Quigley Down Under

Continuity mistake: In one of the final scenes where Tom Selleck has a gunfight with Alan Rickman, the time of day during the few minutes (in movie time) the scene takes place varies from noon (full sunlight) to dusk. Just prior to the gunfight, when Selleck is getting ready to draw on Rickman and his two henchmen, there are almost no shadows and there is bright sunlight indicating it is in the middle of the day. Just after the gunfight there are now long shadows on the characters and moments later the camera pans across the hills and the sun is setting.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Shadows exist before and after try to watch it again.

Continuity mistake: 3 bullets in the front right side of belt get used and re-appear in a number of later scenes. Especially true at the end when the front of the belt is full when the English arrive, but he used them on the hill.

More for Quigley Down Under

Mistakes

Character mistake: In the scene where Quigley engages Marsten's men who are attacking the Aborigines, we see a man hit by a bullet and fall from his horse, then we hear the report of Quigley's rifle. When the man who gets away reports to Marsten, he estimates the range at three-quarters of a mile maybe. Marsten asks him how long after the bullet struck before he heard the report of the rifle. He answers two maybe three seconds. While this scenario would be plausible for a more modern high-powered cartridge like the .30-06, it is not accurate for the .45 2-7/8 Sharps Quigley is using. That cartridge loaded with 110 grains of black powder will propel a 540-grain bullet (best case) at around 1475 feet per second. Since the bullet is supersonic when it leaves the muzzle it will indeed precede the sound of the weapon's discharge for short distance. But not by very much and not for very long. The bullet goes transonic in about 400 yards and the the sound waves catch up to the bullet a little beyond 600 yards. After that, the rifle's report, travelling at a constant speed, gets progressively further AHEAD of the bullet which is gradually slowing. At three-quarters of a mile (1320 yards) the bullet's time of flight is about four seconds, while sound waves travel that same distance in three-and-a-half seconds. The man should have been struck at nearly the same time as, or up to half-second AFTER the report, depending on the actual range.

More mistakes in Quigley Down Under

Quotes

Crazy Cora: Things seem different here. They say God made Australia last, don't you know, after he got tired of making everything else the same.
Matthew Quigley: Well, I seen some pretty country, that's for certain.

More quotes from Quigley Down Under

Trivia

Trivia: The scene where Quigley triggers a booby trap by swinging his rifle from horseback, at full gallop, whilst holding it by the tip of the barrel with one hand, was only possible because an alternate aluminum barrel was created for that scene.

roy sandefur

More trivia for Quigley Down Under

Questions

Question: Why did the Aboriginal manservant hit Matthew Quigley on the head when he threw Marston out of his own house, after telling Quigley he wanted him to kill aborigines?

Answer: He felt that if Quigley fought Marston he might have been killed. He hit him to save his life.

SantaJim

Answer: In fact, it was more likely that in the beginning of the film he was in more of an "Uncle Tom" (for lack of a better term) and hits him because he feels he should help his "master." He later feels bad and by the end he has come to his senses which is why he doesn't make the same mistake twice.

More like he was emboldened because his master is dead. If not Quigley would have got a second thrashing from the aborigines.

More questions & answers from Quigley Down Under

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.