Patreon Herb sends Dave and Chris into the Australian Outback with The Proposition, John Hillcoat’s 2005 revisionist Western, written by Nick Cave. An Australian–UK co-production made for a reported budget of around $2 million, the film was shot around Winton in Queensland, using the harsh Outback landscape rather than trying to make Australia look like somebody else’s Wild West. Guy Pearce leads an impressive cast alongside Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, Danny Huston, John Hurt and David Wenham, with the unforgiving conditions becoming almost as important to the film’s atmosphere as the actors themselves.
The result was a grim, unusually thoughtful Western that earned strong reviews rather than disappearing into the dusty corner of the video shop marked “Australian period drama.” It currently sits at 86% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes and earned multiple Australian Film Institute honours, helping establish The Proposition as one of the standout modern Australian Westerns and strengthening the creative partnership between Hillcoat and Cave. It may not have been blockbuster territory, but its reputation has only grown since release.
TRAILER GUY PLOT SYNOPSIS
In the unforgiving Australian Outback... where the sun is relentless, the flies are organised, and absolutely nobody appears to be having a nice afternoon... one outlaw is offered an impossible choice.
Charlie Burns has nine days. One brother is in custody. Another is somewhere beyond civilisation. And Captain Stanley has made Charlie a proposition that makes your average family disagreement look like an argument over who forgot to put the bins out.
Now Charlie must ride into a landscape filled with violence, vengeance and men whose conflict-resolution skills largely involve firearms. This Christmas... family comes first. Unfortunately.
FUN FACTS
Nick Cave reportedly wrote the screenplay for The Proposition in just three weeks after John Hillcoat asked him to tackle a fictional story about Australian bushrangers.
Hillcoat originally approached Cave about providing music for an Australian Western before the idea developed into Cave writing the entire screenplay.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis composed their first feature-film score together for The Proposition, reportedly creating much of the music in only around four days.
That Cave and Ellis score went on to win the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Music Score.
Guy Pearce has repeatedly named The Proposition as his favourite film from his own career, even when comparing it with films such as Memento and L.A. Confidential.
The costumes were created with an obsessive eye for period detail, with IMDb's production trivia noting that even the buttons were handmade.
The film's period firearms were replicas, with its production trivia crediting gunsmith Buck Merry with crafting the weapons used for the shoot.
Acclaimed Indigenous Australian performers David Gulpilil, Tom E. Lewis and Leah Purcell all appear in supporting roles.
Before its Australian release, the film received a hometown screening at Winton's open-air cinema, with local residents who had helped with the production turning out to see the finished movie.
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