Ned Kelly (1970 film)

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Ned Kelly
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Tony Richardson
Produced by	Neil Hartley
Written by	Ian Jones Tony Richardson
Starring	Mick Jagger Mark McManus
Music by	Shel Silverstein
Cinematography	Gerry Fisher
Editing by	Charles Rees
Distributed by	United Artists Corporation
Release date(s)	October 7, 1970 October 19, 1970 July 2, 1971
Running time	106 min.
Country	UK
Language	English
Budget	£1,000,000 (estimate)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Ned Kelly is the title of a 1970 film. It was the second Australian feature film version of the story of 19th century Australian bushranger Ned Kelly.

The film was directed by Tony Richardson and starred Mick Jagger in the title role and Scottish-born actor Mark McManus as Joe Byrne. It was a British production, but was filmed entirely in Australia, and shot mostly around Braidwood in southern New South Wales, with a largely Australian supporting cast.

The making of the film was dogged by problems. Even before production began, descendants of Ned Kelly and Actors' Equity protested strongly about the casting of Jagger in the lead role, and about the film's proposed shooting location in country NSW, rather than in Victoria, where the Kellys had lived.

Jagger's girlfriend of the time, Marianne Faithfull had come to Australia to play the lead female role (Ned's sister, Maggie), but the Jagger-Faithfull relationship was breaking up and she took an overdose of sleeping tablets soon after arrival in Sydney. She was hospitalised in a coma but recovered and was sent home. She was replaced by a then-unknown Australian actress, Diane Craig. During production Jagger was slightly injured by a backfiring pistol, the cast and crew were dogged by illness, a number of costumes were destroyed by fire, and Jagger's co-star Mark McManus narrowly escaped serious injury when a horse-drawn cart in which he was riding overturned during filming.

The actual body armour costume worn by Jagger is on display at the Queanbeyan City Library, NSW and the initials MJ are scratched on the inside. The head piece has been stolen however and it is hoped that it will one day turn up as it represents a significant piece of Australian film memorabilia.

The film was very poorly received at the time, and is still regarded as one of Richardson's least successful efforts, and was effectively disowned by both Richardson and Jagger, neither of whom attended the London premiere. The soundtrack features music by Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings, and one solo track by Jagger.

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