Quigley Down Under

• Directed by Simon Wincer
• October 17, 1990 (Hollywood) / October 19, 1990 (US) / June 13, 1991 (Australia)

A sharpshooter from Wyoming is hired by a rancher in Australia but when he arrives on the ranch the sharpshooter realizes something is wrong.

The Western is not limited to the 1800s in the American West. Though a genre that originated in the US its core elements have been used in the far-flung future or post-apocalyptic wastelands or even in the right timeframe but a different continent such as Quigley Down Under.

And despite being made after the glory days of the mythmaking Western this is not nearly as downbeat or negative as anything made within the past 40 years or less. It has an overall light tone with that tone being solidified in the early moments of the film with the meeting between our hero Matthew Quigley (Tom Selleck) and the unusual Crazy Cora (Laura San Giacomo).

Tom Selleck quickly establishes his character as a tough yet fair man more akin to something you’d find from the 50s or 60s than something from the 2000s onward. Like all good Western heroes Quigley is a man of strong morals who is good with his chosen gun. He is guided by a strong sense of what is right and wrong. And I found the concept of Quigley using a rifle a little reminiscent of the Chuck Connors series The Rifleman. Not that I’m complaining. That was a good show and there’s no shame in taking some inspiration from the best.

Selleck turns in a fairly bad ass performance. Not that of an action star but of a strong Western hero. He’s the Western hero of old who is in charge of the situation. And that’s even if others around him don’t know it. Not always successful, but always understanding of what it takes and what needs to be done. And the most honorable man in a land of people with no honor.

When Quigley and Cora first meet Cora immediately shows how she came to be known as Crazy Cora by referring to Quigley as ‘Roy’ which is the name of her husband. And it seems like she is going to be pure comic relief that never leaves the story rather than a significant supporting character. However Wincer and friends along with Laura San Giacomo gives us a tragic character who gets her own story of coming to terms with her issues and set on a better path. Her character aids Quigley but also gets a satisfying story of her own even if she is also the romantic interest of Quigley.

That is certainly a little weird given her clear mental health issues and gets worse once you learn what caused them. Mercifully Quigley being a good man does not take advantage of her until she is better which is at some point after she shows she realizes Quigley is not her former husband Roy. He was waiting until she was no longer crazy to get some booty. That is about as good as that scenario gets. Anywho…

But how can you go wrong with a movie featuring Alan Rickman as the villain? The man was a massive talent. Here Rickman plays rancher Elliott Marston who is the person that gets Quigley to come to Australia with a newspaper advertisement but unfortunately he’s not just a major asshole but a bigot as well as murderer using the veneer of the law to set up scenarios that allow him to kill. He also has a grudge against all aborigines for what they did to his mother and father.

Alan Rickman is just great. All sneering and condescending. If anything, he channels Hans Richter here. But he’s a villain you just love to see be evil. And he added some dark humor to this whether intentional or not. The confrontation between Marston and Quigley is set up early on. They are both diametrically opposed characters. Their world views are as contrasting as could be in this film.

Quigley Down Under occurs against a historical backdrop of events of Australia back in the day. And it’s the tensions between the British, and the white Australian inhabitants and the aborigines. All that provides a dangerous and complex mix of events and characters. Much like random tribes in a Western the aborigines play a significant as well as positive part in the whole story.

When I first saw this advertised 30+ years ago I can’t say I found it particularly interesting or intriguing. I still saw Tom Selleck as just Magnum PI or as the guy in that wannabe Blade Runner movie that costarred Gene Simmons. Fast forward to today. Maybe this was a mood movie and I just wasn’t in the mood until recently. 

I’m just surprised at how good this was. I’m sorry I slept on it for so many years. It’s funny and exciting and just all-around enjoyable. It has some heart and some weirdness to it. There is so much to enjoy. Like all great Westerns this lovingly showcases the landscape. It features all of the Western action you could possibly want or expect with an appropriate amount of humor and great characters.

Quigley Down Under is very much in the spirit of the classic Westerns but in a setting that makes it stand out from others. It’s just a fantastic film that Western fans will certainly enjoy.