The Sundowners (1960)
In director Fred Zinnemann's lengthy epic western drama
of 1920s Australia about a hard-working pioneer family of migrant
drovers or "sundowners" (Australian slang for someone whose
home was where the sun went down every evening):
- the continuing tension in the Carmody family of
nomadic sheep-herders and sheep-shearers, between head-strong yet
long-suffering, loyal wife Ida (Deborah Kerr) and her teenaged
son Sean (Michael Anderson, Jr.) who wanted to settle down on a
farm in Bulinga vs. wanderlusting, vagabond Irish husband Paddy
(Robert Mitchum)
- the stunning cinematography of on-location exteriors
of rural Australia, including the 'crown' tree-top firestorm that
threatened a flock of sheep being herded to market at Cawndilla,
and various scenes of wildlife (koalas, kangaroos, dingos, emus,
kookaburras, etc.)
- the character of bachelor friend, hired hand and bearded
British drifter Rupert "Rupe" Venneker (Peter Ustinov)
and his on/off relationship with Cawndilla's feisty, marriage-seeking
hotel barmaid/owner Mrs. Firth (Glynis Johns)
- the well-acted scene of an unglamorous Ida, sitting
in a covered wagon near a train unloading passenger at a station,
where she covetously observed a rich, well-dressed female passenger
in an open car window applying face-powder
- the marathon sheep-shearing contest pitting Paddy
against frail and elderly Herb Johnson (Wylie Watson) - who easily
exhausted and defeated him
- the scene of Ida's joy at seeing a stove in the kitchen
of the farm-house that she thought the family could now acquire with
a 400 quid downpayment
- the scene of Paddy's confession to Ida that he had
spitefully and drunkenly gambled away and lost 400 quid (the family's
entire savings stored in a glass jar) in a game of two-up: ("I've
done something, Ide. I lost the money. Two-up...I wrote IOUs. I lost
it all. I don't know what to say. I looked at you both, you and Sean.
You were just like strangers. I wanted you to have what you wanted,
but God forgive me, I must've hated you both. I just wanted to get
away from you, get drunk, get the taste out of me mouth. That's all
I meant to do, darl, was just get drunk. That's all I meant to do.
I'll make it up to you, darl. I promise you. I'll get ya a place");
the money was enough for a down-payment on a 2,000 quid farm (a property
for sale in Bulinga viewed across the river in the opening scenes)
- the final horse race at a bush-country track when
the Carmody's horse Sundowner won - and then was disqualified for
interference, turning the fate and fortunes of the family back to
a nomadic lifestyle (Ida: "There goes both our chances to be
noble")