User Reviews

I would love to sit and watch this film with an Aussie. That's because as an American, I don't know enough to know how accurate this movie is--and if the accents of all the non-Australians in the leads are even close to being correct.

This film is about a family of migrant workers--not a lazy 'sundowner' (see the IMDb trivia for more on this). They travel across Australia driving and shearing sheep to make a few quid--always on the move and no permanent home of their own. As for the husband (Robert Mitchum), he loves this sort of life with few responsibilities. But the wife (Deborah Kerr) is getting tired and sees a need to settle down and finally have a house of their own--especially since their son is getting older and wants some permanence in his life. The vast majority of the film, though, is almost like a documentary--showing what the life is like--like you get a little window into their migrant ways.

This is a well made film. The acting, direction and music are all quite nice. My only serious qualm is that the film is slow and I know many folks simply wouldn't sit still for such a seemingly mundane plot. But, if you are patient, it's well worth your time.

We don't really talk like that in Australia so the over the top accents are actually amusing! A good movie despite this however!

The Sundowners is a 1960 film that tells the story of an 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. It stars Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns, Dina Merrill, Michael Anderson, Jr. and Chips Rafferty.

The movie was adapted by Isobel Lennart from the novel by Jon Cleary. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Deborah Kerr), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Glynis Johns), Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

The movie was filmed mainly on location in New South Wales, including towns like Nimmitabel.

Desptite the "struggles over accents", the dramaturgy went along well and the stringing together of the events in the lives of the Carmody family kept me watching and enjoying what came along. The sheep shearing was believable, and Mitchum's exhaustion was realistic and was genuine.

Debora Kerr's wife was what I, as a male, sympathized with. Tis is not comparable to "Thousand Mile Fence"having to do with Aboriginal experiences. In a way it is a mirror of it in those who had taken over the land in their struggles to survive. My wife and I were there a few years ago, on the east coast, the barrier reef from Kairns down to Sydney, never getting to the outback, so after that we watched every Australian film we could.

In "Heaven knows ,Mister Allison" ,Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr had a tiny island for themselves ;in "the sundowners " they have the whole Australia.Mrs Carmody wants to settle down ,she wants a home ,she wants her boy to go to school.Mr Carmody registers the same desire ,but always something happens.This family and their friend (Peter Ustinov) are very endearing characters and as you follow them in their two hours + journey ,you never get bored a single minute.And however ,it's not an action-packed story ,all that happens could happen in real life and this simple life is depicted with respect for the audience.The documentary side is very interesting.

Anyone who enjoys the tales of the pioneers' trials to carve a nation out of the wilderness will enjoy the The Sundowners. The cast as would be expected is superb. It's a treat to see quintessential American tough-guy-with-a-soft-spot Robert Mitchum, one of my all-time favorite actors, pull of an Aussie accent. Deborah Kerr as the long-suffering but loyal wife and devoted mother is also worthy of high praise. Peter Ustinov and his English accent provide great comic relief. All in all, very good entertainment and insight into a lifestyle not familiar to the general American public, 7/10.

Frequently slow, solemn and simplistic, the films of Fred Zinneman are the work of a director who appears to have equated artistry with neatness, objectivity with aloofness, and significance with decorative, humorless reverence…

"The Sundowners" was perhaps the best 'Australian' film made up to that time, and was, incidentally, a perceptive study of a marriage: Deborah Kerr was the wife who wanted to settle down, and Robert Mitchum the husband who didn't… It reveals much about their life-style and the land in which they live… Their good teenaged son Sean (Michael Anderson Jr.) explains the meaning of a sundowner as someone whose home is wherever he happens to be when the sun goes down…

So Paddy (Mitchum) and Ida (Kerr) are a warm and well-adjusted couple with one grown son, except for one argument—the struggle between his love of being a wanderer and her fundamental desire for the stability of a home… Paddy was a man who couldn't settle in one place… For him, most places were fit only for arrivals and departures…

The film—which constantly endeavored to show the Australian woman's compassion for the problems of women in a big male society—is also a happy celebration with other notable participants being Glynis Johns as an awfully pleasant barmaid-innkeeper who loves men's company and knows how to deal with them; Peter Ustinov as an educated but slightly mysterious Englishman, a likable drifter, a kind of an elderly turtle who wears a nautical cap, with wealth of experience, but not much of a mind to make use of it…This turtle signs on as a drover with Paddy, apparently not so much for a job but for something to pass the time…

Outstanding is a scene in which Ida, as a woman with no makeup, sitting on the wagon, spots in the window of a stationary train a well-dressed woman who obviously has all the things she doesn't... They look at each other for an instance as the rich woman applies powder to her face… Ida gently lifts her fingers over her cheeks… They stare at each other and we rapidly notice Ida's thoughts…

"The Sundowners" is one of the very best of Mitchum's films… In the pub sequence, he is at his best when he sings "Botany Bay" and "Lime Juice Tub."

