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Fortress

  • 19851985
  • TV-MATV-MA
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,349
163
Fortress (1985)
An Australian school teacher and her students are kidnapped. She and the children fight for their lives and try to escape from their captors.
Play trailer2:09
1 Video
16 Photos
ActionAdventureThriller
After being kidnapped for ransom by four criminals, a schoolteacher and her students flee into a cave and build fortifications in anticipation of a decisive battle with their captors.After being kidnapped for ransom by four criminals, a schoolteacher and her students flee into a cave and build fortifications in anticipation of a decisive battle with their captors.After being kidnapped for ransom by four criminals, a schoolteacher and her students flee into a cave and build fortifications in anticipation of a decisive battle with their captors.
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,349
163
    • Arch Nicholson
    • Everett De Roche(screenplay)
    • Gabrielle Lord(from the novel by)
  • Stars
    • Sean Garlick
    • Rachel Ward
    • Elaine Cusick
    • Arch Nicholson
    • Everett De Roche(screenplay)
    • Gabrielle Lord(from the novel by)
  • Stars
    • Sean Garlick
    • Rachel Ward
    • Elaine Cusick
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 56User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:09
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos16

    Fortress (1985)
    Fortress (1985)
    Fortress (1985)
    Rachel Ward, Anna Crawford, Sean Garlick, Robin Mason, Rebecca Rigg, and Richard Terrill in Fortress (1985)
    Rachel Ward in Fortress (1985)
    Rachel Ward and Ralph Strasser in Fortress (1985)
    Fortress (1985)
    Fortress (1985)
    Rachel Ward and Laurie Moran in Fortress (1985)
    Rachel Ward in Fortress (1985)
    Rachel Ward, Sean Garlick, and Robin Mason in Fortress (1985)
    Rachel Ward, Beth Buchanan, Marc Aden Gray, and Asher Keddie in Fortress (1985)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sean Garlick
    • Sid
    Rachel Ward
    Rachel Ward
    • Sally Jones
    Elaine Cusick
    • Mrs. O'Brien
    Laurie Moran
    • Mr. O'Brien
    Marc Aden Gray
    Marc Aden Gray
    • Tommy
    • (as Marc Gray)
    Ray Chubb
    • Publican
    Bradley Meehan
    • Richard
    Rebecca Rigg
    Rebecca Rigg
    • Narelle
    Beth Buchanan
    • Leanne
    Asher Keddie
    Asher Keddie
    • Sue
    Anna Crawford
    • Sarah
    Richard Terrill
    • Toby
    Vernon Wells
    Vernon Wells
    • Dabby Duck
    Peter Hehir
    • Father Christmas
    David Bradshaw
    • Pussy Cat
    Roger Stephen
    • Mac the Mouse
    Wendy Playfair
    Wendy Playfair
    • Old Woman
    Ed Turley
    • Old Man
      • Arch Nicholson
      • Everett De Roche(screenplay)
      • Gabrielle Lord(from the novel by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Loosely based on the 1972 Faraday School kidnapping of a teacher and her class by Edwin John Eastwood and Robert Clyde Boland. Eastwood later escaped from prison and repeated the crime with another teacher and his class in 1977. The Faraday kidnapping was in turn a real-life copycat crime based on a scene in the Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry (1971) where the Scorpio Killer holds a bus driver and several schoolchildren hostage.
    • Goofs
      After Sally emerges from the water while she's exploring, for an instant her hair seems swept back and pressed down, clearly drenched. During the next shot, which is a close-up, her hair looks as if it had been hastily dried with a towel, even though we never even see her touch her hair.
    • Quotes

      Father Christmas: Get in the Van!

    • Alternate versions
      The ending of the Hungarian VHS release of the film differs from all other versions. An alternate take of the policemen's questioning of Sally is used in the children threaten them with spears, which contrasts with other versions, which uses a take in which they are unarmed. During this sequence, a unique flashback also plays, in which Sally and the children are shown butchering "Father Christmas" to death, the action of which was cut away from in other versions.
    • Connections
      Referenced in A Bicentenary with Bite: Revisiting 'Dark Age' (2017)
    • Soundtracks
      I'm the King of the Castle
      (uncredited)

      Traditional

      Sung by Anna Crawford

    User reviews56

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    The mystery movie revealed!
    I am so happy that Google exists, because after 15 YEARS of fruitless searching (including on IMDb, sorry!) I've found this movie again. Images like the swim through the underground cavern and the older couple (?) being horrified by the rabbit masked man have haunted me to the point I thought I had imagined the whole thing. The fairly low-fi quality of the film makes it all the scarier, classic HBO 80's fodder. The fact that I watched it as a pre-teen made the fight for survival of the woman and the children all the more real. The setting of the Outback made their situation seem really perilous, for if there is so much open, empty space around you, it seems you have fewer places to hide (and I think may have sparked my latent fear of kidnapping and lack of hiding places). Excellent (as it stuck in my mind all these years, I guess it had to!)
    helpful•41
    2
    • mahjacat
    • Aug 5, 2004

    FAQ4

    • Why did the kidnappers abduct the kids?
    • Is this based on a true story?
    • Where the story takes place?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 31, 1986 (Australia)
      • Australia
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia
    • Production companies
      • Crawford Productions
      • HBO Premiere Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 28 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Stereo

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    Fortress (1985)
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