Robbery Under Arms

A would-be Australian Western, based on Rolf Boldrewood's novel (previously filmed, equally tediously, in 1957). Raffish pommy crook Captain Starlight and his faithful abo lead a couple of brothers on a sequence of japes that includes bushwhacking, rustling, jail-breaking and bank-robbing. There is also skinny-dipping, elephants and fireworks, but the interest of these supposedly rumbustious antipodean antics is never more than vague. Without a trace of irony or parody, the emotional response of the characters is either a fist in the face or a knee in some cobber's cobblers. With 148 'actors', 2,000 extras (mainly cattle) and 120 crew members, it claims to be 'the most ambitious and expensive film ever made in Australia': a shame it only really deserves the title 'Wankabout'.