The Sundowners

UK (1960): Drama/Adventure

Director Fred Zinnemann was riding a crest in the '50s with movies like High Noon (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), and Oklahoma! (1955), and his success continues in this western-style drama set in Australia in the 1920s. Ida Carmody (Deborah Kerr) is married to Paddy (Robert Mitchum), a sheep drover whose nomadic existence makes him blissfully content. Neither Ida nor their son Sean share his love for roaming, in fact, Ida convinces her husband to take on a job as a sheep-shearer so they can finally have enough to get a mortgage on a farm. At first Paddy agrees but obviously does not know his own mind because in no time at all, he rebels -- though that is not the end of it. Peter Ustinov is also featured as Vanneker, a bachelor who comes to stay with the family, and Glynis Johns plays a hotelkeeper out to change Vanneker's non-marital status. Also features Dina Merrill and Michael Anderson Jr. (Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide)

 Use this link to view the original theatrical trailer for The Sundowners on TCM.com.

5 nominations