Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
American Matt Quigley answers Australian land baron Elliott Marston's ad for a sharpshooter to kill the dingoes on his property. But when Quigley finds out that Marston's real target is the aborigines, Quigley hits the road. Now, even American expatriate Crazy Cora can't keep Quigley safe in his cat-and-mouse game with the homicidal Marston.
Quigley Down Under earns strong marks for Novelty by transplanting the classic American Western into the Australian outback, giving the genre a genuinely fresh setting and cultural context rarely explored — the aboriginal genocide angle adds moral weight unusual for the genre. The Australian landscape is well-utilized cinematographically but not exceptionally composed or directed. Tom Selleck is charismatic and Alan Rickman is a reliably enjoyable villain, though the acting is serviceable rather than remarkable. The plot is a straightforward cat-and-mouse Western with competent but predictable beats. The ending resolves neatly but without much surprise or emotional resonance, feeling like a conventional wrap-up that doesn't fully capitalize on the film's more ambitious thematic undertones.