The Sundowners

Director: Fred Zinnemann Fred Zinnemann

Overview

Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) is an Irish-Australian who promises wife Ida (Deborah Kerr) he will quit his free wheeling ways and settle down. He takes a job as a shearer on a sheep farm to save money for a down payment on a farm of their own. Domestic trouble begins when he gambles away the family's money in an effort to get rich quick.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/16/2018
UPC:	0888574601911
Original Release:	1960
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:13:00
Sales rank:	691

Special Features

Vintage featurette On location with The Sundowners; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Mitchum	Actor
Deborah Kerr	Actor
Peter Ustinov	Actor
Michael Anderson Jr.	Actor
Glynis Johns	Actor,Actor
Dina Merrill	Actor
Chips Rafferty	Actor
Lola Brooks	Actor
Wylie Watson	Actor
John Meillon	Actor
Ronald Fraser	Actor
Molly Urquhart	Actor
Ewen Solon	Actor
Dick Bentley	Actor
Gerry Duggan	Actor
Peter Carver	Actor
Leonard Teale	Actor
Alister Williamson	Actor
Ray Barrett	Actor
Mercia Barden	Actor
Michael Anderson	Sean Carmody
Max Osbiston	Farm Couple
Jack Cunningham	Paddy's Drinking Companion #2
John Fegan	Actor
Bryan Pringle	PC Thomas
Colin Tapley	Palmer
Dimitri Tiomkin	Composer

Technical Credits

Isobel Lennart

Fred Zinnemann	Director,Producer
Isobel Lennart	Screenwriter
Gerry Blattner	Producer
David Hildyard	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Hardly the most conflict-driven film of Fred Zinneman's career, or anyone's, The Sundowners is characterized by a gentle tone that effectively complements its striking Australian location photography. Wavering accents aside, both Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr make a great team as a pair of Irish drovers, with Mitchum seeming, amazingly enough, almost cuddly. The central issue -- Mitchum's wanderlust versus Kerr's desire to settle down -- is so muted as to be almost invisible, but the two leads carry it off nicely. Even if it dodges some the stickier issues of class and colonialism, it keeps the interest in its characters high, with Peter Ustinov providing memorable comic relief. By its conclusion, Sundowners has ably conveyed the difficulties facing those who settle the frontier.