The best Bryan Brown’s drama movies
Bryan Neathway Brown (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor.
Early life
Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John (Jack) Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner and pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown, and began working at AMP as an actuarial student. He started to act in amateur theatre performances, where he discovered a passion for acting.
Career
Brown went to England in 1964, eventually winning minor roles at the Old Vic. He returned to Australia where he became a member of the Genesian Theatre, Sydney, appearing in Colleen Clifford's production of A Man for All Seasons, before joining the Queensland Theatre Company. He made his cinema debut in 1977 with a small role in The Love Letters from Teralba Road, and appeared in several more Australian films over the next two years.
In 1980 Brown became known to international audiences for his performance in Breaker Morant. While he continued appearing in Australian productions he also appeared in American TV mini-series, winning popularity in the United States in A Town Like Alice (1981).
He is best known to American television audiences for his Golden Globe and Emmy nominated role as Luke O'Neil in The Thorn Birds (1983), starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward, who he later married.
He starred in several international productions, including Tai-Pan, with Joan Chen, Gorillas in the Mist, with Sigourney Weaver, and Cocktail, with Tom Cruise.
He is one of the few Australian actors who regularly plays Australians, thereby retaining his accent. Two exceptions are Tai-Pan and his role in the TV series Against the Wind, which called for an Irish accent.
Australia
6.6/10
Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.
Cocktail
5.9/10
After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan moves back to Queens and takes a job in a bar run by Doug Coughlin, who teaches Brian the fine art of bar-tending. Brian quickly becomes a patron favorite with his flashy drink-mixing style, and Brian adopts his mentor's cynical philosophy on life and goes for the money.
Beautiful Kate
6.6/10
Ned Kendall is asked to return to the remote and isolated family home by his sister, to say goodbye to his father who is dying. Ned also brings his young aspiring actress fiancee who struggles with the isolation. When home he starts having memories of his childhood many involving his beautiful twin sister and his older brother. These memories awaken long-buried secrets from the family's past.
Gorillas in the Mist
7/10
The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.
Dean Spanley
7.2/10
Set in Edwardian England where upper lips are always stiff and men from the Colonies are not entirely to be trusted, Fisk Senior has little time or affection for his son, but when the pair visit an eccentric Indian, they start a strange journey that eventually allows the old man to find his heart.
Palm Beach
5.6/10
A group of lifelong friends reunite to celebrate a special birthday, with Sydney's iconic Palm Beach providing a stunning backdrop for the unfolding drama. The good times roll, with loads of laughter, lavish meals, flowing wine and fantastic music, but slowly tensions mount and deep secrets arise.
The Light Between Oceans
7.2/10
A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.
Sweet Country
6.9/10
It’s 1929 on the vast, desert-like, Eastern Arrernte Nation lands that are now known as the Central Australian outback. Sam Kelly, a middle-aged Aboriginal man, works the land of a kind preacher, Fred Smith. After an ill-tempered bully arrives in town and Kelly kills him in self-defence, he and his wife go on the run as a posse gathers to hunt him down.
Breaker Morant
7.8/10
During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.
The Poseidon Adventure
4.4/10
A cruise ship succumbs to a terrorist act and capsizes on New Year's eve. A rag-tag group of survivors, spearheaded by a priest and a homeland security agent, must journey through the upside down vessel and attempt an escape.
Full Body Massage
5.5/10
Nina, an art dealer, has her weekly massage appointment and is surprised to find out her usual masseur, Douglas, has sent a replacement named Fitch. The pair develop an easy rapport during the session, with talk about past relationships. As Nina lies topless on the massage table, Fitch also takes time to explain various massage techniques, including those used by Hopi medicine men.
Red Dog: True Blue
6.4/10
When eleven-year-old Mick is shipped off to his grandfather's cattle station in Western Australia, he befriends a scrappy, one-of-a-kind dog that will change his life forever.
Dirty Deeds
6.2/10
Set in 1960's Sydney, this is the story of an Australian gangster whose booming business, buoyed by the influx of U.S. soldiers in town for R&R during their tours in Vietnam, attracts the attention of first the Chicago mafia, and then their East Coast competitors.
Dogboys
4.7/10
Corrupt officers track men for sport with dogs.
Blood Oath
6.4/10
On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred persons as well as torture style killings of downed Australian airmen. In an attempt to bring those responsible to justice, the Australian Army establishes a War Crimes Tribunal to pass judgement on the Japanese men and officers who ran the Ambon camp. In an added twist, a high ranking Japanese admiral is implicated, and politics become involoved with justice as American authorities in Japan lobby for the Admiral's release. Written by Anthony Hughes
Kim
5.9/10
Adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's novel.
Risk
6/10
Three people discover jealousy and larceny are a dangerous combination in this tense drama. John (Bryan Brown) is a veteran insurance investigator who succumbs to temptation and veers towards the wrong side of the law. With the help of novice con man Ben (Tom Long), John hatches a scheme to substantiate false claims by taking a percentage of several questionable claims his firm has settled for a fraction of their usual worth. John and Ben are assisted in their illegal business by Louise (Claudia Karvan), a lawyer with a cocaine problem who is also John's lover. But when Louise becomes involved with Ben and demands a bigger share of the money, their already-shaky confidence game begins to collapse.
Tai-Pan
5.6/10
The film begins following the British victory of the first Opium War and the seizure of Hong Kong. Although the island is largely uninhabited and the terrain unfriendly, it has a large port that both the British government and various trading companies believe will be useful for the import of merchandise to be traded on mainland China, a highly lucrative market.
On the Beach
6.9/10
The world has finally managed to blow itself up and only Australia has been spared from nuclear destruction and a gigantic wave of radiation is floating in on the breezes. One American sub located in the Pacific has survived and is met with disdain by the Australians. The calculations of Australia's most renowned scientist says the country is doomed. However, one of his rivals says that he is wrong. He believes that a 1000 people can be relocated to the northern hemisphere, where his assumptions indicate the radiation levels may be lower. The American Captain is asked to take a mission to the north to determine which scientist is right.
Scobie Malone
5.2/10
Sydney homicide detective Sergeant Scobie Malone (Jack Thompson) and his offsider (Shane Porteous) investigate the murder of Helga (Judy Morris), whose corpse is found in the basement of the Sydney Opera House.
