The Sundowners
The Sundowners is a 1960 Technicolor comedy drama film that tells the story of a 1920s Australian outback family torn between the father's desires to continue his nomadic sheep-herding ways and the wife's and son's desire to settle down in one place. The Sundowners was produced and directed by Fred Zinnemann, adapted by Isobel Lennart from Jon Cleary's 1952 novel of the same name, and starring Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum and Peter Ustinov, with a supporting cast including Glynis Johns, Mervyn Johns, Dina Merrill, Michael Anderson Jr. and Chips Rafferty.
Plot
Irish-Australian Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) is a sheep drover and shearer, roving the sparsely populated outback with his wife Ida (Deborah Kerr) and son Sean (Michael Anderson Jr.). They are sundowners, constantly moving, pitching their tent whenever the sun goes down. Ida and Sean want to settle down, but Paddy has wanderlust and never wants to stay in one place for long. While passing through the bush, the family meet refined Englishman Rupert Venneker (Peter Ustinov) and hire him to help drive a large herd of sheep to the town of Cawndilla. Along the way, they survive a dangerous bushfire.
Awards
More details
| author | Isobel Lennart Jon Cleary |
|---|---|
| award | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
| contentLocation | Australia |
| director | Fred Zinnemann |
| editor | Jack Harris |
| genre | adventure comedy drama western |
| keywords | bush bushfire bushfires in australia cawndilla drover herd of sheep irish-australian lola brooks menindee lakes michael anderson jr. move pass pregnant wife shearer sheep shearer sheep station station sundowner swagman two-up wanderlust wool roller young woman |
| musicBy | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay |
| producer | Gerry Blattner |
| publisher | Warner Bros. |
| recordedAt | Australia |