Deborah Kerr gave the role both a touch of delicacy and a touch of sensuality… She wins, for her impressive performance, her sixth and last Oscar nomination…

The motion picture, splendidly photographed in Technicolor and with a nice atmospheric music, contains fires in the dry forests, shearing contests, fist-fights, the Aussie's love of beer, a game of two-up, a big race meeting, much of the beautiful Australian landscape and the life on sheep farming stations

I was a bit disturbed to see a rather vitriolic, negative review of this film. The Sundowners has its faults, and is probably not in "must see" category, but it entertains, pleases and amuses. Its genre should probably be called "adventure lite"...the drama keeps you engaged, but doesn't get the adrenaline going.

The acting is solid (in particular, Ustinov really "completes" the cast nicely), the cinematography is excellent and all in all, it's a good film for a rainy night. I'd agree with the poster who pointed out that you probably won't want to watch it over and over again, but to me, this isn't necessarily a knock on it; after all, think how tedious it would be if all films were as arcane as, say, "Pulp Fiction."

A solid 7 out of 10.

Set in Australia in the 1920s,this wonderful movie tells the story of sheepdrover Mitchum, wife Kerr and son Anderson, drifting through the Australian wilderness,never settling down.Tired of constantly being on the move Kerr wants a home for her family,but Mitchum is insensitive to his family's wishes.

Deborah Kerr gives a fantastic performance that brings to life even the inner emotions of her character.She's never been better.Robert Mitchum is very believable in his assignment.It's perhaps one of his most complex roles.Also Peter Ustinov scores a triumph:A man too irresponsible to have a family of his own,and therefore clings to Mitchum and Kerr's family. The story isn't much on paper,but Fred Zinnemann's imaginative direction gives the incidents the needed emotions. Beautiful cinematography and sock performances from the rest of the cast makes this a movie you shouldn't miss.

This was a unique western in that (1) there are no villains; (2) no gunfighters and gunfight and (3) only one man is shot in the whole film.

Most of it is a simple story of "Sundowners:" a group of migrant-type workers who go from job to job - in this case as "sheep drovers." These workers never have a permanent place to call home.

In this particular story, the wife (Deborah Kerr) and their teenage boy (Michael Anderson Jr.) want a home while the husband (Robert Mitchum) doesn't want to settle down in one place. It may have American actors but the scene is Australia. I found a number of the accents hard to decipher. Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns and Dina Merrill all add to this impressive cast, which provides a lesson in solid acting. Ustinov's character adds humor to the film, and the scenery is nice to ogle.

You'd think with all these positive points I would rate this film higher, but something was missing, perhaps a little excitement. This is too low-key. The ending was kind of strange: not a a happy one but not unhappy either.

Yeah, it's a nice family story but not one I would go out of my way to watch again.

For such a gifted actor as Robert Mitchum to go unrecognized by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a shame and makes one glad that George C. Scott did what he did in refusing to receive the Oscar for his amazing work in "Patton." I don't want to mention Marlon Brando because I'm still not certain what he was up to. He seemed to want attention more than to make a statement when he flaunted the Academy. Added to this shame is the same Academy virtually ignoring Mitchum's co-star in this movie Deborah Kerr, also deserving of more formal recognition for her contributions to the Hollywood dream machine. Anyone who has any doubt about the outstanding acting abilities of these two stars needs only watch "The Sundowners" to see where I'm coming from. The rest of the cast in "The Sundowners" add to the overall effectiveness of the movie, especially the brilliance of Peter Ustinov.

There is really not much of a story. The film is more of a character study of a vagabond with a wife and a son who is trying to make a living as a sheep drover in the outback of Australia. He encounters a rather mysterious man Rupert Venneker (Ustinov) who becomes his hired hand to help with the sheep. Paddy Carmody (Mitchum) is very happy with this hand to mouth existence, living in a tent or sleeping out amongst the stars, keeping a little change in a jar, but his wife and son prefer a more settled existence, dreaming of owning their own ranch. Director Fred Zinnemann captures the essence of vagabond life down under filming on location in Australia, showing the exotic wild life in all its beauty and spender. Technicolor and wide-screen heighten the viewers enjoyment of this tale of dreams fulfilled and unfulfilled in a land that is still somewhat mysterious to the average American.

