The Last Frontier
( dir. Simon Wincer
)
Australia
:
McElroy and McElroy
Ayer Productions
,
1986
Z1821463
1986
series - publisher
film/TV
In this mini-series, which consciously takes its name from a 1955 western by Anthony Mann, Kate Adamson, a struggling single mother living in Los Angeles, meets, falls in love with, and marries Tom Hannon, a single father who runs an outback cattle station in Australia. Not realising that her new husband has been killed in a plane crash on his way home, Kate arrives at Larapinta to face not only two shocked stepdaughters (who were unaware of their father's remarriage) but also a severe drought and the machinations of her neighbours on the enormous cattle station that borders Larapinta. Resisting her children's desire to return to the United States, Kate resolves to remain and see Larapinta through the drought.
Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series that
The series was aimed directly at a network sale and to that end producer Hal McElroy not only used his writer on the great potboiler Return to Eden, but also cast both Linda Evans and Jason Robards in central roles. The series was shot in Los Angeles and Alice Springs, and even though the budget blew out from an anticipated $4.5 million to $12 million, the series achieved an American network sale to CBS, the first Australian series to do so.
The mini-series also rated well when it was screened in Australia.
