The best Bryan Brown’s thriller 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.
F/X2
5.9/10
F/X man Rollie Tyler is now a toymaker. Mike, the ex-husband of his girlfriend Kim, is a cop. He asks Rollie to help catch a killer. The operation goes well until some unknown man kills both the killer and Mike. Mike's boss, Silak says it was the killer who killed Mike but Rollie knows it wasn't. Obviously, Silak is involved with Mike's death, so he calls on Leo McCarthy, the cop from the last movie, who is now a P.I., for help and they discover it's not just Silak they have to worry about.
Kill Me Three Times
5.8/10
While on a seemingly routine job, a jaded hit man discovers that he's not the only one with his target in the crosshairs.
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.
Two Hands
7.1/10
A 19-year-old finds himself in debt to a local gangster when some gang loot disappears and sets him on the run from thugs. Meanwhile, two street kids start a shopping spree when they find the missing money.
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.
Styx
4.7/10
Nelson puts his criminal ways behind him, having spent years as a first-rate safecracker. This resolution lasts until his brother finds himself owing money to organised crime and Nelson needs to do one last big job, with a few other professionals.
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.
Footsteps
5.2/10
Daisy Lowendahl (Bergen) is a best-selling suspense novelist who finds herself at her isolated beach house with a local young fan (Hall) who knows almost everything about her, and two men - one of whom may be trying to kill her, the other of whom could save her life, causing Daisy to be thrown into the middle of a real-life drama.
Cactus
5.7/10
A man is kidnapped from his city home in the quiet hours of the night and, the kidnapper, John Kelly, embarks on a journey into the Australian Outback towards the place where his hostage is due for delivery. As time and distance roll by, the strength and endurance of both men will be tested to the very end.
Cocktails & Dreams
6.2/10
A comedic version of 1988's "Cocktail" starring Tom Cruise, featuring comedian Chris Fairbanks as a desperate bartender named Chris who tries and fails to start a business with the main characters from the original movie, which leads to fist fights, stalking, and eventually murder. The film features Mike Upchurch's distinct style of film parody, digitally adding actors and props to old footage to create new scenarios and gags.
Money Movers
6.5/10
A group of crooks plan a heist to steal twenty million dollars from a Security Firm counting house.
Joanne Lees: Murder In The Outback
6.5/10
After surviving the terrifying outback abduction of her boyfriend, Joanne Lees became the victim of a relentless trial by media across two continents. With no body to speak of, reported 'sightings' of Peter, and revelations Joanne had cheated on her boyfriend, the public and media in both Britain and Australia refused to accept Joanne's innocence on face value. This is the story of one young woman's courage in the face of one of the most mysterious crimes in Australian history.
Dead in the Water
5.3/10
Charlie Deegan has almost everything he has ever wanted. He has an important law practice, a beautiful secretary as his lover, and the chance to be appointed to the high court. The only thing wrong with this is that his shrewish wife Olivia, whose father made all the wealth and all the power, is living and that greatly upsets Charlie. So when his lover, Laura, suggests that they get rid of Olivia, Charlie thinks, being a lawyer, that he can create a fool-proof plan. In this plan, he must incorporate a woman named Victoria whom he detests, but she can help him get into the court and be part of the plan for Olivia. But dreams of judgeship, money and Laura makes him proceed. However, things never turn out as planned and he may not be as smart as he considers himself.
The Last Hit
5.4/10
A retired asassin tries to make himself at home in New Mexico.
Stir
6.8/10
Filmed in the Clare Valley, Gladstone and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, this prison movie was inspired by the true life prison riot at Bathurst Jail in 1974 and its subsequent Royal Commission into New South Wales Prisons.
On the Border
4.8/10
A dumb as rocks security guard in a Texas border town gets involved in a planned bank heist thanks to the charms of two different femmes fatales.
Spring Break Shark Attack
3.5/10
A young teenager travels to Florida, unknowing that a group of dangerous tiger sharks are ravaging the beach.
The Empty Beach
5.1/10
Before shady businessman John Singer disappeared off Bondi Beach, his name meant money--big and small, clean and dirty--a man absorbed in a world of greed and dishonesty. Singer's widow, Marlon, believes he's still alive and she employs the investigative skills of the tough, no-nonsense private eye, Cliff Hardy (Bryan Brown) to find him. Battered and bruised, Hardy battles through the filth of corruption and the stench of political blackmail. He comes face to face with the crime bosses, who feed off human misery and eliminate their rivals without thinking twice. From the high life and low life of Sydney, to the seediness and splendour of Bondi Beach, Cliff Hardy uncovers the ultimate truth.
