THE BLUE LIGHTNING
Australia/US, 1986, 100 minutes, Colour.
Sam Elliot, Rebecca Gilling, Robert Coleby, John Meillon, Max Phipps.
Directed by Lee Philips.
The Blue Lightning is an American/ Australian television co-production. It was premiered on prime time American network television in May 1986. The Australian production side included Greg Coote and Matt Carroll (formerly of the South Australian Film Corporation and Village Roadshow).
Critics at the time did not approve of this kind of co-production. It seemed an American style story with American style characters (and, particularly, violence) for audiences who did not know Australia. It presented an Americanised Australia.
The film, is a thriller - and uses a lot of the familiar conventions of American western and action films. Sam Elliott is the laconic, Tom Selleck-like, hero. Robert Culp is an I.R.A. villain in outback Australia. The Australian cast fares better. Rebecca Gilling (Return to Eden) is a lively heroine. Max Phipps, John Meillon, Robert Colby (as a tormented clergyman) have their moments. However, the coup is in having celebrated aboriginal playwright Jack Davis as the station hand. He puts in a performance of dignity - though in a conventional aboriginal setting.
The photography of Sydney, Blue Mountains and the Outback New South Wales landscapes is excellent(and should draw Americans). There is also a strong feeling for aborigines - including a funeral in which the congregation recites the 'Our Father' 'in an aboriginal language.
However, the hunt for opals, the sales of arms under Sydney Harbour Bridge, the action chases in the countryside all smack of American style violence and there is a lot of over-shooting.
As a routine action thriller, it holds the attention.
1. An interesting and enjoyable telemovie thriller? Action show?
2. An Australian- American collaboration? Finance, cast? The film for the American audience before the Australian audience? The audience potential - for interest in Australia and its landscapes?
3. The opening with San Francisco and Sausalito? The beauty of the city? The comparisons with Sydney, Opera House and bridge? The Blue Mountains scenery? Outback New South Wales? The tourist potential of the film?
4. The title, opals, Australian mining, wealth and greed?
5. The prologue and the Australian setting, opals, Mc Inally and the I.R.A., the callous treatment of his victim, killing? Violent tone?
6. The US, Cathcart and his operations, greed and, obsession? Sending the Chinese messenger to get Harry? His mission? the American hero type?
7. His arrival in Sydney, buying the guns under the Harbour Bridge, the snake in his hotel room? Contacts? The encounter with Kate and their setting off together? The set-up for the pursuit of Mc Inally?
8. The drive, the countryside, the car chase and the action effects, the plane chase, the guns firing? The spectacle? The crash landing? The road train and their getting a lift?
9. The town, the casino (how credible?)? Mc Inally and his underground headquarters, computers? The clashes, fights? Harry and the thugs, his being injured? The build-up to the ultimate battle in the town? The use of the abandoned mining gear? Spectacular shoot-out and deaths?
10. Harry taken to the mission? His being cared for by the doctor? Kate and Quentin and their work on the mission? Ninian and his being the missionary? The aborigines on the station? The aborigines and their way of life, values? All participating in the siege?
11. The plausibility of this kind of action and shoot-out in the Australian Outback.
12. Jack Davis as the station hand? The aborigines on the station? The mission? Their work? Lifestyle and values? The aboriginal themes - Harry and his Indian background? The discussion with the station hand? The clash with the whites? Blood brotherhood? The exchange of blood? Exchange of spirit? The participation in the siege? The aborigines being shot to save the whites? The reference to blood brotherhood in death? The funeral and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the aboriginal language? (The aboriginal sequences and their tone for American audiences? Australian audiences?
13. The religious themes in the film: Quentin and Ninian and their training to be priests, their studies, celibacy? The establishing of the mission? Quentin and his giving up his ministry? His becoming a detective (to seek truth?), his being killed by Mc Inally in the crucifix form? Ninian and his staying, his obsession with Kate?
14. Kate as heroine? Love for Quentin? Friendship with Ninian? Participation in the siege? Falling in love with Harry? Harry as the ultimate hero?
15. The thriller themes? Greed? The I.R.A. in Australia? Big business? Gambling? Violence?
