William Kelly's War

Considering the low budget and a cast of unknowns, this film was very good. Several basic goofs have already been noted: the 1914 tank, the unmilitary haircuts and beards, for example. Perhaps the most jarring event was the soldier-deserter being handcuffed to a hospital bed on the eve of his execution, which was carried out immediately outside the hospital.

A frequent gripe (usually relating to Westerns) that I have with depictions of solitary horsemen on long treks through remote country is that apart from a modest saddle roll they seldom have saddle-bags carrying food and other necessities. (Heck, even I on a six-hour walk take a rucksack of bits & pieces with me.)Thus it was with Billy's extended quest for his sister.

Here and there the acting was somewhat uninspired.

IMDB gives the film's length as 94 minutes, but the version that I saw on YouTube ran for 108.

1 I like to see independent films give things ago and this is one area where WKW really does succeed. You virtually get 2 movies in one, like an old drive-in double bill. Producer/script editor Phil Avalon has been involved with independent Australian productions, just about what seems like forever. Nice to see he's still up to hanging out his shingle.

2 I don't think I've ever seen a longer cast list in an independent production. The IMDB full cast list is still much abbreviated. The post credits cast list in the film is huge.

3 BTW. Speaking of the cast, was the deserter, shot by the firing squad a female dressed as a male? Didn't really sound like, or even look like a male soldier. Even though it was a speaking part I couldn't see any reference on the IMDB cast list. Also good to see veteran actor Tony Bonner again, playing Mr Kelly. He's been around forever too and will always be remembered for his role as the helicopter pilot in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

4 I think the advertised running time of 95 minutes is incorrect. I had it much closer up towards the 2 hour mark.

5 It's no real secret that the movie was primarily shot on a farm in Victoria, so it's a little bizarre that the primary Australian setting was Proserpine in tropical North Queensland, a good 2000 km due north. As a former resident of Proserpine which is a centre for sugar-cane production, I can vouch that at no time in its history did it have cattle stations running over 1000 head of cattle just out of town, complete with gangs of roving, murderous cattle rustlers. Kind of funny to see a lack of tropical vegetation, but heaps of eucalyptus gum trees instead, as well as lots of blokes wandering around in heavy overcoats. Broken Hill looked extremely sodden and green too with plenty of trees in the background. LOL! For the interested unfamiliar viewer with Broken Hill's environs, check out Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. The geography is tellingly different. But again, why choose Proserpine when they could have chosen some place geographically closer to their filming location and it wouldn't have made any difference to the story, except make it seem more realistic?

6 Loved the Aussie guy's accent; the one playing the German torturer. Classic Sgt Schultz stuff! "Vee have vays and means ov making you talk!"

7 It was great to try to film an overview of Billy's participation and experiences of 4 years of fighting during World War 1, on a farm's property. But after about 45 minutes of close-ups, I was getting giddy and have to say, that not all of the action (and there was plenty) made a lot of sense. At least "back in Australia", we got some pulled back shots.

8 Good to see there were some cops finally brought into the story, after all this cattle rustling and murders around dear old Proserpine.

9 Quite honestly I thought the story was pretty silly, but there is plenty of action, one way or the other in William Kelly's War. Phil Avalon comes through again.

The story had promise but the weak acting and dumb over-exaggeration killed it for me.

I guess it would make good comedy if satire is your thing?

Just watched it on Amazon Prime. The person who said it was impossible to group 3 bullets like the 3 in a row shown in the movie. I agree at 1000 yards, it would be tough. The most important thing at that distance is a powerful high quality s one. William wasn't using a scope. It would be super human to even see the center of the target let alone 3 .308" bullet holes at 1000 yards. But great bench test shooters. ( I did it for years) not only shoot a lot... but the larger part of a shooters time is working up cartridge loads for their weapon. Literally you don't just have how much gun powder . But I can think of a dozen or more variables that a loader/shooter would try to consistently get their bullet in the same hole 3 times. Not at 1000 yards, but I had a perpose built 100 yard outdoor range I built at my ranch. I had many weapons but I also had just 2 or 3 special weapons that I worked on to get that bullet to go through the same hole 75 out of 100 times. Or better. So yeah I'm sure. That was a cgi shot. But his shooting was the. Center of this movie for me.

The Kelly family have carved out a little piece of paradise in the old Australia where their father has created a cattle ranch and brought up a loving family. Then the Great War breaks out and the two eldest brothers, Billy and Jack, sign up together with their rambustious cousin Paddy.

We also have the antics that take place back home, with the opposition to conscription, the fretting of the families and the low dealings of opportunistic bush rangers.

Now I watched this on Amazon Prime Video and thought it would be a time killer, but no it is actually really good for an indie. The WW1 scenes may be lacking in money but they have tried extremely hard to recreate the terrible atmosphere of the war. Purists will not be impressed though. There are some scenes that are a bit of a stretch in that they never could have happened and that has caused some criticism – the hospital for example – but I do not want to spoil the plot.

The acting is very good to 'just OK' but the story is strong enough to make you forgive any shortcomings as this is a film that demands that you go along for the ride and you will enjoy it. I was hooked right till the end so this is one of those films that I can recommend but with the above caveats and I am being glass half full.