Dusters Down Under: Part 4: Ned Kelly (1970) …

Wild Horses / Stones

Ned ... the truth________________________________________________________

I feel it’s safe to say that at this point, that no definitive film depiction of Ned Kelly has yet been made. It would take a protracted mini-series to tell his whole story properly – as it spans many years and many events.
There have been some good documentaries, but …
The question still remains: Was Ned Kelly a Hero? or a villain?
I believe Kelly was a pretty rough character and certainly a law breaker. And he and his family were definitely on negative terms with the authorities/police – for quite a while – whose own behaviour seems to have been much less than honourable or praiseworthy.
Wrongs and bad blood on both sides – leading to an inevitable conflict – which Kelly, and his gang, could not win.
You might say however, that Kelly extracted his ‘pound of flesh’ – and made his point – before he left.
His courage and bravado are admired by many in spite of what may be acknowledged as dastardly deeds.
Kelly Historians and experts often simply present their evidence and leave us to decide for ourselves.
_________________________________________

More Kelly

After 1960 a fistful of Kelly movies were made. Some are parodies/comedies which would really mean little to us over here – not being as immersed – or inundated (as it were) – in Kelly culture and lore as our friends Down Under. Therefore, I will not cover those here, but I look to 2 well known – and interesting – takes on Kelly’s tale:
Ned Kelly (1970) starring Mick Jagger
and Ned Kelly (2003) with Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush …

Ned Kelly (1970)

It’s amazing how many actors and entertainers successfully jump from music to the movies. Over the years a large number of singers, pop artists, crooners, Rock Stars, County Music entertainers, etc. have all made the leap: Sinatra, Streisand, Kristofferson, Dean Martin, Timberlake … Liza Minnelli, J Lo, Bing Crosby, Elvis (gulp), … it’s actually a very long list, with some not only becoming very good actors and Stars, but winning Oscars: Sinatra, Streisand, Minnelli, Crosby, Cher (what!?) …

But it doesn’t always work that way. Right Mr. Dylan?

So here we have Mick Jagger seemingly cast out of nowhere as Ned Kelly (Albert Finney was Director Richardson’s first choice – but not available).
Jagger has actually appeared in over 25 movies since 1966. He’s persistent if nothing else, but even if he did have some degree of charisma on the Big Screen, his acting is … well, bad. And though Jagger is photogenic enough in stills, this charisma does not translate when the pictures are moving.

Plain and simple: if you’re going to be the Star in a movie, you better be able to shine.
Most of us would do no better – but it just wasn’t there. 

Strangely, Mick did not do the soundtrack for the movie- singing only one track “The Wild Colonial Boy.” But that’s another story – with several people bailing out – the task eventually falling to a song writer named Shel Silverstein, and singing done mainly by either Waylon Jennings or Kris Kristofferson – who were not established music stars as of yet. Interesting.

Overall Ned Kelly (1970) is often viewed as a mere curiosity. And if Jagger wasn’t in it, it might never be viewed at all.

Reviews:

Ned Kelly 1970 IMDB

Ned Kelly 1970 Rotten Tomatoes

Stick to Rock & Roll Mick.

But there’s no need to have sympathy (for the devil) because Jagger surely has carved out a place in the entertainment industry amongst the greatest Rock & Roll stars of all time. And still going.

The Last Time / Stones 

Posters:

If only the movie was as good as the posters …

Ned Kelly 1970 - Mick 1

Ned Kelly 1970 - Mick 2

Ned Kelly 1970 - Mick 3

Ned Kelly 1970 - Mick 4

Ned Kelly 1970 - Mick 5

Coming up:
Dusters Down Under Part 5: Ned Kelly (2003) … 

Dusters Down Under: Part 3: Ned Kelly / 1906 to 1960 …

I’m going to move through the Kelly movies movie right up to 1960:

The Kelly Gang (1920)
When The Kellys Were Out (1923) 
When The Kellys Rode (1934) 
The Glenrowan Affair (1951)
Stringybark Massacre (1960)

