The Flagstaff Hill historical maritime village used as a stand-in for the port town of Fremantle in 1990 film Quigley Down Under

A big-budget film starring Tom Selleck and Alan Rickman took more than a decade to reach production and was eventually filmed around Warrnambool and Apollo Bay.

The 1990 movie Quigley Down Under is about an American cowboy’s trip to Australia.

Ask any Victorian about the best locally-produced film and they’ll probably talk about The Castle.

But few remember a big-budget Hollywood western that was filmed right on our doorstep.

Magnum PI actor Tom Selleck and the late Harry Potter and Love Actually star Alan Rickman made a 1990 movie about an American cowboy’s trip to Australia, with much of the action filmed around Warrnambool and Apollo Bay.

The forgotten film, Quigley Down Under, was written as a comment on colonial treatment of Indigenous people.

Although $20 million was splashed on the film, which included a scene in which a dingo attempted to attack a baby, it fell down the Hollywood memory hole.

Tom Selleck plays cowboy Matthew Quigley who travels to Australia in Quigley Down Under. Picture: Roadshow Entertainment

Sharp shooter

The storyline of Quigley Down Under follows Yankee cowboy and sharp shooter Matthew Quigley who answers an Australian advertisement for a long-range marksman.

Hauling a specially modified rifle that allows him to hit a bucket from 1km away, Quigley (Selleck) sails to Fremantle in Western Australia.

Venturing into the outback he meets the author of the advertisement, a brooding cattle mogul named Elliott Marston (Rickman).

The late Alan Rickman plays villainous cattle mogul Elliott Marston. Picture: Roadshow Entertainment

The Apollo Bay area was used for filming Quigley Down Under. Picture: Roadshow Entertainment

When Quigley discovers Marston’s evil plan to shoot a group of Aboriginal people who have been stealing livestock, the pair fight before Quigley is dumped in the desert with American exile Crazy Cora, played by Laura San Giacomo who later found widespread fame in the TV series Just Shoot Me.

Quigley and Cora encounter an Indigenous tribe and save one of their babies from Marston’s persistent cronies, and Cora is forced to fend off a pack of dingoes who come after her and the child during the night.

A young Ben Mendelsohn also appears in one of his first film performances, aged about 20.

He plays Irish convict gun toter O’Flynn who works for the villain Marston.

Mendelsohn would later go on to act in such blockbusters as The Dark Knight Rises and Rogue One.

A young Ben Mendelsohn played one of the villain’s Irish convict cronies. Picture: Roadshow Entertainment

After passing through various trials in the harsh Australian landscape, and dealing with Cora’s haunting past, Quigley meets Marston in a showdown at his cattle station and is triumphant, freeing some Indigenous workers and ensuring a safe future for their tribe.

Colonial oppression

Although set in Western Australia, the Flagstaff Hill historical maritime village in Warrnambool was used as a stand-in for the port town of Fremantle.

A mock sailing ship was constructed at the museum’s small lake and its building exhibits, including a mock shipping agent’s store, were used as sets.

The museum also aided in the construction of a mock 19th Century fishing village at Apollo Bay, which represented a fictional town in WA.

Flagstaff Hill historical village in Warrnambool was used as a set for the film. Picture: Roadshow Entertainment

Other parts of the movie were shot in the Northern Territory, with scenes at Marston’s ranch filmed around Alice Springs.

But the unusual western almost never made it to production.

The story was the brain child of American writer John Hill, who took inspiration from a US newspaper feature about the poor treatment of Indigenous people under colonial rule in Australia.

Having originally written the script in 1975, it took more than a decade for it to reach production after various studios sold it on.

The film starred Magnum PI actor Tom Selleck and Laura San Giacomo, who later acted in TV series Just Shoot Me. Pictures: Roadshow Entertainment

Steve McQueen was originally intended to play the main role but he became too ill.

Clint Eastwood was then considered but the role was eventually passed to Selleck.

Having passed through multiple hands and altered countless times, the script was deemed too historically inaccurate for its purpose, to Hill was again hired to revamp the story.

The film was directed by Australian Simon Wincer, whose other credits include Free Willy, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Operation Dumbo Drop and The Cup.

Despite its big budget and star-studded cast, the movie was not a big financial success, earning about $21.4 million at the box office – just enough to cover the cost of its production.

Nonetheless it led to Alan Rickman winning British Actor of the Year Award from the London Film Critics’ Circle.

The movie was also nominated for a human rights award from the Political Film Society for its handling of the Indigenous issue, and picked up a gong for its sound editors.

Quigley Down Under currently has an audience score of 73 per cent on film review site Rotten Tomatoes and was a precursor to other Australian “kangaroo westerns” including the 2005 drama The Proposition starring Guy Pearce.