The Legend of Ben Hall

growing up in Ben Hall country really made this movie something special to me . As a child spending days fishing the Dog and Duck lake . Searching for old relics at the site of the Inn .Feeling the spirit of those men while sitting under some aged red river gums knowing those gums would have sheltered the bush rangers .Also having an understanding of the distances they traveled all comes to life as i watched BEN HALL. ON a recent visit to Forbes i was fortunate to meet the cast of Bushrangers it was very brief but great to chat about how they felt portraying the gang .On occasions growing up there i had visited where Hall was shot and Gilbert .As well as there graves .I give full credit to all who made this come to life

But these guys were really special.. I don't know how accurate this is, but it looks like they tried at least.. I think the problem is in the script tho.. Should have focused more on Hall and how he managed so many robberies without killing anyone.. That would have been very interesting to me.. This was just a typical Western buddy movie.. Not sure why all the hate.. Certainly wasn't that bad and better than a lot of the tripe these days.. Acting was ok, tho the Happy Guy was a bit annoying.. Cinematography was pretty good I thought.. Flow was decent.. Production quality ok.. Just felt a bit too black and white.. Except for the kids there were zero likable characters and I think that made it a major bummer.. Really just approached it wrong and focused too much on the negative.. Too slice of life for me.. Still, I'd have given it 6 1/2 stars if possible as it's still a passable Western..

A mildly interesting story about an Australian bush-ranger that runs about half an hour too long. Very slow moving and not-engaging. By halfway through I'd completely lost interest in finishing the film, much less the "history". Apparently, for a review to be valid, it requires 5 lines of text, but I'm not sure that there are 5 lines worth of useful thoughts on a movie where almost nothing happens in 2 hours.

If I knew about The Legend of Ben Hall last year then I would of seen it in the cinemas. I found out about this awesome film in a class at film school after being tasked with researching it, I found that I was in need of getting this film for myself. Recently I found it at DVD store so I brought it and watched it.

My opinion of the film; that it's a great Aussie Film. The acting, costuming, props, and everything about it was amazing. The lengths that Matthew Holmes went to keep it historically accurate amazed me. Many films can say they are accurate but in most cases they are betrayed in a fictional and story driven way. However this isn't the case here. When I finished watching it, I had to have a moment to take in the visuals. Because they are amazing. I was very much liked them to a point where I went and watched the special features to find out how they made it. The film is something that audiences love out Hollywood Westerns. It capabilities that essences but it isn't necessarily fictional. It actually happened.The drama That Ben Hall comes from historians that consulted with Matthew Holmes on the script.

Because Great Aussie Films sometimes aren't seen by Australians. This film, I feel is a must see for any who loves Australians films, History of Australia and just good Australian Westerns. Sometime great Aussie flicks aren't seen at all. This one is a must to track down and get.

9 out 10, worth every dime.

This is a true story.

In Australia 1864, Ben Hall (Jack Martin) wants to give up being a Bush-ranger (A bandit), but is convinced by his friend John Gilbert – aka Happy Jack – (Jamie Coffa) to give it one more go to make enough money to go to the United States. John Dunn (William Lee) joins them and together they rob mostly travelers. Ben Hall has unfinished business with his wife Biddy (Joanne Dobbin) who left him and he wants to take his son Henry (Zane Ciarma) away from her. The government is in the process of passing The Felons Apprehension Act which would make Ben, Happy Jack and Dunn OUTLAWS and could be shot on sight by any citizen.

This movie is about the last 9-months of Ben Hall's life. Before that he and his gang robbed at will and then Ben's gang was disbanded and he led a quiet life until John Gilbert came after him to continue the life of crime.

This is a very good western, and some may compare him to Jesse James although all we saw was Ben, Happy Jack and Dunn only robbing travelers and not trains and banks as Jesse James did. Later we did see an attempt to rob a mail coach with a lot of money, but it was not successful. Ben Hall was known all throughout Australia and was known to never have killed a man.

The cinematography was stunning, the dialogues were spot on, the acting by all was very good, and the music was low key, but okay. The shooting scenes were carefully done and were impressive. The movie may be a little too long, but very engaging.

Ben Hall played by Jack Martin seems to have been a reasonable man who wanted no part of killing. He even allowed a lady he was robbing to keep a necklace she wanted badly. Jamie Coffa as John Gilbert aka Happy Jack was a bit of a clown and a loose cannon sometimes. William Lee as John Dunn was simply a good follower and loyal to Ben Hall.

You keep asking what happened to Ben Hall at the end. Ben Hall was betrayed by his good friend Mick Coneley played by Adam Willson and was ambushed by the police Mick's wife Mary (Erica Field) always had a thing for Ben.

At the end of the movie there are statements what happened to all. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: Yes. Language: Some F-bombs, but not many,.