Quigley Down Under

Time Out says

To date, the '90s Westerns suggest a return to the revisionist oaters of 20 years earlier: anti-Westerns, or at any rate anti-colonial. If this Selleck vehicle about an American cowboy in Australia is hardly 'Dances with Dingoes', it is a pleasant surprise to see the predictably jokey signs of dislocation - koalas and roos - make way for the moral issues the genre thrives on. Sharpshooter Quigley goes down under to shoot dingoes for rancher Marston (Rickman) - or so he thinks. When it transpires that he is to eliminate aborigines, a feud develops, and he becomes a champion of the native tribes. Unfortunately, his status as righter of wrongs is mirrored to some extent by the script, which shows a particularly heavy hand in exposition. But Selleck's easy charm carries it through the sticky patches. Aussie director Wincer handles the action convincingly, and Rickman's splendidly snide villain is a real treat.

Author: TCh