Alethea McGrath, Alexander Outhred, Amanda Douge, Caroline Kemp, Charlotte Rampling ... (see more) , Daphne Grey , Frank Gallacher , Frankie J. Holden , Jake Frost , John Rafter Lee , Kirsty McGregor , Peter Osborn , Russell Crowe , Sam Nightingale , Syd Brisbane , Wayne Pygram

A humane, well-observed coming-of-age tale set in the Australian outback, Hammers over the Anvil details with gentle frankness the growing self-awareness of Alan Marshall (Alexander Outhred), a boy whose dreams of riding a horse are hampered as much by his dull shopkeeper father as by the braces on ... (read more) A humane, well-observed coming-of-age tale set in the Australian outback, Hammers over the Anvil details with gentle frankness the growing self-awareness of Alan Marshall (Alexander Outhred), a boy whose dreams of riding a horse are hampered as much by his dull shopkeeper father as by the braces on Alan's crippled legs. Alan's idealized role model is the tanned and rugged East Driscoll (Russell Crowe), a friendly but solitary man given to lonely midnight rides, whose individuality and happy embrace of nature seem, to the budding young writer, nearly pagan. (The opening scene of the film is of East merrily splashing about naked in a stream with his horses, with Alan gazing on admiringly.) East is the sort of good-natured, simple soul who thinks nothing of calling the young man always close on his heels a "bloke" and offering him swigs from his flask. Nor is he the type to hesitate from making his move when the lovely Grace McAlister (Charlotte Rampling) comes to town just because her staid husband is in tow. The touching love scenes between East and Grace are believable and carnal (one realizes that part of the reason it took so long for Crowe to reach superstardom was the lack of a female lead who could appraise his unapologetic masculinity as wittily and engagingly as Rampling does here), all the more so for being viewed through Alan's eyes. Ann Turner has crafted a film much quieter that her fine, fantastical Celia (albeit every bit as heartbreakingly ironic), but it is no less sympathetic and understanding of a child's sometimes confusing view of the adult world. --Bruce Reid

PG, 101 minutes
Directed by: Ann Turner
Release Date: Jan 01, 1991
DVD Release Date: Dec 05, 2000