Tony Bonner Movies

Adapted from true events, this Australian production concerns a nurse (Linda Blair) who works at a psychiatric hospital. She gradually discovers the grisly truth about a head doctor (Tony Bonner) who performs rather suspect operations on comatose patients. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Starring Carl Weathers as the title character, Hurricane Smith is an action film about a Texan who travels to Australia's Gold Coast intent on finding his missing sister. Once he arrives down under, he discovers that his sister has been killed by a drug kingpin (Jurgen Prochnow), and Hurricane becomes involved with the underworld so he can avenge his sister's death. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The frontier of the title is Australia, the locale for this sprawling four-hour TV movie. Linda Evans stars as an American divorcee who marries an Australian cattleman (Tony Bonner). He dies in a plane crash, leaving Evans and her two teenaged stepchildren stranded on a drought- and debt-ridden ranch. She finds herself smack-dab in the middle of a feud between a covetous land baron (Jason Robards) and his idealistic son (Jack Thompson). With problems of her own, Evans refuses to take sides...until she falls in love with the son. The Last Frontier was filmed on location in Australia's Northern Territory and Barossa Valley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anzacs: The War Down Under is a two-part Australian TV movie dramatizing the activities of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). This all-volunteer outfit fought shoulder to shoulder with enlisted men during the First World War. The film concentrates on three Anzacs: An aristocrat (Andrew Clarke), his best friend (Mark Hembrow) and his friend's sister (Megan Williams). Part One details the training of the volunteers, and their first taste of true combat. Part Two details the further activities of the all-volunteer Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACS). During the first few months of World War I, aristocratic Anzac Andrew Clarke is wounded, and is urged to go home to convalesce by Megan Williams, the sister of his best friend (Mark Hembrow). Meanwhile, heavy fighting in France has thinned the ranks and battered the morale of the other Anzacs. Featured in the cast as a military man is Paul Hogan. It was Hogan's new-found international stardom in 1986's Crocodile Dundee which sparked the American distribution of Anzacs, two years after its initial 1985 Australian run. The video release is edited from the 10-hour Australian miniseries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by an epic poem by A.B. "Banjo" Patterson, The Man From Snowy River was a major step forward for the regenerated Australian film industry of the early '80s. This "down-under Western" spotlights Tom Burlinson as Jim Craig, a headstrong young man who goes to work for a powerful cattle baron. Burlinson falls in love with Jessica (Sigrid Thornton), his boss' daughter, and becomes enmeshed in a bitter land feud. Kirk Douglas has a high old time in the dual role of hard-hearted landowner Harrison and grizzled, one-legged old prospector Spur. Previously filmed in 1920, The Man From Snowy River was directed by the other George Miller, not the director of the same name who helmed Mad Max (1979). A monumental moneymaker, the film inspired a 1988 sequel, confusingly titled Return to Snowy River, Part II. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As this gritty drama about a young teen's fight to overcome her past begins to unfold, flashbacks are interspersed with the present-tense story. This technique keeps viewers wondering exactly where Sam (Tracey Mann) is going: in the direction that led her to jail, or towards a normal life? After she gets out of prison, her old friends and a corrupt cop named Brady (Bill Hunter) provide formidable obstacles. They all see her as a rebellious delinquent in spite of her efforts to change. Faced with nearly insurmountable odds, Sam's struggle for her future is not going to be easily won. Mann won a 1980 Best Actress Award from the Australian Film Institute for her performance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This growing-up story, set in Australia during the '20s, features a young man (Christopher Pate) who gains from his wise grandmother's experience (Geraldine Fitzgerald). The 1977 film was produced and written by Michael Pate, who cast his son as the lead. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

As the Ottoman Empire collapses throughout Turkey in 1922, a number of adventurers from all over the world sign on to protect the locals from thieves and marauders--for a hefty price. Two such mercenaries are Adam Dyer (Tony Curtis) and Josh Corey (Charles Bronson), who are hired by provincial Turkish governor Osman Bey (Gregoire Aslan). Adam and Josh are expected to protect their boss' gold shipment, and to provide safe conduct for Osman Bey's three daughters. Along the way, our "heroes" decide to forget their mission and abscond with the gold, but their plans are foiled by their own inherent ineptitude--and by the bothersome interference of duplicitious Colonel Elci (Fikret Hakan). You Can't Win 'Em All is best described as a "western with fezzes." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ziggy (Mark Lester) is the young boy who witnesses the murder of a visiting black official by the police. Much like the boy who cried wolf, Ziggy has been known to stretch the truth and exaggerate. He is unable to convince the adults that he witnessed the killing. The murderous cops are soon on his trail as he hits the road with his sister (Susan George)and her boyfriend (Tony Bonner). The real police soon follow, after convincing his parents that Ziggy has told the truth for once. The boys grandfather (Lionel Jeffries) is the retired Colonel, a lighthouse keeper and lovable curmudgeon. Jeremy Kemp is the police chief, and the main heavy is played by Peter Vaughan. The boyfriend's car is cornered on a treacherous cliff where the villains try to ram the vehicle to the jagged rocks below. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide