George Miller Movies
Scottish-born film director George T. Miller has spent much of his career characterized as "the other George Miller." This is because Miller, a veteran of Australian television, did not make his first theatrical feature until 1982 -- three years after the release of Mad Max, which was the inaugural effort of another Aussie-based director named George Miller. Miller attempted for a while to differentiate himself by including the middle initial "T" in his billing. The success of his first film The Man from Snowy River (1982) stirred up so much publicity over the fact that Australia boasted two talented George Millers that Miller decided to allow the "confusion" to stand, figuring that his true fans would be able to separate the two Georges. Snowy River would remain the "other" George Miller's biggest hit; subsequent films like The Neverending Story II (1988) and TV projects like Anzacs (1984) had their moments, but failed to generate the same excitement as Miller's first effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Scottish-born director George Miller (The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter, The Man from Snowy River) helms the gore-drenched Sci-Fi Channel creature feature Attack of the Sabretooth, starring Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds) and Stacy Haiduk (CSI: Miami). Multimillionaire Niles invests in a jungle theme park known as the Valalola, which offers the spectacle of live, genetically-cloned prehistoric beasts, "caged in" by electricity. He invites a ragtag band of college students as his initial tourists, but fails to anticipate a minor malfunction that pulls the plug on all the animal cages and sends a mammoth, carnivorous sabretooth cat racing across the island. Desperate to satiate itself with human blood, it makes a beeline for the terrified visitors. Brian Wimmer and Nicholas Bell co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carradine, Brian Wimmer, (more)
This French/German co-production stars Judd Nelson as eccentric scientist Alex Branson, who, after his life is saved by a courageous golden retriever named Rex, returns the favor by operating upon the seriously injured canine. Implanting a high-tech "thetachip" in Rex, Alex transforms the pooch into a super-powered cybermutt, with ultra-developed artificial intelligence and physical powers far beyond those of ordinary hounds. Naturally, Rex's awesome new powers attract the attention of several scurrilous villains, who, aided by Alex's treacherous assistant Erica (Paulina Mielech), try to steal the dog for their own sinister motives. Directed by Australian George Miller of The Man From Snowy River fame, Cybermutt was completed in 2002, but not exhibited in the U.S. until it aired over cable's Animal Planet network on May 26, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Paulina Mielech, (more)
- 1999
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Like the 1959 theatrical feature of the same name, the two-part cable movie Journey to the Center of the Earth was loosely adapted from the Jules Verne novel (also of the same name). The first part of the TV version faithfully follows the chronology of the earlier film, with famed archeologist/explorer Professor Theodore Lytton (Treat Williams), his nephew, Jonas (Jeremy London), and adventurer-for-hire, McNiff (Hugh Keays-Byrne) embarking upon an expedition to the earth's core. The three men are following in the footsteps of Casper Hastings (Bryan Brown), who disappeared during a similar expedition several years earlier. Coming along for the ride is Casper's wife (or perhaps, widow), Alice Hastings (Tushka Bergen). Upon the foursome's arrival at the titular center of the Earth in part two, the plot goes off on a new, Apocalypse Now-inspired tangent, with the "lost" Casper Hastings reigning as a god over a subterranean (and cannibalistic) native tribe. Directed by George Miller (of The Man From Snowy River fame), Journey to the Center of the Earth made its first American TV appearance courtesy of cable's USA Network on September 14 and 15, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Treat Williams, Tushka Bergen, (more)
A madman learns how to control the oceans for his own purposes, and two very different scientists band together to stop him in this made for TV disaster movie. The coastline of Southern California is suddenly besieged with a series of tidal waves which threaten to wipe out a number of seashore communities. Investigators suspect that the tsunamis are not of natural origin, and oceanographer Jessica Weaver (Julianne Phillips) and weapons expert John Wahl (Corbin Bernsen) are brought together to look into the matter. Together, they uncover evidence that the waves are the work of a terrorist, but when a billion dollar ransom is demanded to save Los Angeles from a massive tidal wave, some suspect that Wahl is in cahoots with the bad guys. Tidal Wave: No Escape also features Harve Presnell, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Gregg Henry. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
This children's story of a dog and a dolphin borrows heavily from family movies of the past. Zeus is a dog who follows a neighbor, a marine biologist named Mary Beth (Kathleen Quinlan), to work one day. Aboard a ship, the dog meets Roxanne, a dolphin that Mary Beth is studying. When she sees the dog riding on the dolphin's back, she decides to study their friendship. A villainous fellow researcher, Claude (Arnold Vosloo), tries to steal her research, but he is thwarted by the dolphin, the dog, and the dog's young owner, Jordan (Miko Hughes). Terry (Steve Guttenberg), Jordan's father, is a songwriter who still pines for his dead wife. Jordan, together with Mary Beth's daughters, try to ignite a romance between their parents, who are both unattached. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Guttenberg, Kathleen Quinlan, (more)
