Peter Cummins Movies

In the wake of their surprise hit Malcolm, Australian screenwriter/photographer David Parker and director Nadia Tass concocted an equally delightful follow-up, Rikky & Pete. Rikky (Nina Landis) and her brother Pete (Stephen Kearney), feeling like misfits in their hometown (as indeed they are), head for a remote mining community. Here it is hoped that Rikky will at last discern her direction in life, and that Pete can work on his Rube Goldberg-ish inventions in peace. Well, now, if everything went as planned, there wouldn't be any movie, would there? Not quite as fresh and spontaneous as Malcolm, Rikky and Pete still possesses an eccentric charm all its own. Be advised, however, that the film is rated R, and may not be altogether appropriate for kids. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a bank robbery leads to the death of a police officer, Wyn (Simon Burke) and Slate (Martin Sacks) Jackson take witness Blanche McBride (Sigrid Thornton) hostage and attempt to evade capture. However, when the brothers begin to become enamored of their victim, their getaway becomes much more complicated. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Tim Burstall directed this adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's semi-autobiographical novel recalling his experiences in Australia in the early 1920s. The film, set at the height of World War I, begins at the English coastal home of writer Richard Somers (Colin Friels) and his German-born wife Harriet (Judy Davis). Since Somers is a conscientious objector and his wife is the nationality of the enemy, the British police pay him a visit. Somers is then drafted and undergoes a humiliating physical examination at the draft board. Seeing harassment in the air, Somers and his wife decide to leave England for the relative calm of Australia, where their neighbors are a pair of earthy suburbanites, Vicki (Julie Nihil) and Jack Calcott (John Walton). Jack, disillusioned by the war, has joined a fascist paramilitary group called the Diggers, led by a wealthy old general with the code name "Kangaroo" (Hugh Keays-Byrne). The Diggers want to stifle the emerging union movement in the country, and Kangaroo hopes to enlist Richard in the cause because "a country does not exist until it has found a voice." But Somers finds himself torn between opposing camps, since the Socialist trade unionists also want to utilize his writing skills for their own ends, looking for Somers to help them carry through "a partnership between poetry and power." ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Originally titled The Umbrella Woman, The Good Wife is set in an Australian lumber town in 1939. Marge Hills (Rachel Ward), the bored wife of kindly-but-dull Sonny Hills (Bryan Brown) begins dreaming of outside romances. She unexpectedly gets her wish in the form of Sonny's much-younger brother Sugar (Steven Vidler), whom Sonny cheerfully offers to his wife as a surrogate bedmate. Given this curious arrangement, one wonders why Marge is so upset when she is propositioned by handsome stranger Neville Gifford (Sam Neill). Eventually, Gifford sleeps with every other woman in town but Marge. Fed up with the unimaginative lovers in her own house, Marge finally gives in to Gifford, arousing the jealousy not of the cloddish Sonny, but of the immature Sugar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Many cinematic versions of this story which first appeared in 1889 (authored by Rolf Boldrewood) have been produced, the first was an Australian film dating back to 1907, and this mid-'80s interpretation is also an Australian release. The focus is on Captain Starlight (Sam Neill) and his gang of outlaws who terrorize the countryside in the late 19th century. Dick and Jim Marsten (Steven Vidler and Christopher Cummins) leave home to join Captain Starlight's gang of brigands, following fast on their father's own footsteps. Opposing the Marstens and the rest of the gang is the determined Sir Frederick Morringer (Robert Grubb). Love interests, arguments, and episodic adventures fill the time until the inevitable final showdown with the law. Originally intended as a series on television, the sequences have been cut to fit into a continuous, 2 1/2-hour movie -- unfortunately deleting background on the main protagonists and their lovers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Based on Raymond Radiguet's book of the same (French) title, this erotic film revolves around a September-May adulterous love affair. Unlike the book, the setting is the Australian outback in 1943, and the French heroine Marthe (Katia Caballero) has been legally "quarantined" by the Aussie government for the duration of the war. That is to say, her Italian husband has been put in jail, and she is not allowed to leave the country. After meeting schoolboy Paul Hansen (Keith Smith), sexual sparks ignite a smoldering desire, and the two eventually are engaged in an all-out affair. Rumor and innuendo and Paul's parents notwithstanding, the affair runs its course -- but the tragedy that ends the book has been written out here. As this film was released, director Marco Bellocchio was completing his own 1987 version of the same story, Il Diavolo in Corpo. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Although it makes her father unhappy, Jenny does not want a certain horse sold to the owners of a farm. She sets out to save her favorite animal. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Dennis Hopper plays the title character in this true story of a 19th-century Australian gold-digger who is pressed into a life of crime. A six-year stint in jail doesn't provide reform, but does introduce him to an Aboriginal partner-in-crime (David Gulpilil). The duo then proceed to terrorize the province of New South Wales with no lack of violence. The TV version was retitled Mad Dog. ~ John Bush, Rovi

In this adaptation of an Australian play, a police officer swears that never in 23 years on the force has he had to use his gun. A rookie is assigned to him, and soon they are both bored to death with watching television and working crosswords. They get a little excitement when a woman and her sister come into to complain that her husband has been beating her. The woman desperately wants to leave him, but cannot because he will not allow her to have the furniture. This inspires the lead cop to go to the apartment and tie up the abuser while the woman takes the furniture. They then proceed to beat the stuffing out of the man until he is near death. To ensure that he keeps silent about the beating, the cops agree to take the man out for a few drinks. During their night, battered wife beater keels over and dies. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Director Ken Hamman's breakthrough historical drama was the first Australian film of the 1970s to gain international acclaim, paving the way for the Australian New Wave and the success of movies such as The Last Wave and Breaker Morant. Sunday Too Far Away is a story about the struggles of itinerant sheep shearers in the Outback in the 1950s. Jack Thompson won an Australian Best Actor prize for his role as Foley, a hard-drinking, hard-working shearer who is the best at his profession. When local landowners try to drive away the sheep herders, Foley leads a strike to establish their right to exist and live off the land. The dispute turns violent as the landowners retaliate, and Foley struggles to maintain his supremacy. Many scenes were shot in the same shearing barn used in the 1960 British-Australian hit The Sundowners, which was about an Irish sheepherder who emigrates to Australia. The title comes from a traditional song of complaint sung by sheep shearers' wives. The film became a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi