I saw The Proposition last week for the first time. not the greatest movie ever but i liked the visuals and many aspects of it and I wonder if many of that kind of movies were made. I know Quigley Down Under but I barely never heard of more movie of the genre… Sounds like a potentially good type of movies…
what about the 1957 peter finch “outback western” " robbery under arms" or of course the 1970 " ned kelly" with mick jagger or the more recent " ned kelly" with heath ledger and " mad dog morgan" with dennis hopper.these ones come straight to mind and i’m sure there are others.
[quote=“Sebastian, post:3, topic:1150”]Outback Western. is that a term you guys came up with (which I would find totally cool), or is that a term that is commonly used?[/quote]afraid can’t take the credit for it.it is a term used to describe an australian horse opera film
Some years ago I saw -not an Australian but a New Zealand western “Utu” Very good movie about the fight of group of Maoris against the English army. Very violent and impressive.
I believe the western is not about locations. If it has themes that are singular to the western genre then it is a western. Those themes are the taming and progression of a violent frontier region, fighting with the natives, robbing stagecoaches or trains, or even mule trains. I have heard of a “western” set in 900 AD China! (Warriors of Heaven and Earth.) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a western which takes place in South America along with Savage Pampas and Man, Pride and Vengeance. So yes, Australian Western are westerns.
Here’s how I view this topic: -Who directs the film?- An Australian or an Italian or someone from the States? If its an Italian, the film is a spaghetti western, if its an Australian, its an Outback western and so forth and so on. Having said that, there’s stiil no clear lines. If Mel Gibson were to make a western, I wouldn’t classify it as an Outback western. He’s too ‘Hollywood.’ Times are different from the good old days of the spaghetti…
I’d consider it a ‘genre’… ripe for an exploitation-cycle. -Though restricted to landgrabbing and robbery scenarios. -With its own unique gun, popular in the ol’ outback; the duckfoot-pistol… with 4, 5, 6 barrels splayed like a duck’s foot, in the calibers of .36, .45. and .52.
I just saw Captain Fury a few days ago… an Irish rogue, banished to Australia to work on a greedy land-baron’s sheep-farm. He escapes, gathers a cult-following, then raids the countryside in Robin Hood-style.
I’ve heard the term meat pie Western for Australian ones before. I don’t know if there are any consistent qualities to the sub-genre but there are some great outback westerns like Mad Dog Morgan and, of course, Ned Kelly.