The Kelly Gang 1920

The Kelly Gang (1920)

One Image (above)

From Iron Outlaw http://www.ironoutlaw.com/html/movies.html

Director: Harry Southwell
Cast: Godfrey Cass … as Ned Kelly

“Welsh-born filmmaker Charles Southwell had a vision: to present the great drama of the Kelly saga on the Australian screen. He laboured at this task for 15 years, producing three films of indifferent quality along the way – The Kelly Gang, When the Kellys Were Out, and When The Kellys Rode. Southwell’s endeavours were hampered by political sensitivities, with any pro-Kelly material liable to be banned.”

When The Kellys Were Out (1923) 

No images – No posters.

Australian State Records Website: http://gallery.records.nsw.gov.au/index.php/galleries/50-years-at-state-records-nsw/5-05/

Australian film censorship in the 1920s:
“…no official encouragement whatever should be given to moving picture promoters to attempt to make a hero of a criminal.”

In accordance with the relevant regulations, the film had to be submitted for approval by the Censor Board. As this correspondence shows, despite some differences of opinion, permission to screen the film for the public was not granted, even though the company had made a number of changes following initial rejection by the Board.
The authorities were well aware that the exploits of the gang endured in the public imagination, despite the passage of forty years. The Board’s concerns about the possible glorification of outlaws (and consequent ‘corruption of public morals’) meant that it could be difficult to obtain permission to screen any film that featured bushrangers, particularly the Kellys.

When The Kellys Rode (1934) 

Several excellent Posters

when the kellys rode
when the kellys rode 2when the kellys rode 3
The Glenrowan Affair (1951)

No posters – No images

The Glenrowan Affair – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

It was Rupert Kathner’s final film and stars VFL star Bob Chitty as Kelly. It was known as one of the worst films ever made in Australia.

The film was given its first screening in Victoria at Benalla. Townspeople were worried relatives of the Kellys would cause trouble. However, the screening was accompanied by audience laughter. Nonetheless the screening raised ₤400 for charity.

Reviews: – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

“This near-unendurable stretch of laboured, amateurish film-making is something that the developing Australian film industry will wish to forget-swiftly and finally … A film made on a shoe-string (as this obviously was) could still achieve a little crude vitality. This one isn’t even robust enough for the unconscious humour (and there is plenty of that) to be really enjoyable. The script is dreary, the photography more often out of-focus than in, the editing is unimaginative and the acting petrified. It would be misplaced kindness, in fact, to try and ferret out a redeeming feature.”

Stringybark Massacre (1960) 

No posters – No images

Director: Gary Shead

Garry Shead’s avante-guard filmmaking techniques result in a stylish re-creation of the murder of three police officers at Stringybark, Victoria by Australian bush outlaw, Ned Kelly.

NEXT:
Dusters Down Under Part 4: The Kelly Movies 1960 to present … 

Dusters Down Under: Part 2: The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)

“A thrilling moving picture from start to finish
The Most Sensational, The Most Thrilling and Interesting LIVING PICTURES EVER TAKEN.”

ned kelly song … waylon jennings

the story begins

Wikipedia: The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary infamous outlaw and bushranger Ned Kelly (1855–1880). It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and at that time was the longest narrative film yet seen in the world. Its approximate reel length was 4,000 feet …

the story of the ned kelly gang poster

There are only about ten minutes the of film left. Many rolls of damaged film were found in an old barn which was once the family home of the Crews in Yarraville, Victoria. The roles were sent to Canberra but they were unable to recover most of the footage. In November 2006 the National Film and Sound Archive made a new digital copy of the movie. This has 11 minutes of extra film which was discovered in the United Kingdom. The movie now is 17 minutes long. It has the main scene of the Kelly’s fight with the police at Glenrowan (called the Kelly’s Last Stand).

ned kelly and gang

practicing

shooting sidesaddle

ned in his armour
Ned in his famous armour

neds's end

ned stamp

ned kelly armour

Dusters Down Under Part 3: The Kelly Movies cont …