Even though she is known for playing one of the best bad girls on the prime time soaps, I've always enjoyed Donna Mills whether she be good or bad because she always manages to catch all the aspects of the character and show the vulnerabilities and strengths as well as the deficiencies. In this TV movie comedy, she's a Beverly Hills business woman undergoing struggles when her partner runs out on her with all of the cash and her husband leaves her for another woman. With nowhere else to turn, she heads to Australia with a deed she was given by her late father to an open mind and comes across the tough Andrew Clarke who is the Petrucchio to her Katherine, although she's only a shrew on occasion, often apologizing after having "a moment".
The outback toughens the big city girl right away as she takes on a kangaroo as a pet while inspiring the local women to get involved in physical fitness training. The romance with Clarke certainly isn't rushed, and in a memorable scene obviously influenced by Colbert and Gable in "It Happened One Night", Mills gets a reluctant ride with Clarke after in a fury, she throws her makeup bag in the middle of the street and he drives over it, crushing everything. This gives an indication that Mills wanted to make fun of her glamorous image, making me like her all the more, and as she learns about what life in the Australian outback is all about, her Beverly Hills pretentiousness starts to disappear and the real person underneath emerges. The fact that her character wants to make sure her investors are paid off shows that her character has integrity, and that's another plus.
Of course, this type of story has been making its way on the TV movie circuit since that genre was created in the late 1960's, and while this is not definitely up for any awards, Mills makes it a fun romp from the West Coast of the United States to the far south of the equator. Her character is very independent and free spirited, yet she is not someone too independent-minded or blatantly feminist that a typical macho outbacker like Clarke couldn't handle or enjoy being around. John Schneider has a smaller role, still as handsome as he was when he was one of the Dukes of Hazzard, and veteran Hollywood actress Nina Foch is a delight in her brief role as Mills' rather dotty socialite mother. I also love how Mills takes on her romantic rival for Clarke's affections, tearing her down only because she's been insulted in the first place. Her character takes absolutely no prisoners and comes out smelling like a rose, and she's truly a commanding lady deserving of respect as the most untypical of lady bosses.
The outback toughens the big city girl right away as she takes on a kangaroo as a pet while inspiring the local women to get involved in physical fitness training. The romance with Clarke certainly isn't rushed, and in a memorable scene obviously influenced by Colbert and Gable in "It Happened One Night", Mills gets a reluctant ride with Clarke after in a fury, she throws her makeup bag in the middle of the street and he drives over it, crushing everything. This gives an indication that Mills wanted to make fun of her glamorous image, making me like her all the more, and as she learns about what life in the Australian outback is all about, her Beverly Hills pretentiousness starts to disappear and the real person underneath emerges. The fact that her character wants to make sure her investors are paid off shows that her character has integrity, and that's another plus.
Of course, this type of story has been making its way on the TV movie circuit since that genre was created in the late 1960's, and while this is not definitely up for any awards, Mills makes it a fun romp from the West Coast of the United States to the far south of the equator. Her character is very independent and free spirited, yet she is not someone too independent-minded or blatantly feminist that a typical macho outbacker like Clarke couldn't handle or enjoy being around. John Schneider has a smaller role, still as handsome as he was when he was one of the Dukes of Hazzard, and veteran Hollywood actress Nina Foch is a delight in her brief role as Mills' rather dotty socialite mother. I also love how Mills takes on her romantic rival for Clarke's affections, tearing her down only because she's been insulted in the first place. Her character takes absolutely no prisoners and comes out smelling like a rose, and she's truly a commanding lady deserving of respect as the most untypical of lady bosses.