Of special note is the Australian music used by Zinnemann. In the first pub scene Mitchum bellows out in a drunken Aussie accent one of John Ford's favorites, "Wild Colonial Boy," but then sings a ballad that is seldom heard on the big screen, "Botany Bay," about the infamous penal colony from which modern Australia sprang. The versatile Robert Mitchum was also a singer and songwriter. He helped write the music of his production of "Thunder Road" and even had somewhat of a hit recording of the title song in 1958. Rupert Venneker (Ustinov) makes fun of Paddy's voice in "The Sundowners," but actually it wasn't bad.

This is a rather long film, over two hours, but a highly enjoyable one. I first saw it on the big screen when I was a senior in high school. It was one of those flicks that stays with a person. I've had the pleasure of seeing it a few more times since. It is still as fresh and as good as when first released.

Mitchum and Kerr are excellent together. This is just an entertaining, well-crafted film for two stars. Highly recommend.

Robert Mitchum had one undeniable talent as an actor, his phenomenal ability to pick up and use any kind of accent or dialect. I can't think of another actor who could have so convincingly played a New England hood in The Friends of Eddie Coyle, native Irish in Ryan's Daughter and A Terrible Beauty, and pure Australian in The Sundowners. Although the rest of the cast is great, it's his performance that pivots the whole film.

The movie itself is amazing in that the characters created are so engaging that even though the film really has no plot, just a series of connected wanderings, you enjoy it nevertheless. The film ending is also offbeat. Normally you would think that Deborah Kerr would win out in her desire to settle down on a farm. But unusual for Hollywood she gives in to Mitchum's wanderlust.

In their travels herding sheep through rural Australia of the 1920s these people, hardworking and living close to the poverty line look like their lives are fun. Like Mitchum's Paddy Carmody says he has no worries and no ulcers because he doesn't own any property or has any money in the bank. A whole lot like the real Mitchum in his Kerouac like youth. It's what makes this film just good fun.

I saw this movie twice, but would never hurry to see it again. While Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, and Michael Anderson, Jr. were rather convincing in their roles, the movie was was insipid. Again, Robert Mitchum did well as Paddy...the sheep drover who wanted to never settle down...and Deborah Kerr seemed to click with him as she portrayed Ida, the wife who, though she loved him, was at a conflict with him, since she did not want to keep on going across Australia.

But, there was really no story, basically. They stopped, slept, started again the next day, and that was it. While the movie was wholesome, again, it was just there, and nothing would motivate me to sit through it another time.

I had high hopes for this film, hearing that it was a fine Robert Mitchum performance, was based on an important Australian book, garnered multiple Oscar nominations and especially it being based in my home, Australia. I imagined it might be a film something like "Sunday Too Far Away", and could not understand why I had never seen it. American actors in Australian films are not unheard of (such as Kirk Douglas in "The Man from Snowy River"). From the opening scene, the reason I had never seen it in Australia became obvious; it just does not seem like Australia but some sort of cardboard cut-out story book version that is based on America, and for an Australian it is almost unwatchable.

The accents are just awful. People are being very generous when they praise the accents ... none of these actors could pass themselves as Australians in Australia for 5 seconds. The accents are patently inauthentic and not even close. When Australian actors like Russell Crowe or Nicole Kidman have to play an American, they have to get their accents right. When Renee Zellweger has to play English, she has to get the accent right. Apparently these standards did not apply in 1960.

Deborah Kerr sounds some sort of bad faux cockney ... which would be fine, cockneys move to Australia, she could be the drovers wife and be born in the East End of London, but her word usage and attempted nasalisation of the vowels are obviously attempting to be Australian, so you try to imagine to yourself that she might be a cockney that has been in Australia for a long time and has some sort of bizarre hybrid, but ultimately that doesn't work as she is an American doing an extremely bad job and it keeps pulling you out of the movie as you listen to her butcher the Australian accent. Robert Mitchum's American accent shines through his attempted strine with some cockney thrown in. But the worst of all is the young boys accent. I understand why they needed Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr for star power to make money at the box-office, but why could they not choose Australians for all the minor parts? At least if there were some Australians around, it would give Mitchum and Kerr someone to imitate. Although there are some Australians as minor parts in the film, many minor roles were unnecessarily given to Americans with poor training in the Australian accent, each new one as they are introduced is worse than the last.

