A Fred Zinnemann Production for Warner Bros Pictures, Ltd. Filmed at Associated British Studios, Elstree, England. Exteriors photographed in Australia. Copyright 1960 by Warner Bros Pictures. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 8 December 1960 (ran 6 weeks). U.S. release: December 1960. U.K. release through Associated British-Pathé: 26 February 1961. Australian release: 30 November 1961. Sydney opening at the Regent. Running times: 141 minutes (New York), 138 minutes (Australia), 133 minutes (U.S.A.), 124 minutes (U.K.).SYNOPSIS: The Carmodys are a family of Australian "sundowners," itinerants who settle for the night wherever they happen to be when the sun goes down. Deborah Kerr, Best Actress of 1960 for her performance in The Sundowners. — The New York Film Critics. Robert Mitchum, Best Actor of 1960 for his performances in Home from the Hill and The Sundowners. — The National Board of Review. Third Best Film of 1960. — The National Board of Review. Fourth Best Film of 1960. — The New York Daily News. One of the Ten Best Films of 1960 (no order of preference given). — The New York World Telegram; The Saturday Review; The New York Post; The New York Journal American. Seventh Best Film of 1960. — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Ninth Best Film of 1960. — The New York Herald Tribune. Sixth Best Film of 1960. — The New York Daily Mirror. Oddly, despite all this critical acclaim, The Sundowners did not make the top list of domestic box-office successes. It did, however, score in the Top Ten at the British Box-Office. In Australia, it came in as number three. Only Spartacus and El Cid, both road shows, took more money, so it's a London-to-a-brick bet that The Sundowners sold more tickets and was in fact Australia's most popular movie release of 1961. (Available on an excellent DVD from Warner).I must admit that the movie on DVD in 2017 stood up better than when I saw it on first release back in 1961. Now, while keeping your thumb firmly pressed on the fast-forward button during the dull domestic exchanges between Kerr and Mitchum, you can really enjoy the well- realized and excitingly staged scenes such as the bush-fire, the horse races, and the shearing contest. Technically, the movie looks good on DVD (especially in its hard matte format). Hildyard's photography is brightly colorful, while Tiomkin's lively, breezy music score rates as another major asset. And director Zinnemann does make full use of some really lavish production values in period sets and picturesque locations, while keeping the tale moving along at a fast enough clip, so that its long running time passes by with both remarkable celerity and a fair amount of delight.

In "Heaven knows ,Mister Allison" ,Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr had a tiny island for themselves ;in "the sundowners " they have the whole Australia.Mrs Carmody wants to settle down ,she wants a home ,she wants her boy to go to school.Mr Carmody registers the same desire ,but always something happens.This family and their friend (Peter Ustinov) are very endearing characters and as you follow them in their two hours + journey ,you never get bored a single minute.And however ,it's not an action-packed story ,all that happens could happen in real life and this simple life is depicted with respect for the audience.The documentary side is very interesting.

Director Fred Zinnemann helmed this wonderful screen-version of Jon Cleary's book about an Australian sheepherder who is at odds with his headstrong wife: he wants to keep moving, traveling from place to place without putting down roots, while she would prefer settling down and giving their teenage son a chance to make friends. Richly-textured comedy-drama comes together splendidly after an awkward beginning, with well-matched Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum (reunited from 1957's "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison") doing terrific work in the leads, Peter Ustinov equally fine as a bachelor they meet along the way. A lengthy film, but never a boring one, with beautiful photography and memorable characters and set-pieces. ***1/2 from ****

Frequently slow, solemn and simplistic, the films of Fred Zinneman are the work of a director who appears to have equated artistry with neatness, objectivity with aloofness, and significance with decorative, humorless reverence… "The Sundowners" was perhaps the best 'Australian' film made up to that time, and was, incidentally, a perceptive study of a marriage: Deborah Kerr was the wife who wanted to settle down, and Robert Mitchum the husband who didn't… It reveals much about their life-style and the land in which they live… Their good teenaged son Sean (Michael Anderson Jr.) explains the meaning of a sundowner as someone whose home is wherever he happens to be when the sun goes down…So Paddy (Mitchum) and Ida (Kerr) are a warm and well-adjusted couple with one grown son, except for one argument—the struggle between his love of being a wanderer and her fundamental desire for the stability of a home… Paddy was a man who couldn't settle in one place… For him, most places were fit only for arrivals and departures… The film—which constantly endeavored to show the Australian woman's compassion for the problems of women in a big male society—is also a happy celebration with other notable participants being Glynis Johns as an awfully pleasant barmaid-innkeeper who loves men's company and knows how to deal with them; Peter Ustinov as an educated but slightly mysterious Englishman, a likable drifter, a kind of an elderly turtle who wears a nautical cap, with wealth of experience, but not much of a mind to make use of it…This turtle signs on as a drover with Paddy, apparently not so much for a job but for something to pass the time… Outstanding is a scene in which Ida, as a woman with no makeup, sitting on the wagon, spots in the window of a stationary train a well-dressed woman who obviously has all the things she doesn't... They look at each other for an instance as the rich woman applies powder to her face… Ida gently lifts her fingers over her cheeks… They stare at each other and we rapidly notice Ida's thoughts…"The Sundowners" is one of the very best of Mitchum's films… In the pub sequence, he is at his best when he sings "Botany Bay" and "Lime Juice Tub." Deborah Kerr gave the role both a touch of delicacy and a touch of sensuality… She wins, for her impressive performance, her sixth and last Oscar nomination… The motion picture, splendidly photographed in Technicolor and with a nice atmospheric music, contains fires in the dry forests, shearing contests, fist-fights, the Aussie's love of beer, a game of two-up, a big race meeting, much of the beautiful Australian landscape and the life on sheep farming stations