Editing The Sundowners (1960 film)

{{Short description|1960 film by Fred Zinnemann}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Sundowners
| image          = The Sundowners poster.jpg
| caption        = film poster
| director       = [[Fred Zinnemann]]
| producer       = [[Gerry Blattner]]<br />Fred Zinnemann
| screenplay     = [[Isobel Lennart]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[The Sundowners (novel)|The Sundowners]]''<br>1952 novel|[[Jon Cleary]]}}
| starring       = [[Deborah Kerr]]<br>[[Robert Mitchum]]<br>[[Peter Ustinov]]
| music          = [[Dimitri Tiomkin]]
| cinematography = [[Jack Hildyard]]
| editing        = [[Jack Harris (film editor)|Jack Harris]]
| distributor    = [[Warner Bros.]]
| released       = {{film date|df=yes|1960|12|8|US<ref name="tcmdb"/>}}
| runtime        = 133 minutes<ref name="tcmdb"/><ref name="nyt1960"/>
| language       = English
| country        = United States<br />United Kingdom<br />Australia<ref name="tcmdb"/>
| budget         = 
| gross          = $3.8&nbsp;million<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1962-01/page/n76/mode/1up?q=%22back+street%22+%22ross+hunter%22|magazine=Variety|title=1961 Rentals and Potential|date=10 Jan 1961|page=13}}</ref>
}}

'''''The Sundowners''''' is a 1960 [[Technicolor]] comedy-drama<ref>{{Cite web|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53300-THE-SUNDOWNERS?sid=9956e346-949c-4a53-9350-8282dd4fbcce&sr=7.223051&cp=1&pos=0|access-date=2021-04-28|website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref> 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 and son's desire to settle in one place. ''The Sundowners'' was produced and directed by [[Fred Zinnemann]], adapted by [[Isobel Lennart]] from [[Jon Cleary|Jon Cleary's]] 1952 [[The Sundowners (novel)|novel of the same name]], with [[Deborah Kerr]], [[Robert Mitchum]], and [[Peter Ustinov]], [[Glynis Johns]], [[Mervyn Johns]], [[Dina Merrill]], [[Michael Anderson Jr.]], and [[Chips Rafferty]].<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=50 Meat Pie Westerns|date=July 24, 2019}}</ref><ref name="nyt1960"/>

In 2019, FilmInk cited it among "50 [[meat pie Western]]s".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vagg|first=Stephen|date=2019-07-24|title=50 Meat Pie Westerns|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/50-meat-pie-westerns/|access-date=2021-04-28|website=FilmInk|language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name=DT2018>{{cite news|url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/australian-meat-pie-westerns-have-been-around-for-more-than-a-century/news-story/220b01591983bdbc46fef9cacd5fa925?nk=d2a04456400b3ffd92de3375f1b5fc9e-1558436137|work=Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|date=21 January 2018|title=Australian 'meat pie' westerns have been around for more than a century|first=Troy|last=Lennon|access-date=21 May 2019}}</ref>

At the [[33rd Academy Awards]], it was in the running for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], and Kerr was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]], Johns for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Actress in a Supporting Role]], Zinnemann for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]], and Lennart for [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium]], with no Academy wins.

==Plot==
Irish-Australian Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) is a sheep [[drover (Australian)|drover]] and [[sheep shearer|shearer]], roving the sparsely populated outback with his wife Ida (Deborah Kerr) and son Sean (Michael Anderson, Jr.).<ref name="nyt1960"/> They are [[Swagman|sundowners]], constantly moving, pitching their tent whenever the sun goes down. Ida and Sean want to settle, 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 [[Bushfires in Australia|bushfire]].

Mrs. Firth (Glynis Johns), who runs the pub in Cawndilla, takes a liking to Rupert. He takes to spending nights with her, but like Paddy, he has no desire to be tied down.

Ida convinces Paddy to take a job at a [[Sheep station|station]] shearing sheep; she serves as the cook, Rupert as a [[wool roller]], and Sean as a tar boy. Ida enjoys the company of Jean Halstead (Dina Merrill), their employer's lonely wife. When fellow shearer Bluey Brown's ([[John Meillon]]) pregnant wife Liz ([[Lola Brooks (actress)|Lola Brooks]]) arrives unannounced, she sees the young woman through her first birth.

Ida is saving the money the family earns for a down payment on a farm that they stayed at for a night on the sheep drive. Although Paddy has agreed to participate in a shearing contest against someone from a rival group, he decides to leave six weeks into the shearing season. Ida persuades him to stay. He loses the contest to an old veteran.

Paddy wins a lot of money and a racehorse playing [[two-up]]. Owning such an animal has been his longstanding dream. They name him Sundowner and enter him, with Sean as his jockey, at local races on their travels after the shearing is done. Sean and Sundowner win their first race.

Ida finally convinces a still reluctant Paddy to buy the farm on which Sean and she have their hearts set, but he loses all the money Ida saved in a single night of playing two-up. By way of apology, he tells her that he has found a buyer for Sundowner if he wins the next race. The money would recoup their down payment. Although Sundowner wins, he is disqualified for interference, and the deal falls through. Nevertheless, Paddy's deep remorse heals the breach with Ida, and they resolve to save enough to buy a farm one day.

