Rangle River

Australia and our United States have a lot in common: Both were used as dumping grounds for criminals and cast-offs, and our West and most of Australia had and have lots of room for large herds of cattle, with accompanying horse-mounted heroes.

Victor Jory got one of his rare chances to be one of those heroes, and he made a good cowboy. (Somehow, his non-Aussie speech was never explained, but probably doesn't really matter.)

Most of the rest of the very good cast is probably as unknown to most U.S. viewers as to me, except for Robert Coote. His character here is mostly just silly, and badly done ... until he arrives at the ranch and grows some. Although, come to think of it, I guess it's a "station," not a ranch.

There are more cattle in this movie than I can recall seeing in any other movie, and it's fascinating to see both the similarities and differences in how they are herded.

Supposedly Zane Grey wrote this story after having a long fishing visit Down Under, and I guess he was the appropriate writer. The story could have been placed perhaps in many countries, but especially Australia or these United States.

I found "Rangle River" quite by accident via a new-to-me subscription service called Kanopy, which one joins through one's library. Or through a library. I was able to use an old card from a large-enough system that is connected. I highly recommend Kanopy, even though it also offers more pure garbage than I knew even existed.

But Kanopy has quite a few of these classic and/or fascinating Australian movies, too, and having access to them more than makes up for having to scroll through the garbage.

If you like the history and, for that matter, the geography of movies, I do urge you to watch "Rangle River."