle rustlers and hunts down a murderer. And he does it all in 67 minutes, so the audience can get home early and happy. Featured in the cast of Phantom Stockman is famed Aboriginal painter Albert Namatijira, as "himself." For unknown reasons, the film is often omitted from the official printed resumés of star Chips Rafferty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Besotted by alcohol, Australian cattle-station owner Michael McGuire (Finlay Currie) is led to believe that crooked gambler Richard Connor (Peter Lawford) is his long-lost son. Connor and his partner-in-crime Gamble (Richard Boone) go along with the gag, convincing McGuire's daughter Dell (Maureen O'Hara) that they've arrived to help the old man save his livestock, when in fact they're planning a major swindle. The scheme goes awry when Connor falls genuinely in love with Dell. The arrival of mounted policeman Leonard (Chips Rafferty) sets the ball rolling for an onslaught of violence, renunciation and redemption. Vividly filmed on location in Australia, Kangaroo was remade in Africa as The Jackals in 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Released in the U.S. as Massacre Hill, the Australian Eureka Stockade was one of that country's biggest and most expensive postwar productions (it was nearly two years in the making!) Set during the 19th-century Australian gold rush, the film top-bills Chips Rafferty as boisterous prospector Peter Lallor. The gold bonanza is threatened by the arrival of claim-jumpers, usurpers and government bean-counters. At first, the prospectors intend to use random mob violence to ward off the invaders, but Lallor organizes the group into a strong, united front, as willing to mediate as to bust heads. Future star Peter Finch is eighth-billed as "Humffray." Eureka Stockade was remade years later as a TV miniseries. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bush Christmas can be described as an Australian western, albeit with a juvenile slant (indeed, it was produced on behalf of J. Arthur Rank's Children's Cinema Club). Set in the mountains of New South Wales, the story concerns a family of Australian kids who are heading homeward for the Christmas holidays. En route, they unwittingly provide the information which enables a band of thieves to steal their father's horses. Deciding to set things right on their own, the children head into the Blue Mountains to track down the thieves, relying on Aborginal survival skills to keep themselves going. The nominal star is the popular Chips Rafferty, playing a misleading likeable horse rustler. Though initially released in England in June of 1947, Bush Christmas has since become a TV Yuletide perennial throughout the English-speaking world. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Peter Finch enjoyed one of his first major screen successes with this wartime drama from Australia. Milo Trent (Chips Rafferty) and Bluey Donkin (Grant Taylor) are two Aussie infantrymen who are fighting in North Africa during World War II when they meet Peter Linton (Peter Finch), a slightly pretentious British soldier with a fondness for poetry. The three men form an unlikely friendship struggling to fend off Rommel's Afrika Corps as the Australian army battles to retain control of Tobruk, a strategically important city in Libya. Released as The Fighting Rats of Tobruk, this drama was based on actual incidents. Australian forces successfully held Tobruk against heavy fire from Axis troops for 250 days, and the battle has been cited as a turning point in the war in North Africa. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi