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Forgotten Gem of the Week: Quigley Down Under

by ScreenCraft on March 11, 2013

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Since we’re all about celebrating fresh voices and finding those diamond in the rough scripts at ScreenCraft, we thought it would be fun to start a recurring column in which we call attention to a film and a script that we feel are special and yet under-seen and undervalued.

 

To start us off, I’m highlighting Quigley Down Under, which was written by John Hill and directed by Simon Wincer. Released in 1990, it stars Tom Selleck, Alan Rickman and Laura San Giacomo.

 

This is a fun Western with a fresh and witty point of view that preserves all of the traditional elements of the genre while putting its own unique spin on it.

 

The story concerns the title character, Quigley, a Montana sharpshooter who is hired by a Marston, a rancher in Australia, to come and work for him. Quigley accepts the offer and voyages to Australia, thinking his boss wants him to shoot dingoes. Upon arrival, however, he learns that his boss wants him to kill Aborigines. Quigley, a moral man…as the genre often calls for…instantly turns on his employer and his men and the action ensues.

 

This script works exceedingly well for several reasons. First, it actively engages one of the oft-repeated, fundamental storytelling tropes: the fish-out-of-water tale. By bringing an American to the Australian outback, the story preserves the landscape and iconography of the traditional Western while adding a fresh cultural perspective.

 

It also works on a character level: Quigley’s outsider status makes him even more of an underdog.

 

The tone of the script is also worth celebrating. Every principal character has quirks that set them apart; this is quite possibly the most playful, yet traditional Western I’ve ever seen. Quigley has an infectious sense of humor. Marston is a self-reflexive character in that he is infatuated with stories of quick-draw artists from the Old West and fantasizes about becoming one. He is dumbstruck that Quigley has actually been to Dodge City and met Wild Bill Hickok.

 

In this way, screenwriter John Hill uses Marston to comment upon the genre itself and how we as a culture have mythologized the Old West. Marston aspires to be something that doesn’t actually exist. He falls short of the myth, as does reality at large. It’s a playful and savvy dichotomy Hill introduces, exploring the dichotomy between fact and fiction, myth and reality.

 

The female lead, Cora, is also a worthy character. She’s quirky and eccentric and seemingly crazy. Also an American, she has become a pariah in Australia, for reasons we don’t learn until well into the second act. In addition to being Quigley’s love interest, she functions as his buddy sidekick…the comic relief…for the majority of the film, as we wait to find out what really makes her tick and what happened to her to make her mentally unstable. Her character really works. She’s fun and unpredictable, and Hill makes sure to give her her heroine moment in the sun, where she gets to redeem herself for a past tragedy.

 

This is a light and frothy movie, an old-fashioned popcorn entertainment, but there’s also some emotional heft, with Quigley identifying with an unknown culture and ultimately leading them against his own people.  This is another classic trope we’ve seen over and over again; it works. It’s Pocahontas, it’s Dances With Wolves, it’s The Last Samurai, it’s Avatar.

 

At its core, Quigley is a simple story that knows where it’s going. The conflict is constant and relatable, the characters are dimensional and have fresh voices, Quigley has a strong and crystal-clear goal throughout, the structure is sharp and basic…everything just works. It’s one of those scripts that makes everything look easy.

 

And beyond the script, worth mentioning is the sweeping and memorable score by Basil Poledouris, who did some amazing work as a composer (For Love of the Game is another incredible score) in his long career.

 

If you’re in the mood for an entertaining story with a fresh perspective, check Quigley out. It’s a great case study for how to infuse your unique voice as a writer into a genre film.

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