That inauthenticity you might be able to get over if you just suspended it and let go of the gripe, and could loose yourself in the film. But then it is shot to make the Australian landscape look like a Western, complete with a swaggering Robert Mitchum in a cowboy hat and western style harmonica music to evoke Westerns, and you don't feel like this is Australia but America, and wonder how much was shot on a Hollywood lot or if they intentionally rearranged the scenes in Australia to make them evoke America. It then fetishes Australiana with shots of Australian birds like Cockatoos and Kookaburras, and then almost documentary style footage of things that must be fascinating to an American like a sheep dog working, sheep being herded and the work in a shearing shed, kangaroos jump through the middle of the shot in the middle of the heat of the day (kangaroos are nocturnal and sit around sleeping all day, being most active during dawn and dusk). It is just a bizarre experience for what is supposed to be a serious movie that got Oscar nominations. It is like a children's cartoon version of Australia.

The Australians are then treated kind of like comedy with Australians all getting into good natured fights over trivialities like simple- minded buffoons completely lacking in the cynicism and dryness that are inherent in outback pubs and these sorts of locations. It at no stage ever rings true. So you are watching these Australian locations shot to resemble American locations, with these bizarre American takes on Australian accents, and the characters reacting in ways that Australians would never react. All this constantly pulls you out of the film as you wonder how it must look to Americans, and how Australians can enjoy it in any other way than some sort of pride in "showcasing our country" like an advertisement for Tourism Australia rather than the serious piece of art it is held up as.

Being an Aussie I was pretty annoyed at some of the reviews in here by Australians. I think you have to be of a certain vintage to appreciate the life of the Australian drover. This was an occupation of former days. Both my grandfathers did it. Not with their families but they took to the road when they needed the work. A nomadic life is what many Australians had to endure as unlike what most people might think, Australians were mostly a poor lot of people with simple comforts. I do believe that Fred Zimmerman has done a brilliant job in capturing a moment in time with the Carmody family. This is my favorite Robert Mitchum movie. His accent was great. The best I have ever heard for an American. Very believable is his character. Deborah Kerr is like many women I once knew. She was also brilliant. I love looking at the scenery to see the beautiful countryside near where I live before it became fenced off with barbed wire everywhere. Great movie, definitely worth watching.

Most people don't give him much credit for being a serious actor, but Robert Mitchum actually had a lot of talent. Yes, he also happened to be very attractive and had a marvelous screen presence, but when given the chance, he showed off his acting chops. In The Sundowners, he tackles one of the most difficult accents for an American actor: an Australian accent.

Paired with his favorite leading lady, Deborah Kerr, they play a married couple struggling in their covered wagon in the Australian outback. They have excellent chemistry together, as they always do, and the story shows classic moments in an Australian family's life. And by that, I mean intense heat, a wildfire, lots of drinking, and of course, a sheep-sheering contest. The Sundowners was nominated for five Academy Awards, and when you watch it, you'll understand why. There's charm and humor, as well as drama and serious struggles within the family, making it a perfect candidate for Best Picture. Isobel Lennart's screenplay is very clever; Peter Ustinov says to Michael, "I'm not as old as I seem to you." And while it may seem like Glynis Johns is just a comic relief, she's seen her share of real life, too.

Bob and Deborah made four movies together, and this is the only one in which they play a married couple. I happen to think they're extremely adorable together, so I enjoy all of their pairings. They have such a great combination of careless and careful, prim and casual, and reserved and open, that whenever they work off one another onscreen, it's movie magic. Try one of their movies and see if you agree!

I have a few "special" movies. This is one of them. It's about people needing people---like "Breakfast at Tiffanys." Can you imagine two more different movies. But, the theme is the same, really. We need each other. This movie is 100% honest. No gimmicks. Only one in a thousand movies can claim that. You can have your "Citizen Kane" or your "Casablanca." I'll take this movie. In a heartbeat. A wonderful story, a wonderful director, real people. Honesty. Every inch of the movie is a joy. It's the kind of movie I can watch over and over. It's a love story, really, isn't it. But, it's a love story of two people who have been married a long time. How rare is that. And, a story of a wonderful culture. And, the music is quite beautiful, I think.

This American production, directed by US director Fred Zimmerman, and starring US and UK stars in its leading roles, does a good job of capturing rural Australia before WW2.

