ROBBERY UNDER ARMS (1985) – The irreplaceable Sam Neill has passed away. Other sites will be focusing on Neill’s more well-known projects like the Jurassic Park movies, Reilly – Ace of Spies, The Hunt for Red October, Omen III: The Final Conflict and so many others. In keeping with Balladeer’s Blog’s theme I’m taking a look at Sam’s neglected Bushranger movie Robbery Under Arms.
Before I dive into a review of that Australian production, let me point out two of my previous examinations of lesser-known Sam Neill films like the horror tale Possession (1981) and the Cold War espionage movie Enigma (1982).
On to Robbery Under Arms, the film is based on the Australian novel of the same name, which was published in serialized form in 1882 before being collected in novel form later in the decade. Robbery Under Arms is a monumental work of fiction Down Under and has been adapted several times since 1907 – a year after Australia’s silent movie The Story of the Kelly Gang.
For readers who are not aware of this, Australia’s Gold Rushes beginning in the 1850s spawned a tableau like America’s Wild West in terms of outlaws and desert landscapes. Real life Bushrangers (Aussie outlaws of the deserts and bush regions) included Mad Dog Morgan, Ben Hall and of course Ned Kelly and his gang. Any fan of American Westerns would likely enjoy Bushranger flicks.
In Robbery Under Arms, Sam Neill stars as a fictional outlaw leader known by the alias Captain Starlight, the type of flashy name used by real-life Bushrangers like Midnight, Moondyne Joe, Captain Moonlite and others. Continue reading
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