Robbery Under Arms (1958)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As Good As It Gets

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A western in everything but name and not a bad one at that, Jack Lee's "Robbery Under Arms" is set during the same period as most westerns, the 1860's, but in Australia where Peter Finch's Captain Starlight leads a small gang of outlaws stealing cattle and robbing banks. Ronald Lewis and David McCallum are the brothers who follow their father into the gang looking for a bit of excitement. Lee makes good use of the Australian landscape which is superbly photographed by Harry Waxman and he never skimps on the action which is plentiful. No classic but very enjoyable nevertheless.

ROBBERY UNDER ARMS is an interesting little British thriller of the 1950s; it has an entirely unexpected Australian setting that stands it apart from the rest alongside the Eastmancolor vibrancy of the photography. The film stars Ronald Lewis and a youthful David McCallum (in one of his earliest roles) as a couple of outlaws working the land back in the 19th century. The film chronicles their brushes with the law and various other eccentric characters inhabiting their world, such as a world-weary Laurence Naismith and a commanding Peter Finch, and while it's never as gripping as it perhaps should be, it's certainly watchable enough.

I first saw this film when still at school, in my final year. At that time, I thought it was a passable "western" but it lacked the Hollywood glitz to which I'd become accustomed and acculturated.Fifty years haven't dimmed my appreciation of the story and film, but those years have readjusted my focus on the quality and veracity of the production. By today's digital standards, the colour saturation is just too pronounced, but given the times, it was ideal to convey the stark contrasts of the Australian outback – the parched land, the unrelenting sun and the tough times experienced by the settlers.The story is basic: two brothers get caught up in cattle rustling with Captain Starlight (Peter Finch) who gets caught eventually, while the brothers escape to go off to the Bendigo gold fields to make honest money, they hope. Unhappily for them, they get embroiled in a bank robbery staged by Starlight and his gang and, once again, are on the run, one and all.And, that sets up the final action sequence whereby a large body of troopers attacks the mountain hideout of Starlight's gang, with inevitable results. That shootout is still one of the finest ever put to film: realistic and beautifully photographed from many camera angles, providing the viewer a box seat of what such a battle must be like.Peter Finch acts superbly: witty, urbane, considerate, competent and very tough – all in one. Who really knows what the real Starlight was like, the one who actually roamed and robbed the areas around southern Queensland and northern New South Wales? I think Finch pulls off a reasonable portrayal.The rest of the cast is adequate to very good, with Maureen Swanson the standout performer as Kate Morrison, the woman spurned by Dick Marston (Ron Lewis); not a woman to be tossed aside, as he finds out. David McCallum, in his fifth movie, plays the other brother, Jim Marston who gets involved with Kate's sister, Jean (Jill Ireland).As a piece of Australiana, it's worth the time to see. As a story about the bush ranging days of early Australia, it has its moments, particularly the final shootout.Recommended for all.

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***Why did they change the novel's ending? Rolf Boldrewood's original finish would have worked far better than this Western-ised shootout. The most striking difference is of course the fact that Dick Marston was shot before film's end - the novel was written in first person narrative by the Dick Marston character!! Certainly NOT one of the best Australian "location" films - ie, films by overseas production companies which were shot here, for example SEASON OF PASSION, BUSH CHRISTMAS, etc... Rating: 5/10.