Over the Hill (1992)

Director:

George Miller

Writers:

Robert Caswell (written by)
Gladys Taylor (book)

Release Date:

30 June 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Alma can't stand to have one more birthday without seeing her estranged daughter, Elizabeth, who lives in Sydney...

Plot Keywords:

Road | Independent Film | Based On Book

Cast

Olympia Dukakis	...	Alma Harris
Sigrid Thornton	...	Elizabeth
Derek Fowlds	...	Dutch
Bill Kerr	...	Maurice
Steve Bisley	...	Benedict
Martin Jacobs	...	Forbes
Gerry Connolly	...	Hank
Andrea Moore	...	Jan
Pippa Grandison	...	Margaret
Aden Young	...	Nick
Justine Anderson	...	Cashier
Gabriella Candida	...	First receptionist
Rebecca Caswell	...	Waitress
Krystyna Dzierzanowski	...	Second receptiomist
Craig Elliott	...	First hoon

Also Known As:

Round the Bend

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Glasshouse Mountains, Queensland, Australia

Company:

Village Roadshow Pictures

Quotes:

Alma Harris: This isn't Bar Harbor, Maine. That's for sure.

Driveabout

I wanted to write about this for several reasons. First and foremost was that IMDb has helped me in the past so it's time to put back in. Second was that it is based in Australia, where I've visited a few times and third, a granny in a supercharged hot rod! If you can get through the first five minutes it's not a bad film. I took an instant dislike to all the characters, including Alma, but as the movie unfolded you start to warm to her. Her Yuppie daughter is also instantly dislikeable, along with her politician husband. Dutch was a surprise to me. The retired dentist's two close encounters with Alma added a little light relief to the story, not surprising since he starred in Britain's "Yes Minister" and I hardly recognised him sporting a pony tail and all. There were a few scenes that didn't seem to fit and would have been happy to have them edited out, particularly the one with the Aboriginie women and her 'revelation', or 'trip' or whatever was going on. Also in the 'finger pointing scene' towards the end of the film the acting deteriorated so badly, I thought maybe they'd changed directors on some such. There are shades of Mad Max (the first episode) thrown in for good measure, as well as a love interest or two. To sum up, in Australia the Aboriginies go on 'walkabout' (now there was a good film) to discover themselves, well Alma does it in her orange '59 Bel-Air. Would I watch it again? I doubt it. Not my genre, but to start the ball rolling on this movie I sacrificed an night without sci-fi and enjoyed it.