Pierce Brosnan, best known for his suave and sophisticated roles, takes on a new screen personality in this adaptation of Daniel Defoe's classic novel. Robinson Crusoe (Brosnan) is an adventurer who hopes to find fame and fortune on the high seas, but a fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday (Wiliam Takaku), a tribesman living on the island. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but when he discovers another tribe is also living on the island, he comes mad with power and insists that he be the sole ruler of all he surveys. Robinson Crusoe also stars Ian Hart, Lysette Anthony, and James Frain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Filmed on location in Kenya, this made-for-TV movie tells the story of a boy's fight to save an elephant. Stephanie Zimbalist stars as Beverly Cunningham, a mother who takes her son to live with her in Africa. When her son and a pal befriend an abandoned elephant, a Safari chase ensues as they try to save the animal from the hands of an uncaring businessman. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
This family drama features the riotous exploits of a lovable seal who befriends a family of animal lovers living in Rockport Maine. The father in this family is Harry Whitney, the harbor master with a great love of animals. His wife Thalice, teenagers Steve and Paula also adore wild critters. But the one who loves them most of all is Toni, a grade-schooler. Every corner of their seaside home is filled with small animals. At work Harry battles the fishermen who hate the seals because they interfere with their catch. Their leader is Billy Baker who drinks too much. At school Toni is persecuted by her schoolmates, the sons and daughters of fishermen. Andre, the seal, has been separated from his clan and is sick. He is rescued by Harry, who brings him home. With Toni's special help, Andre returns to health and becomes a real handful by getting into innocent trouble at every turn. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Tina Majorino, (more)
- 1993
A teacher's life is nearly destroyed when his deranged student cries rape in this Australian drama. The new philosophy professor at an all-girls' academy, Professor Justin Thorne (Jimmy Smits) has it all: a great job, a solid wife (Sarah Chadwick) and family, and the adulation of his impressionable students. But when one particularly imaginative and alluring student takes a shine to him, Thorne finds himself in court fighting for his future. Jennifer Carter (Naomi Watts), the daughter of the school's widowed headmaster, throws off her loutish boyfriend and throws herself at Thorne. Meanwhile, she keeps a diary of imaginary encounters with a phantom lover. Cornered in his office one night, Thorne gets his blood up desperately rejecting Jennifer's advances. The passion is so strong that he finds himself making love to her almost involuntarily. Soon, Jennifer shows up battered and bruised, claiming Thorne raped her, and the police seize on her diary as proof of a twisted affair. Soon, the discredited professor must suffer through character assassination in court while attempting to unravel Jennifer's tortured psyche and stay out of jail. Adrian Wright co-stars as Kenneth Carter, the accusor's stern, secretive father. The film's director, George Miller, is not to be confused with the other Australian George Miller, who directed Mad Max. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Smits, Naomi Watts, (more)
- 1993
Based on a true story, Disney's made-for-television film Goodbye, Miss 4th of July is about the daughter of Greek immigrants in pre-World War II West Virginia. The girl and her family befriend an elderly, ailing former boxer, who happens to be African-American. The boxer and the family are forced to battle the racism of their community during the first half of the film, while the second half concerns an influenza epidemic. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1992
When a North Pole bookkeeping boo-boo threatens to destroy the magic of Christmas, poor Santa is left with very little time in which to find a suitable replacement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Bridges, Michael Tucker, (more)
- 1992
- PG13
A rising young executive is ecstatic to learn that he is to be acting president at the small-town bank his company just purchased until he gets there and realizes that it is a sperm bank. This base little comedy centers on his attempts to make the place profitable and also chronicles the growing love between himself and the uptight but pretty biologist who works there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Long, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
- 1992
- PG
Somewhere in the Northeastern U.S., Alma (Olympia Dukakis) is a 60-year-old recent widow who has never been on her own since her early marriage to a domineering husband. Her son tries to immure her in a dowdy apartment in the basement of his house and showers her with perfunctory and thoughtless shows of public affection while preventing her from having any sort of life of her own. Her other child is a socially ambitious woman married to an ambitious Australian politician. Offended by the patronizing and heavy-handed attentions of her son, Alma flies off to see her daughter in Australia but swiftly discovers that she is not wanted there. In fact, she overhears her daughter and son-in-law talking about how to get her to leave. Rather than stay where she is unwelcome, she buys a vintage-model Chevy and charges off into the countryside, contemplating suicide -- or at the very least, kicking over the traces. She runs into Dutch (Derek Fowlds), a cantankerous but generous man about the same age as she is, and the two of them begin an impromptu tour of the glories of Australia. For the first time in her life, she has a romance between equals, and it takes her some time to adjust to it. While her daughter is worried that her neglect of her mother will reflect badly on her in public life and is anxious to track her down, Alma is having the time of her life and is discovering that she's a pretty spunky, capable woman in the bargain. This quiet little gem of a movie sparked little interest at the box-office but has done well in televised showings, and is available on tape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olympia Dukakis, Sigrid Thornton, (more)