==Cast==
[[File:Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr]][[File:Peter Ustinov.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Peter Ustinov]][[File:Glynis Johns, The Sundowners.png|thumb|right|200px|Glynis Johns|alt=Academy Award Nominee, Supporting Actress, 1960]][[File:Robert Mitchum.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Robert Mitchum]][[File:Deborah Kerr 6.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Deborah Kerr]]
* [[Deborah Kerr]] as Ida Carmody
* [[Robert Mitchum]] as Paddy Carmody
* [[Peter Ustinov]] as Rupert Venneker
* [[Glynis Johns]] as Mrs. Firth
* [[Dina Merrill]] as Jean Halstead
* [[Chips Rafferty]] as Quinlan
* [[Michael Anderson Jr.]] as Sean Carmody
* [[Lola Brooks (actress)|Lola Brooks]] as Liz Brown
* [[Wylie Watson]] as Herb Johnson
* [[John Meillon]] as Bluey Brown
* [[Ronald Fraser (actor)|Ronald Fraser]] as Clint Ocker
* [[Gerry Duggan (actor)|Gerry Duggan]]
* [[Leonard Teale]]
* Peter Carver
* [[Dick Bentley]] as Evan Evans
* [[Mervyn Johns]] as Jack Patchogue
* [[Molly Urquhart]] as Mrs. Bateman
* [[Ewen Solon]] as Halstead
* [[John Fegan (actor)|John Fegan]] as Drover
* [[Max Osbiston]]
* Mercia Barden

==Production==
Fred Zinnemann decided to make the film at the suggestion of [[Dorothy Hammerstein]], the Australian-born, second wife of [[Oscar Hammerstein II]].<ref name="tcmdb"/> She intended to send him a copy of the novel ''[[The Shiralee (novel)|The Shiralee]]'' (later filmed with [[Peter Finch]]), but accidentally sent a copy of ''The Sundowners''. He immediately bought the screen rights and decided to produce it himself.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51774376 |title=THE WEEKLY ROUND. |newspaper=[[Australian Women's Weekly]] | date=29 January 1958 |access-date=28 February 2012 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> According to Zinnemann's autobiography, [[Aaron Spelling]] was signed to write the screenplay, but was replaced by [[Isobel Lennart]];<ref name="tcmdb"/> another source states the screenplay was mostly written by [[Jon Cleary]] in spite of Lennart's screen credit.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sinyard |first=Neil| title=Fred Zinnemann: films of character and conscience| year=2003| publisher=McFarland| isbn= 978-0-7864-1711-7| pages=116–121}}</ref> The ending of the film was a tribute to [[John Huston]]'s ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)|The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nolletti |first=Arthur|title=The films of Fred Zinnemann: critical perspectives |year=1999 |publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-4225-8|pages=33}}</ref> [[Gary Cooper]] was hired to play Paddy Carmody, but had to leave due to poor health. He was replaced by Robert Mitchum, who agreed to work on the film for a chance to appear with Deborah Kerr, with whom he had become good friends while making ''[[Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison]]''. He also agreed to give her top billing, joking to the production team that they could "design a 24-foot sign of me bowing to her if you like".<ref name=capua>{{cite book|last=Capua|first=Michelangelo|title=Deborah Kerr: A Biography |year=2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5882-0|pages=123–28}}</ref> [[Michael Anderson, Jr.]] was imported from England to play their son.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44557145 |title=Children of 'The Sundowners'. |newspaper=Australian Women's Weekly | date=7 October 1959 |access-date=28 February 2012 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Zinnemann was determined to film ''The Sundowners'' on location and vetoed [[Jack L. Warner]]'s plan to shoot in Arizona or near Dallas, Texas to save money.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fred Zinnemann: An Autobiography : A Life in the Movies|last=Zinnemann|first=Fred|publisher=Scribner|year=1992|isbn=9780684190501|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lifeinmoviesauto0000zinn/page/174 174]|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeinmoviesauto0000zinn/page/174}}</ref> Interiors were shot at [[Associated British Picture Corporation]] [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]] in England;<ref name="tcmdb"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Gene D. |author-link=Gene D. Phillips |title=Exiles in Hollywood: major European film directors in America |year=1998 |publisher=Lehigh University Press |isbn=0-934223-49-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/exilesinhollywoo0000phil/page/160 160–2] |url=https://archive.org/details/exilesinhollywoo0000phil/page/160 }}</ref> exteriors were shot in Australia in Carriewerloo, Cooma, Hawker, Iron Knob, Jindabyne, Nimmitabel, Port Augusta, Quorn, and Whyalla.<ref name="tcmdb"/><ref name=capua/> The "for-sale" property in the film was called Hiawatha and was on the Snowy River, just north of Old Jindabyne (now under the waters of Lake Jindabyne).<ref>{{cite web |website=Monaro Pioneers |url=http://www.monaropioneers.com/Wallace-George.htm |title=George Wallace |access-date=2018-08-20}}</ref>

