Kangaroo (1952) on Netflix
Approved19521h 24mAdventureCrimeDramaWestern
Michael McGuire, a drought-stricken rancher in turn-of-the-century Australia, mistakes Richard Connor, an English stowaway, for the son he abandoned. Connor and Gamble plan to swindle him.
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- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb5.7/10467 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
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Plot summary
Rancher Michael McGuire leaves his drought-stricken cattle station outside Port Augusta and travels to Sydney to ask a bank for a loan. The bank refuses, and he spends a drunken evening in a harbor flophouse, where he meets Richard Connor, a recent English stowaway, and mistakes him for Dennis, the son he abandoned in an orphanage years before. After McGuire falls asleep, Connor tries to rob John Gamble outside a gambling house; Gamble, who has lost his own money, suggests robbing the house instead, and during the holdup Gamble shoots Fenner, its owner. The pair flee, fall in with the still-drunken McGuire and escort him home, passing themselves off as ranchers who bought five hundred head of his cattle. At the station, McGuire's daughter Dell greets them, and Connor is drawn to her.
Cast
- Letty Craydonas Kathleen, McGuire's Housekeeper
- Eve Abdullahas Woman Servant(uncredited)
- Alan Bardsleyas Cook on Cattle Drive(uncredited)
- Billy Brayas Sailor(uncredited)
- Frank Catchloveas Walter the Publican(uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Kangaroo (1952)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A severe drought in Australia led Lewis Milestone to plan shooting the film's climactic scene in Hollywood, but after the cast and crew attended a native rain dance, the next morning rain finally fell.
- Director Lewis Milestone disliked the script and tried to get Fox to replace it with a story drawn from Australian writer Brian Penton's novels Landtakers and Inheritors. Fox refused, but Milestone folded material from the books into the final script and added the bullwhip duel scene.
- Maureen O'Hara felt Lewis Milestone had ruined the script and tried to withdraw from the film, but was forced to remain in order to avoid a political incident.
- Constance Smith, who had just appeared in Fox's The Mudlark, was given the female lead, but when she was assigned to star in The 13th Letter (1951), Maureen O'Hara took the role.
- Lewis Milestone claimed Zanuck refused to preview the film in Los Angeles and sent it to East Coast markets; a few months later, after it performed poorly, Zanuck demanded a new ending.
