Matthew Quigley (Tom Selleck) arrives in Freemantle, Australia in the 1870s. He has hardly gotten off the ship than he gets into a brawl with a trio of men trying to load Crazy Cora (Laura San Giacomo) onto a wagon. The fight is somewhat comical, and it turns out the three men were also there to escort Quigley to the Marston Ranch. Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman) greets Quigley and demands a demonstration of his marksmanship. Quigley impresses everyone with his accuracy. Marston fancies himself as a quickdraw and demonstrates his skills on a pair of British deserters. The two men retire to the main house for dinner where Marston explains his need of a marksman. The aborigines are a real pain and vanish before his men can get in range. Quigley reacts poorly and soon finds himself dragged into the desert to die, Crazy Cora at his side. Instead, Quigley turns the tables on Marston's goons but is still left stranded in the desert. Can Quigley survive the desert and exact revenge on Marston?
Though entertaining, there are some plot holes that grate. When told that he was being hired to shoot Aborigines, he assaulted Marston. How did he expect this to end? How about his insistence on using his rifle? The big reveal at the end when it turns out he is quite skilled with a revolver makes you wonder why he didn't make use of revolvers throughout once he was roped into this game of death? Why is he a great marksman? We are never told what he was shooting in the United States. Was he a Civil War veteran? Why doesn't the wanted poster feature a picture of Quigley? Regarding Cora, what ship would sail from Galveston, Texas to Fremantle, Australia? That is an interesting trade route.
Oddly enough, this reminded me of another moving from 1990: Dances with Wolves. Kevin Costner is sent to the frontier during the Civil War and joins the Indians. In this movie, Selleck finds himself allied with the Aborigines, though he doesn't go so far as to adopt their ways.
Definitely an entertaining movie. Good popcorn fun.
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