- 1991
- PG
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Following the surprisingly successful children's fantasy The Neverending Story (1984), this lesser sequel presents the further adventures of the young boy Bastian in the magical land of Fantasia. Bastian (Jonathan Brandis) returns to this kingdom of the imagination, reached through a magical antique book, to escape from his unpleasant life as a social outcast with a distant father. Unfortunately, things aren't so great in Fantasia either, which is under attack by the sorceress Xayide (Clarissa Burt), and Fantasia's young leader soon recruits Bastian to help win the battle for their world. Several memorable creatures return from the first film, including the Rock Biter and the Luck Dragon, and a number of other strange beasts make appearances along the way. However, the plot often relies on stale fairy-tale elements that make the sequel feel substantially less original than the fresh and unexpectedly charming original. However, enough children were entertained by the special effects and the simple story of good-versus-evil for a third installment, The Never Ending Story 3: Escape from Fantasia, to follow three years later. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Brandis, Kenny Morrison, (more)
- 1990
After a store mannequin comes to life to help a widower and his daughter, the 2 humans do everything they can to keep her alive. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivia Newton-John, Doug Sheehan, (more)
- 1989
Spooner stars Robert Urich as a forger, recently escaped from prison. Urich cooks up a phony resume and assumes the identity of a high-school teacher. He becomes the wrestling coach for a group of misfit kids with the lowest of low self esteem. In urging the kids not to give up, Urich's eyes are opened to the possibility of his turning his own life around. Jane Kaczmarek and Brent Fraser costar in Spooner, which premiered over the Disney Channel cable service on December 2, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
Essentially a showcase for the talents of Australian comedian Barry Humphries, this earthy comedy tells the tale of a boorish and boozy Aussie ambassador and his wife (Humphries plays both characters) who are stationed in a Middle Eastern country. There, they end up saving the world from the bio-hazard engineered by the nefarious Dr. Herpes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Humphries, Pamela Stephenson, (more)
- 1987
Christmas Visitor is an American/Australian coproduction geared for exposure on the Disney Channel pay-cable service. The scene is the Australian outback in the 1890s, where a drought threatens to wipe out a farming community. Holding out for a miracle, the farmers face a bleak Yuletide, until an ethereal stranger pays a visit. Christmas Visitor was directed by the "other" George Miller -- that is, the George Miller responsible for Man From Snowy River rather than Mad Max. In Australia, the film was telecast under the title Bushfire Moon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dee Wallace, John Waters, (more)
- 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)
Two people trying to leave ugly memories behind them find life and love anew in Australia in this made-for-television adaptation of the novel by Nevil Shute. Carl Zlinter (Michael York) was a doctor who was drafted into the German Army during World War II and forced to serve the Axis war effort. After the fall of the Third Reich, Carl becomes a displaced person and in time emigrated to Australia, where he tries to build a new life for himself and forget his horrific past. Jennifer Morton (Sigrid Thornton), meanwhile, is a woman from Great Britain who has her own grim memories of the toll the war took upon her nation, and has decided to visit Australia in search of sunshine and fresh scenery. Carl and Jennifer meet, and they soon fall in love, but it becomes obvious that they must reconcile their very different pasts if they are to make a future together. Originally produced for Australian television, The Far Country first aired as a two-part miniseries. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by Ernest Gann and set in 1928, this story starts out focusing on aviation and then flies in another direction at about three feet worth of altitude. Christopher Reeves is Edgar Anscombe, a pilot of a Stearman biplane running a mail route between the states of Washington and Nevada, when he is obliged to accept Tillie Hansen (Rosanna Arquette) as a passenger one day. Introverted at best, sullen and forbidding at worst, Edgar is struggling with his own trauma after surviving a crash that left him with an ugly scar across his face. Tillie personifies all the worse traits commonly attributed to the rich and spoiled -- and the two are set to joust from the beginning. After they take off, an accident occurs and although the dueling pair survive the crash, they are hard put to survive for long in the desolate mountains. Soon Edgar's friend Jerry (Scott Wilson) is out looking for him, and Tillie's obnoxious father is there at the base airport to put pressure on everyone to find her. Needless to say, Edgar and Tillie, in the meantime, are faced with dangers that make their previous problems seem minor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Reeve, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
- 1985
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