It was part of a "mini boom" of foreign productions in Australia in the late 1950s.<ref name="watt">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/wrecking-australian-stories-the-siege-of-pinchgut/|date=5 January 2024|access-date=5 January 2024|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|title=Wrecking Australian stories: The Siege of Pinchgut}}</ref> Filming began in 1959.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47471731 |title=Big Stars For 'Sundowners'. |newspaper=Australian Women's Weekly | date=13 May 1959 |access-date=28 February 2012 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Zinnemann spent 12 weeks filming scenery and sheep droving before the cast arrived in October. The weather made location filming difficult, fluctuating from hot and humid to cold and rainy. This delayed production by several weeks and caused some irritation among the cast and crew. Mitchum was often harassed by fans and eventually moved onto a boat to avoid them. Filming wrapped on 17 December 1959.<ref name=capua/> A number of Australian actors appeared in the supporting cast.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47511246 |title=A team of Sundowners. |newspaper=Australian Women's Weekly | date=14 October 1959 |access-date=28 February 2012 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

[[Ray Austin (director)|Ray Austin]] was the stunt coordinator. [[Nicolas Roeg]], who later directed films such as ''[[Walkabout (film)|Walkabout]]'', was a [[second unit]] camera operator.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nowra |first=Louis |title=Walkabout |year= 2003|publisher=Currency Press|isbn=0-86819-700-9|pages=77}}</ref>

==Reception==
When the movie premiered at the [[Radio City Music Hall]], [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the film an "especially appropriate entertainment for the Christmas holidays"; according to Crowther:<ref name="nyt1960"/>
<blockquote>What is nice about these people and valid about this film, is that they have an abundance of freshness, openness, and vitality. The action scenes are dynamic&mdash;the scenes of driving sheep, shearing them, racing horses at a genuine 'bush country' track, and simply living happily in the great sky-covered outdoors. And the scenes of human involvements—those between the husband and the wife, of a woman having a baby, of a footloose housewife looking at a stove&mdash;are deeply and poignantly revealing of how good and sensitive people can be.</blockquote>

''The Sundowners'', marketed as a "newer version" of ''[[From Here to Eternity]]'', was a financial failure in the United States.<ref name=capua/> The film reached the top 10 at the UK box office and was the third-highest grossing [[List of Australian films of the 1960s|film of 1961 in Australia]].<ref name=reid>{{cite book|last=Reid|first=John Howard |title=America's Best, Britain's Finest: A Survey of Mixed Movies |year= 2006 |publisher= Lulu |isbn=978-1-4116-7877-4|pages=236}}</ref>

==Awards==

===33rd Academy Awards===
* Nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Film]]
* Nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Performance by an Actress]] – Deborah Kerr
* Nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role]] – Glynis Johns
* Nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Achievement in Directing]] – Fred Zinneman
* Nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium]] – Isobel Lennart<ref name=reid/>

===Other awards and honours===
* [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress]] – Deborah Kerr
* [[National Board of Review Award for Best Actor]] – Robert Mitchum (also for ''[[Home from the Hill (film)|Home from the Hill]]'')
* Named Third Best Film of 1960 by the [[National Board of Review of Motion Pictures]]
* Named Fourth Best Film of 1960 by the ''New York Daily News''
* Named one of the Ten Best Films of 1960 by ''The New York Post'', ''The Saturday Review'' and the ''New York World-Telegram''<ref name=reid/>

The February 2020 issue of ''[[New York Magazine]]'' lists ''The Sundowners'' as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."<ref>{{cite news|title=The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/best-oscar-best-picture-losers.html|magazine=[[New York Magazine]]|access-date=March 17, 2025}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="tcmdb">{{tcmdb title|id=16109}} (including [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16109/the-sundowners#notes notes] and other [[American Film Institute#Catalog|AFI catalog]] data). {{retrieved|access-date=15 April 2013}}</ref>
<ref name="nyt1960">{{cite web| title= Film on Australians Opens at Music Hall | first= Bosley|last= Crowther| author-link=Bosley Crowther | work=New York Times| url= https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9401E3DF1630EF3ABC4153DFB467838B679EDE |date= 9 December 1960| access-date=15 April 2013}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{AFI film|53300|The Sundowners}}
* {{IMDb title|0054353}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-sundowners-am20963 ''The Sundowners'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title|16109}}
* [http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/the-sundowners/ ''The Sundowners''] at Australian Screen Online
* [http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/sundowners ''The Sundowners''] at Oz Movies
* {{Rotten-tomatoes|1020479_sundowners}}

{{Fred Zinnemann}}
{{Jon Cleary}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundowners, The}}
[[Category:1960 films]]
[[Category:1960 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:1960s Australian films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Australian films about gambling]]
[[Category:Australian horse racing films]]
[[Category:Australian Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:British adventure films]]
[[Category:British films about gambling]]
[[Category:English-language Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Jon Cleary]]
[[Category:Films directed by Fred Zinnemann]]
[[Category:Films about sheep]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1920s]]
[[Category:Films shot in England]]
[[Category:Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin]]
[[Category:Films shot at Associated British Studios]]
[[Category:Films shot in Flinders Ranges]]
[[Category:Australian sheep industry]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]