Quigley Down Under [Blu-ray]

Director: Simon Wincer Simon Wincer

Overview

Tom Selleck stars as American cowboy archetype Matthew Quigley in Simon Wincer's outback western Quigley Down Under. Answering an advertisement placed by Australian cattle baron Elliot Marston (Alan Rickman) to come to the rugged and uncivilized Australian countryside and shoot dingoes, Quigley finds himself halfway around the world, only to find that Marston wants to exploit his talents as a sharpshooter in order to wipe out the Aborigine population. Taken aback by this square-jawed genocide, Quigley grabs Marston and hurls him through a window. Marston, who controls the region, sets out to hunt Quigley down. But helping him stay one step ahead of Marston is the addlebrained expatriate American trollop Crazy Cora (Laura San Giacomo) who insists that Quigley is her husband Roy.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2018
UPC:	0826663189995
Original Release:	1990
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:59:00

Special Features

NEW "Finding Crazy Cora" - an interview with Laura San Giacomo; NEW "This One Shoots A Mite Further" - a closer look at The Sharps Rifle with master armorer, Mike Tristano; "The Rebirth of A Western" featurette; Theatrical trailer; TV spots

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom Selleck	Matthew Quigley
Laura San Giacomo	Crazy Cora
Alan Rickman	Elliott Marston
Chris Haywood	Mayor Ashley Pitt
Ron Haddrick	Grimmelman
Tony Bonner	Dobkin
Jerome Ehlers	Coogan
Conor McDermottroe	Hobb
Roger Ward	Brophy
Ben Mendelsohn	O'Flynn
Michael Lynch	Actor
Tim Hughes	Miller
Guy Norris	Cliff
Brian Ellison	Oliver
Mark Pennell	Bugler
Greg Stuart	Deserter
Eamon Kelly	Klaus Grimmelman
Don Bridges	Ticket Seller
Steve Dodd	Actor
Kylie Foster	Actor
William Zappa	Actor
Jonathan Sweet	Actor
Jon Ewing	Tout
David Slingsby	Mullion
Danny Adcock	Mitchell
Maeliosa Stafford	Cavanagh
Ollie Hall	Carver
Danny Baldwin	Smythe
Jim Willoughby	Scotty
Spike Cherrie	Hayden
Gerald Egan	Whitey
Basil Poledouris	Composer
Simon Wincer	Actor

Technical Credits

John Hill

Simon Wincer	Director
John Hill	Screenwriter
Alan Ladd Jr.	Executive Producer
Guy Norris	Stunts
Stanley O'Toole	Producer
Alexandra Rose	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Easily the most satisfying big-screen adventure film to star episodic-TV favorite Tom Selleck, Quigley Down Under rates kudos for its clever juxtaposition of horse-opera conventions and archetypes with an exquisite location and an unfamiliar but recognizable culture. Selleck plays a sharp-shooting westerner -- clad in typical cowboy regalia -- who travels to 19th-century Australia in response to an ad from British land baron Alan Rickman. The Yank, horrified to learn that he's been engaged to kill Aborigines as part of Rickman's campaign of native genocide, refuses his commission and thus becomes the target of the ruthless rancher's vendetta. Laura San Giacomo (who herself achieved small-screen stardom in the decade following this movie's production) is hardly a typical ingénue -- a trollop who is believed to be insane, she repeatedly confuses Selleck for a former lover. Wringing the rugged Australian landscape for every drop of pictorial splendor, director Simon Wincer (The Phantom) also exhibits a keen understanding of the morality-play elements that comprise classic movie westerns. His action scenes are vigorous and flamboyant, and his characters display markedly individualistic traits while behaving within the genre's long-prescribed limits. Exciting, picturesque, and occasionally very funny, Quigley Down Under will guarantee you a rip-roarin' good time. The DVD is augmented by a featurette, "Rebirth of a Western," in addition to the theatrical trailer.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Quigley Down Under earned a reputation as kind of a punchline, in the same way other films whose concept can be distilled in ten words or less -- say, "Tom Selleck as an American cowboy in Australia" -- might become a punchline. But it's actually a pretty solid, pretty serious western with a progressive message, where abused Aboriginal peoples substitute for Native Americans, and impressive feats of gunplay distinguish the solemn professionals from the mouthy pretenders. It's quirkier than you'd expect, too, with Laura San Giacomo's character spending half the movie referring to Selleck's Matthew Quigley as "Roy," because she may not actually be sane. (She is, after all, nicknamed "Crazy Cora"). Selleck is charismatic in the lead role, slipping easily between charming, exasperated, generous, sarcastic and disdainful. Quigley's chemistry with the batty Cora, as they make an odd-couple trek through the desert, is one of the film's chief pleasures, with director Simon Wincer getting good performances out of both actors. Fans of Alan Rickman will also enjoy seeing him in full-on Hans Gruber mode, playing an evil ranch owner whose plans involve no less than systematically exterminating as many Aboriginals as he can get in his gun sights -- or, more accurately, Quigley's gun sights, which is the bone of contention that transforms them from potential business associates to mortal enemies. The treatment of these natives serves as a sober antidote to the film's lighter moments. Quigley Down Under also benefits from a couple good (but unevenly matched) gunfights, and an appropriately grandiose score by Basil Poledouris. Still and all, it's hard to call Quigley Down Under exactly memorable. It exceeds that ten-word description, and the Australian setting doesn't hurt in terms of making it more distinctive, but it doesn't linger with the viewer longer than an icicle in the outback.

All Movie Guide

Selleck has his best bigscreen casting so far here (not counting the missed opportunity to be Indiana Jones). He's thoroughly convincing with his custom-made rifle and low-key manner. San Giacomo comes into her own as the feisty heroine. Rickman is a perfectly cast hissable villain.

Variety