Ernie Bourne Movies

All the Rivers Run is a four-part miniseries set in the Australia of the early 1900s. Sigrid Thornton stars as Philadelphia Gordon, an English artist who undertakes a tragic move to Australia with her family. During their voyage to the new continent, a shipwreck occurs, killing all but Philadelphia and one of the ship's crewmen. She is then shuttled off to live with her aunt and uncle on their farm, and uses her inheritance to fund a paddleship business with the crewman from the vessel who saved her life. Philadelphia's life is forever altered when she meets handsome frontier paddleboat skipper Brenton Edwards (the Australian actor John Waters -- not to be confused with the iconoclastic American director of the same name). Our heroine marries Edwards, but the union begets trouble when their paddlesteamer catches fire, destroying the craft altogether and forcing Brenton to take another job. Later, an accident that renders Brenton lame forces Philadelphia to work hard and support the couple; she then decides to rebuild the vessel while doubling up her efforts as a painter. Scripted by George Miller (the director of Man from Snowy River), All the Rivers Run was released in the U.S. over the HBO Cable service; it first aired January 15 through 18, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Effusive piano tuner Norman Kaye is on the less sunny side of forty and still unattached. Shy and self-effacing office worker Wendy Hughes is likewise getting on in years sans a lifetime companion. From the outset, we know that Kaye and Hughes will somehow come together. This, however, is the only predictable aspect of this quirky Australian comedy. Director Paul Cox co-wrote the ever-fresh screenplay of Lonely Hearts with John Clarke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An offbeat Australian comedy filmed in that country and in Canada, this is not the documentary its title suggests. Its unlikely protagonist is a mild-mannered window peeper named Dead-Eye Dick (Max Gillies). Dick spies on a Mexican couple. The husband is very jealous and is about to discover that his wife has a lover when Dead-Eye Dick rescues the lover, whose moniker is Mexico Pete (Serge Lazareff). The worldly Pete counsels the shy Dick on his problems approaching women. Dick claims that he's waiting for an Alaskan Eskimo named Nell. Pete and Dick decide to travel to Alaska to find this fantasy woman, and they have several wacky misadventures along the way. This mostly overlooked ripple in the Australian New Wave was produced, directed, and written by Richard Franklin. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide