Retorno al Río Nevado

Three years after the events in "The Man from Snowy River" (1982), wild horse tamer Tom Burlinson (as Jim Craig) returns to his Australian farm. Hair-teasing Sigrid Thornton (as Jessica Harrison) is still in town, but the couple appear to have drifted apart. Understandable. They don't exactly pick up where they left off for a couple of reasons. She has attracted another suitor, handsome Nicholas Eadie (as Alistair Patton), who is preferred by daddy Brian Dennehy (as Harrison). This very predictable story is highlighted by another wild mountain ride by the lead actor, in the beautiful Victoria Alps. Also interesting is how the conveyance of pre-marital sex is satisfying, contextually; this is a "family" movie.

***** The Man from Snowy River II (3/24/88) Geoff Burrowes ~ Tom Burlinson, Sigrid Thornton, Nicholas Eadie, Brian Dennehy

The three best things about "Man From Snowy River" were 1) The widescreen vistas 2) Kirk Douglas, especially as Spur 3) The music. Well, one of of three is not so good (though I do understand the Australian release was in Widescreen) The standard 35 (on the US DVD, at least) really detracts from the magnificent vistas that made "The Man From Snowy River" such a joy to watch (and helped disguise its relatively low budget). However, the most disastrous mistake that nearly undoes the movie is eliminating the "Spur" character and recasting "Harrison" with Brian Dennehy instead of Kirk Douglas. My gosh, are you telling me Kirk Douglas was not available SOMETIME during the SIX years between "Man From Snowy River" and "Return to..."? I also heard that Kirk Douglas was uniformly disliked by the original cast. If that is true, why not at least cast an actor with the same type of INTENSITY as Kirk Douglas; right off hand, I can think of three: Richard Widmark, Charlton Heston and James Coburn. Any of these three actors could play BOTH "Harrison" and "Spur". If the writers insisted on "killing off" "Spur," they could then have least had one of these actors play him in flashbacks or dreams, as "Spur" really brought life to the first film. As it is, Dennehy plays "Harrison" so differently than Douglas, it took me nearly an hour to get used to the change.

I really hope to one day see the widescreen version of "Return to Snowy River" to see how much the process improves the pacing of the film, particularly since the plotting itself is tighter than the original. As it is, "Return to Snowy River" comes across as a bad knock-off of the original. I give "Return to Snowy River" a weak "6".

This movie is the only movie I have ever been to see in the theater where, once the movie was over, everyone (and the place was filled) in the audience was clapping. I was 9/10 at the time, so I wasn't old enough to see the first one in the theaters but I was completely awe-struck and I still am to this day.

This movie, along with its prequel "The Man From Snowy River", are both in my top 10 favorite movies list.

Everyone in the movie was very well-suited for their roles. You loved the right people, hated the right people and forgave the right people.

It's going to continue to be a classic for many decades to come. I give it a 10 out of 10 star, along with its prequel.

It actually came out the same year as another one of my all-time favorites, "Starlight Hotel". Neither of these movies relied on special effects which is another reason the movie is so great. It really feels like you're right there along for the ride.

I recommend this movie to everyone - young, old, male, female. It's definitely worth taking two hours out of your time to watch.

As a horse lover one can only appreciate this movie. There are few movies that show horsemanship as this one does. I would love to know if Brian does his own riding in the film. Would also like to know if he enjoys horses. Brian has been in a lot of movies where he has ridden. Where did he learn to ride? The only part that is hard for me to take is that the riding scenes are always full tilt, like a horse can run forever at full steam. The camera-work is first rate and captures the horses in a way that shows how dangerous things can be on top of a horse. It would be very interesting to know how they went about casting this movie to find all of the very good horseback riders.

An excellent follow up to a great movie. It's not just a sequel riding coat tails. Though Harrison is played by a different actor, Dennehy does a nice job of filling Kirk Douglas' shoes in this role. Full of passion - not just the love type.