Based on a popular novel by Australian writer Jon Clarey, the film follows Paddy Carmody (played by Robert Mitchum who manages a believable Aussie accent), a rugged individual with a love of travelling, and an ability to turn his hand to droving, shearing and other tough rural occupations.

Deborah Kerr plays his long-suffering wife, Ida, with gusto, as she stands by him while trying to tempt him into becoming a settled man. Unlike Mitchum, her accent veers between cockney and strine, but she's good anyway.

Peter Ustinov avoids the accent problem by playing an educated Englishman adrift in the outback, living off his wits and the various women he charms with his witty repartee. The three, plus young UK actor Michael Anderson Jr as the son, make as strong team as they drove sheep, escape bushfires, go shearing, race horses, play two-up and enjoy outback pub life throughout the film.

It's an attractive film, replete with lots of well-filmed shots of our birdlife (corellas, galahs, emus and kookaburras), wildlife (kolas, kangaroos and wombats) and sheep (jumping, surging, being herded and being shorn), and a story which moves along, Hollywood-style.

There are a few Aussie actors in support roles, notably John Meillon as a young shearer and Chips Rafferty as a foreman.

It's enjoyable and better acted and written than some of the foreign productions in Australia of the 40s and 50s.

Whoopie, BBC2 are showing "The Sundowners" .. i've seen this film so many times over the years ( I'm 48 now) .. It's a great matinée film for a Sunday afternoon, either this or FA Cup football..( Salisbury v Nottingham Forest) .. think i'll plump for Sundowners ,this film has such a cozy feel good atmosphere to it. Ustinov ,Mitcham,Kerr, and that little lad all give excellent performances. ..Ahhh memories!! i remember 1st seeing this film when i was about 8, kneeling in front of the black and white telly, Mum in the kitchen making us a Sunday roast, ( I'm having to pad this film description out as IMDb require at least 10 lines before they'll accept it) .. anyhoo, as i was saying, Mum cooking the Sunday roast, the smell of gravy wafting through into the living room, my brother playing with buttons on the floor ( he liked buttons, don't ask!). Anyhoo, hopefully this should be enough for now, bloody good film.

My wife and I were hard pressed to come up with a compelling reason for this film's existence while watching it. It sure is....um....pleasant enough I guess, but about an hour and a half in we were still waiting for a dramatic conflict to emerge.

The movie hints here and there at one -- drover Robert Mitchum is a wanderer, never content to stay any one place for long; wife Deborah Kerr wants a home to settle down in. But the marital strife this separation of minds creates is never treated as more than a minor hiccup in these people's lives, and in any case it's buried underneath the rest of the very long movie, during which not much happens.

Deborah Kerr is lovely as always; Robert Mitchum is well cast even if he misses his Irish accent by a mile; Peter Ustinov is on hand to deliver droll one-liners; and Glynis Johns enlivens things every once in a while as a blowsy hotel proprietress. But I can't imagine what people saw in this to get it nominated for five Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture, back in 1960.

Grade: B-

Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum), his wife Ida (Deborah Kerr) and son Sean (Michael Anderson Jr.) are drovers in Australia. They are Sundowners, pitching their tents anywhere when the sun goes down. Ida would rather settle down and Sean wants to strike out on his own. They start a job driving sheep to the town of Cawndilla and are joined by Englishman Rupert Venneker (Peter Ustinov). They survive a wild fire. Arriving in Cawndilla, Paddy intends to drive on to Queensland but the rest tries to find jobs to stay. They settle on a sheep station.

There are solid actors, Australia, and lots of sheep. Mitchum provides a powerful presence. Kerr adds the heart. The journey does meander from place to place. The outback adventure is compelling. Once they stop moving, the story stays compelling due to the well-drawn characters by the top acting talents. It's a well-made old fashion film.

Movie starts with Already heated couple 👫 bickering ! I like when a movies characters have already built up in first seconds ! NOW what's left is 2+ hours of psychological torture about marriage & who should wear a pants & taking charges ! But we also have another weird character , it's a rebel boy 👦 who's thirsty & hungry w farming ambitions ! He likes to live like a sheep 🐑 in a safe space town & settle for rest of his life already . We also have a frustrated 😤 wife who's seek of living inside a luxury caravan RV & of course her tone deaf husband w long DUI records ! ... if only they would get divorce already we wouldn't have to know about a freaks of an Aussie town during wild West era lifestyle ! I wished the family guy would bite whoever nominated this for multiple Oscar awards !