Backbencher

Before I watched this movie, I was a little bit skeptical as to whether or not it would pertain to what we have been talking about, but surprisingly, it did. Tom Selleck stars as Matthew Quigley, a rifleman from Wyoming who has come to Australia to take up the job offer of a shooter for a local cattle owner Marston, who is played by Alan Rickman. As soon as he gets off the boat at Fremantle, trouble is brewing. We see some men hassling Crazy Cora, played by Laura San Giacomo, and, of course, Quigley steps in to help by beating up the thugs. To Quigley's surprise, these men are employed by Marston and are assigned to bring him to Marston's ranch. After a couple long days ride through the outback to Marston's ranch and finally, after meeting Marston, Quigley learns the true nature of his calling, to shoot and kill aborigines who are killing some of Marston's sheep. Naturally, Quigley is disgusted with this and throws Marston out of his house window and sets up to fight, only to be knocked out from behind. Quigley and Crazy Cora are hauled out to the middle of the desert and are to be left for dead. Some quick thinking and clever hiding of a knife in his boot save Quigley and Cora and they are left to walk to find help. After a few days of walking unsuccessful, they collapse in the dirt, unable to go on. When they come to, they see that they were saved by local Aborigines who sheltered them and gave them food and water. Both Quigley and Crazy Cora get along well with the Aborigines, as Quigley shows the Aborigine warriors how to make a lasso and make tools and Crazy Cora mingles with the women, who exchange jewelry with each other. These Aborigines left after the night and when Quigley and Crazy Cora wake up, they are gone. After riding for a few days, Quigley and Cora come across a horrific scene; some of Marston's men are killing aborigines indescriminately. After Quigley dispatches the men, Crazy Cora, crying over the dead Aborigines, hears the crying of a baby near and to their astonishment, a little baby has survived this ordeal. Crazy Cora immediately cares for the child, whom Quigley states is probably tougher than both of them. One of the interesting things about this movie was the use of pommy-bashing as Dr. Isern noted in class. At the beginning of the movie when Quigley is being escorted back to meet Marston, one of Marston's henchmen sees a British regiment coming towards them. Quigley, prodding the man, asks if they are friends of his. Sarastically, the man says "Theyre British." Another aspect of this movie that was well written was the use of the Aborigine tribes. We see how much they dislike Marston by the end of it and how they help Quigley out. I know I have left out a chunk of the end, but I will leave that up to you to find out for yourself. I really enjoyed this movie and it is one I would recommend to the class.