Ray Pattison Movies
- 1986
- PG
In a slow-moving drama that is not likely to gain many adherents in this age of increasing environmental concerns, Steve (Jon Blake) is a forest ranger who is caught at the heart of a battle between devious conservationists (and their hand-maidens in the socialist government) on the one hand, and honest, hard-driving cattlemen on the other. Steve's love interest, Joanna (Lisa Armytage) complicates matters since her family comes down hard on one side of this debate. Predictable and cliched, this is not at all in the same class as director George Miller's first great hit, The Man from Snowy River. (This Aussie George Miller is not to be confused with his compatriot, the former physician turned director who struck gold with his Mad Max series.) ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Blake, Lisa Armytage, (more)
Even today, the Australian outback (the never-never of the title) is a daunting place to be left alone. In 1901, it was even more rugged and wild. In this artful drama, Jeannie Gunn (Angela Punch McGregor), a very genteel and citified Victorian-era newlywed, joins her husband in the Northern Territory to help manage a station ("station" is Aussie for "a large ranch"). There she gradually sheds her prim ways and, thanks to her friendship with the local Aborigines, becomes a representative of an entirely new class, sometimes called "Australian outback women." In addition to chronicling the transformation of a Victorian woman, this film offers insight into the situation of Aborigine society at the time, and it received high praise from Australian reviewers. It is based on the diaries of Jeannie Gunn herself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Punch McGregor, Arthur Dignam, (more)
