the movie "australia"

[donw]

i noticed the leading man, "Drover", uses a lever rifle in the form of the teddy roosevelt .405.

if memory serves correctly, didn't they make them in .303 british for the aussies and canadians?

[mescalero1]

I had the impression it was .303

[Pop Watts]

As an Australian, please let me apolagise for that movie.
Pop

[Gun Smith]

M.95's were chambered in 303 British. The ballistics of the 303 are almost interchangable with the 30/40 Krag cartridge.

[don Tomás]

As an Australian, please let me apologize for that movie.
Pop

No worries, Pop. Nicole Kidman in that pair of pants pretty much made up for it all...
Tom

[winchester1886]

As another Aussie Iam with Pop Watts.

[mescalero1]

Pop,
What bothered you about it?

[Ysabel Kid]

Seemed like pretty harmless entertainment - and a bit eccentric, but so are most movies today.

[aussie]

Did you produce the movie Pop?

[Travis Morgan]

That movie sucked so bad I didn't even finish it.

[Cosmoline]

That's what everyone is saying, but they said that about "The Alamo" remake and I actually liked it.

[Travis Morgan]

Hey, if you like, that's fine; I'm just saying I couldn't stand it. The storyline was awfully thin, the characters were overdone, the leading "lady" is a whore, and there were entirely too many special effects.

[don Tomás]

...The storyline was awfully thin, the characters were overdone, the leading "lady" is a whore, and there were entirely too many special effects.

Other than that, good movie, huh?

[Travis Morgan]

Well, not really.

[MrMurphy]

Every Australian I know cringes at the mention of that movie......

The 1895 was made in everything from .30-06, to .30-40, .303, .405, and even 7.62X54mm Russian (something like 20,000 were ordered for the Imperial Russian Army, though not all of them actually made it there).

Interesting design, wish I could afford one! I've actually handled two original '95s, one in .30-06, the other in .30-40 I think.

[Pop Watts]

Here is why I did not like the movie.

As previously mentioned the story line is very thin and the characters are way overdone - although I did like David Gulpilil in the movie. Two other very good Australian actors were in totally ridiculous parts - Bryan Brown and Jack Thomson.

The biggest disappointment for me was the let down - we had media hype over here for more than 12 months about the "EPIC STORY OF AUSTRALIA" but as I think Hobie said it was just light entertainment.

The filming for WWII Darwin was all done in Bowen, North Queensland close to where I grew up, so heaos of people I know worked on the set. Funniest story I heard was after they dumped tons of red soil onto the bitumen streets of Bowen and ran a couple of hundred head of cattle into town they had to pick up all the cow dung before they recovered the soil. No-one wanted to do it so the film guys ended up going to a local back packers and pay some young travellers to come and pick it all up. That will be a story for them to tell their mates about.

So, probably just too much hype about a movie that was obviously not made for the Australian market.

To get a more accurate idea of early Australian stockmen try and find the books "Sons In The Saddle" or "Kings In Grass Castles".

Pop.

[mescalero1]

Thanks Pop,
I did not know.

[Ysabel Kid]

We didn't have the hype here, and I saw it for free, and wasn't expecting much, so I wasn't disappointed...

[Jacko]

I was doing my missus a favour when I bought her the DVD , sadly I thought it was one of the worst films I have ever seen , she enjoyed it though

I cringed the first time Drover said "Crikey" and got into the bar fight and ran and hid every other time in the movie he said it - overblown cliche and Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman knew it - The scene with Kidmans characters first night in the Aussie bush was predictable garbage - when Jackman flexed up and poored the bucket overhimself while still half dressed I got up and poored myself a stout Port I knew what the rest of the movie was going to be like . I doubt any of the actors other than Davis Gulipill and the young aboriginal lad put in any sort of effort into there parts . If they edited all the bad acting , cringe and cliche out of the movie you'd get tops a entertaining hour 20 minutes .

They could have expanded on so much in that film and set it up for a sequel . They missed opportunities in developing the bad guy's character , they should have gone more into the Drover characters wife perhaps starting the movie shortly before her death , they could have given us more of a history lesson on the many many times the Japs bombed Darwin and the ensuing Military stuff up that left barely a soldier in Darwin , made more of a scene out of the Japs landing on the mission island , more on David Gulipill and the young boys journey and actually ensured Jackman and Kidman had a good script to work off - it was obvious they thought it was overblown cliche and an misinfomercial

regards Jacko

PS The scene where the fella shot the Roo from the truck cracked me up and the scenery was spectacular so it wasn't all bad .