Indeed, "Ned Kelly" may not be writer & director Tony Richardson's finest hour, and Mick Jagger may not be the best actor to incarnate him, but altogether this Aussie western about a real-life outlaw has polished irony running throughout it. Mick's trouble is he looks stressed out most of the time. Did the real Ned Kelly look like Abraham Lincoln's brother? Critics carp on its opening moments when the film opens with the end and Kelly is marched to the gallows and strung up. As it turns out, the prison where they staged this scene is the actual prison where Kelly swung from a noose. Apparently, Kelly was a troublemaker with a cloudy past and the future did little to improve it. Richardson makes the eponymous character a study in sympathy, while the Victoria Police are portrayed as abrasive villains living in a land where personal freedom could be infringed upon at any time. After the initial death scene, Richardson and co-scenarist Ian Jones chronicle Kelly's life up to the finale where he takes on the police in a bulletproof outfit. Walton Jennings, largely unknown during the film's release sings some unforgettable ballads. Indeed, Jennings sings most of the good songs and he brings feeling to them. Gerry Fisher's photography is atmospheric. Richardson treats the government with little sympathy.
