Outback in the Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Overlanders

Northern Australia is threatened with the possibility of a Japanese attack and McAlpine's boss gives him orders to shoot the cattle so they can't provide food for the enemy. Instead, McAlpine (Chips Rafferty) sets out to deliver the cattle to Queensland, more than 1500 miles away over treacherous terrain where water and food is scarce.

The slogan "bullocks are more important than bullets" keeps him true to his task.

Answer: Robbery Under Arms

Dick and Jim Marston are played by Ronald Lewis and a very young David McCallum (Ducky of "NCIS") and Peter Finch plays Starlight. The movie is very much a western set in Australia, with bank robberies, cattle rustling and shootouts, and little hope of a happy ending. A later version (1985) stars Sam Neill as Starlight.

Answer: The Sundowners

Fred Zinnemann directs this rather enjoyable tale of a family of nomads, two of whom (the mother and son) want to give up the wandering life and settle down on a farm. The sheep shearing contest is memorable! Robert Mitchum plays Paddy Carmody and Deborah Kerr is his wife Ida. Their son, Sean, is played by Michael Anderson.

Answer: The Picture Show Man

The rivals are Pym (John Meillon) and Palmer (Rod Taylor), and each has a horse-drawn wagon in which to transport projection equipment and films, along with members of the company, from town to town. Pym and his son would like to stay in one place and open a cinema, but need to keep on the move to compete with Palmer.

Answer: Gallipoli

Mark Lee and Mel Gibson play Archy and Frank, two young sprinters who decide to join the army and end up embroiled in the title campaign in Turkey. Director Peter Weir sets a large part of the movie in Australia, taking us from country fair footraces through Archy and Frank's overland journey to the recruiting office, before moving on to Egypt and finally the Gallipoli peninsula.

Answer: A Cry in the Dark

Meryl Streep plays Lindy Chamberlain and Sam Neill is her husband Michael in this "based on a true story" drama. The couple and their baby are visiting Uluru (Ayers Rock) when baby Azaria disappears. Lindy says that she saw a dingo go into their tent and steal the child, but officials believe that Lindy is a murderer and charge her with the crime.

The movie explores what happens next.

Answer: Quigley Down Under

Tom Selleck plays Matt Quigley, who is hired by Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman) to shoot aborigines, a part of the job description that is only revealed after Quigley has travelled from his home in Wyoming to outback Australia. Quigley and Marston become enemies and numerous adventures ensue. Accompanying Quigley on some of these is Crazy Cora (Laura San Giacomo) who has convinced herself that Quigley is an old flame of hers named Roy.

Answer: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Tick (Hugo Weaving) and Adam (Guy Pearce) perform in drag as Mitzi and Felicia. Bernadette (Terence Stamp) is a transgender woman. They set out together in their bus, Priscilla, to take up a job in Alice Springs, in the very centre of the country. Along the way they have a few adventures and find out some things about each other and themselves.

This movie is an Oscar winner for Costume Design.

Answer: Australia

Baz Luhrmann is the director of nearly three hours worth of cattle, dusty outback vistas, Japanese bombers over Darwin during WWII and a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. Nicole Kidman plays the aristocrat and Hugh Jackman is the stockman who agrees to undertake a 2000 mile cattle drive for her, in a plot that echoes that of the earlier film "The Overlanders", without being a remake.

Answer: The Sapphires

The four girls are sisters, and the outback features in scenes when they are children, and also when they return home after having some success entertaining troops in Vietnam as the singing group called The Sapphires. They are helped in their endeavours by a talent scout named Dave (Chris O'Dowd), who eventually falls in love with one of the girls.