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Inspired by an epic poem by A. B. "Banjo" Patterson, The Man From Snowy River was a major step forward for the regenerated Australian film industry of the early 1980s. This "down-under western" spotlights Tom Burlinson as Jim Craig, a headstrong young man who goes to work for a powerful cattle baron. Burlinson falls in love with Jessica ( Sigrid Thornton ), his boss' daughter, and becomes enmeshed in a bitter land feud. Kirk Douglas has a high old time in the dual role of hard-hearted landowner Harrison and grizzled, one-legged old prospector Spur. Previously filmed in 1920 (and how we wish that version were still in existence!), The Man From Snowy River was directed by the other George Miller , not the director of the same name who helmed Mad Max (1979). A monumental moneymaker, the film inspired a 1988 sequel, confusingly titled Return to Snowy River, Part II . — Hal Erickson
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