Return to Snowy River (1988)
"The Man from Snowy River II" (original title)

Young Jim Craig returns to his home in the Australian high country. He finds that things are not as he left them - his girlfriend is being pursued by another man, and her father doesn't want Jim back into her life.

Director:

Geoff Burrowes

Writers:

Geoff Burrowes, John Dixon

Stars:

Tom Burlinson, Sigrid Thornton, Brian Dennehy

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Burlinson	...	Jim Craig
Sigrid Thornton	...	Jessica
Brian Dennehy	...	Harrison
Nicholas Eadie	...	Alistair Patton
Mark Hembrow	...	Seb
Bryan Marshall	...	Hawker
Rhys McConnochie	...	Patton Snr.
Peter Cummins	...	Jake
Cornelia Frances	...	Mrs. Darcy
Tony Barry	...	Jacko
Wyn Roberts	...	Priest (as Wynn Roberts)
Alec Wilson	...	Patton's Croney
Peter Browne	...	Reilly
Alan Hopgood	...	Simmons
Mark Pennell	...	Collins

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

horse | rancher | australian western | shootout | old west | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Return to Snowy River

Filming Locations:

Mansfield, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Gross:

$13,687,027 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Burrowes Film Group, Hoyts Film Partnership, Silver Screen Partners III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Disney Channel's 1999-2002 series "So Weird" Season 1 Episode 12 (Coma), "Return to Snowy River" is the featured movie at a theater in the hometown of a woman who is stuck in an alternate reality of her past. The characters use the clue that the movie had come out 11 years previous to help the woman "find her way home" in the childhood version of the town and thus awake from the coma.

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Goofs

The final fight with Alistair, Jim's coat is sliced by Alistair's sword and there is a large bloodstain on it. In the subsequent scene in the bar when he is speaking with Jessica and Mr. Harrison he is wearing the same coat but there is no cut in the sleeve or bloodstain.

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Quotes

Harrison: You haven't been outside this house in days.
Jessica: I thought this is where you wanted me -- looking decorative, waiting for the suitors to call.

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Connections

Follows The Man from Snowy River (1982)

User Reviews

Some stupid decisions mars this potentially fine sequel

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".