Return to Snowy River
(1988)
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Return to Snowy River
(1988)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Tom Burlinson | ... | ||
| Sigrid Thornton | ... |
Jessica
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| Brian Dennehy | ... |
Harrison
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Nicholas Eadie | ... |
Alistair Patton
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Mark Hembrow | ... |
Seb
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Bryan Marshall | ... |
Hawker
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Rhys McConnochie | ... |
Patton Snr.
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Peter Cummins | ... |
Jake
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Cornelia Frances | ... |
Mrs. Darcy
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Tony Barry | ... |
Jacko
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Wyn Roberts | ... |
Priest
(as Wynn Roberts)
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Alec Wilson | ... |
Patton's Croney
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Peter Browne | ... |
Reilly
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Alan Hopgood | ... |
Simmons
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| Mark Pennell | ... |
Collins
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Young Jim Craig returns to the Australian high country, after being away herding the horses he caught and sold, in order to provide a stake for his future. He finds things quite different than when he left: his girlfriend, Jessica Harrison, is being pursued by a rich suitor, Jessica's father wants him out of her life, and the residents of the high country are being driven out by the wealthier low country ranchers. Jim definitely has his work cut out for him. Written by Marinelle K. Szenasy
The three best things about "Man From Snowy River" were 1) The widescreen vistas 2) Kirk Douglas, especially as Spur 3) The music. Well, one of of three is not so good (though I do understand the Australian release was in Widescreen) The standard 35 (on the US DVD, at least) really detracts from the magnificent vistas that made "The Man From Snowy River" such a joy to watch (and helped disguise its relatively low budget). However, the most disastrous mistake that nearly undoes the movie is eliminating the "Spur" character and recasting "Harrison" with Brian Dennehy instead of Kirk Douglas. My gosh, are you telling me Kirk Douglas was not available SOMETIME during the SIX years between "Man From Snowy River" and "Return to..."? I also heard that Kirk Douglas was uniformly disliked by the original cast. If that is true, why not at least cast an actor with the same type of INTENSITY as Kirk Douglas; right off hand, I can think of three: Richard Widmark, Charlton Heston and James Coburn. Any of these three actors could play BOTH "Harrison" and "Spur". If the writers insisted on "killing off" "Spur," they could then have least had one of these actors play him in flashbacks or dreams, as "Spur" really brought life to the first film. As it is, Dennehy plays "Harrison" so differently than Douglas, it took me nearly an hour to get used to the change.
I really hope to one day see the widescreen version of "Return to Snowy River" to see how much the process improves the pacing of the film, particularly since the plotting itself is tighter than the original. As it is, "Return to Snowy River" comes across as a bad knock-off of the original. I give "Return to Snowy River" a weak "6".