Film Facts:

Cast - Charlotte Rampling, Russell Crowe, Alexander Outhread, Frankie J. Holden -- Director: Ann Turner -- Writer: Peter Hepworth, Ann Turner from stories by Alan Marshall -- Cinematographer: James Bartle -- Production Company:    Harvest Productions Pty Ltd, SAFC

Shooting Schedule - October 11, 1991 – November 29, 1991
Location - In and around Adelaide and the Clare Valley, South Australia
Awards - Alexander Outhread won the Young Actor’s Award at the 1992 AFIs, Russell Crowe won Best Actor Award at the Golden Space Needle Awards for both Hammers Over the Anvil and Romper Stomper

Russell's Weight:

Set in the summer of 1910, the film follows the story of Alan Marshall, (Alexander Outhread), a 14 year-old motherless youth, as he stumbles from childhood toward the alluring, often forbidden world of adults.

The courageous young boy confronts the hardships and blows life deals him, and for Alan the hammer blows are particularly savage as he is struck down by polio as an infant and unable to walk without crutches.

For Alan there is but one passion in life – to become a great horseman like his hero East – and nothing will suppress his ambition.

During the course of the summer, Alan meets Grace McAllister (Charlotte Rampling), an intoxicating, aristocratic woman who falls in love with the much younger East Driscoll (Russell Crowe).

Alan is then faced with the mystery of social taboos, the injustice of the death of one dear friend, the destruction of his hero and the frighteningly dark and capricious side of human nature.

He faces the hard reality of his physical limitations, but finally, triumphantly, Alan discovers his own unique gifts as a writer. (Press kit)

Trivia:

On weekends while shooting Romper Stomper he would drive from Melbourne to Mansfield to work with horsemen Bill Willoughby and Gerald Egan in order to increase his riding skills; For the rural drama Hammers Over the Anvil, Crowe went off to live “with the mountain people” before rolling up to play a stable hand opposite Charlotte Rampling, says director Ann Turner;  Russell mentioned in an interview for Master and Commander that there's a rib in his back that popped when he fell from a horse while making "Hammers Over the Anvil." It still bothers him off and on, most recently in the pitching swells of the Pacific as he prowled the deck of a frigate called the Rose.

Favorite Scenes:

Of course I have to mention ‘the barn scene’, which I believe to be one of the most sensual and viscerally stimulating love scenes I’ve ever seen on film.  Even with Alan as a voyeur, the scene was done with grace and sensitivity; Grace and East dancing in the corral, a pleasure to watch; Grace and East negotiating for Nero’s stud services, the verbal interaction between Russell and Charlotte is wonderful; the scenes where both Alan and Grace discover East’s disability, very moving.

Comments by Russell:

Russell enjoys East's wholesomeness and admires the strength he develops through his association with horses. "I see the control East has of the horse as inspirng - it's more a sense of agreement and co-operation than control - kind of a partnership," says Russell.

The first time I cantered the horse up a hill I was addicted - the adrenalin rush was extraordinary as the speed and rhythm of the horse's body took control," said Russell.  "We're talking one big racehorse with his own ideas of what he wanted to do, so it had to become a marriage of wills just to survive." -

(About Charlotte Rampling) "She has a virtually perfect technical base, a big heart and a wonderful magic in her eyes," said Crowe. "What you'll see on the screen is as close to falling in love as possible - the trick is getting out of it again."  - http://www.kaspinet.com/HAMMERS.htm

Comments about Russell:

"Russell was so right for the role - charismatic, earthy, and extremely sensual - he's an amazing horseman and brings a great sense of power to the character. - Ann Turner (Hammers Over the Anvil) –

"Russell has a wild sense of humour." – Charlotte Rampling

http://www.kaspinet.com/HAMMERS.htm

Rampling was attracted by the McAlister character because she was "connected, independent, brave and provocative - even a bit naughty". She also liked the casting of Russell Crowe, whom she had seen in 'Proof'. "I found that he had a combination of being very outdoors and physical in one sense, but that he also had a very interesting sensitivity which would work beautifully with the role of East," she says. – Charlotte Rampling From The Age, July 20, 1994 – “Mysterious siren still has the look” – Helen Barlow

*************So when you were in Hammers Over the Anvil, was it fun to beat up Russell Crowe?

Wayne spoke with respect for Crowe, and how that was his breakthrough role. He said that Russell had been generous to him with his time and companionship. He also said that in the fight scenes, Crowe had not really held back the punches. There were no stunt men and that Russell gave about 90% to the scene. Wayne said if he ever had to fight Crowe again, he would be prepared. (Wayne Pygram had a small role in HOTA,  his name was Sharley Barnes)

http://www.waynepygram.com/interview_112202.html

Reviews:

Russell Crowe is in very fine form in this film. His eyes blaze with intensity during his scenes with Charlotte Rampling and we are left in no doubt about his feelings for her character. Rampling’s ‘Grace’ is suitably ambiguous and her scenes with Crowe are extremely good.”- Amy Dorsett

Crowe's performance is the most subdued, but the story calls for East to be rigidly private and self-contained until the final portion of the story unfolds. Only then does he lose control over his hitherto free-and-easy lifestyle, and Crowe takes command of these scenes with an electrifying raw energy. – Susan Polk

“Russell Crowe proves once again that he was a very fine actor way before fame came his way and an equally talented cast of actors only adds to his performance. This is really the only film I've seen Crowe in where his leading lady brings in as strong a performance as he does. The result is truly one of those great movie romances that makes you wish for more. The scenery is breathtaking, the performances magnificent, the story beautifully written...this is one that I would buy for my personal collection to see again and again!”

The touching love scenes between East and Grace are believable and carnal (one realizes that part of the reason it took so long for Crowe to reach superstardom was the lack of a female lead who could appraise his unapologetic masculinity as wittily and engagingly as Rampling does here), all the more so for being viewed through Alan's eyes. – Bruce Reid

Hammers Over The Anvil: Review by Fincina Hopgood "Australian Film 1978-1994"

Adapted from Alan Marshall’s short story collection of the same title, Hammers Over The Anvil interweaves an adulterous affair with the trials of adolescence, and sets it against the social mores of the 1900s.

Alexander Outhred plays 11 year old Alan, who dreams of becoming a great horseman like his idol, East Driscoll (Russell Crowe), despite his crutches and leg brace, the legacy of infantile paralysis. With his best mate, Joe Carmichael (Jake D.Frost), Alan explores the adult world of sexual relations, through innocent pecks exchanged with Joe’s girlfriend to witnessing the seduction of teenager Nellie Bolster (Amanda Douge) by the sly local priest and blacksmith (Frank Gallacher). They also befriend the crazy old Mrs Bilson (Althea McGrath), a hilarious and tragic character. Despite losing his mother as a young child, it is the inevitable death of Mrs Bilson which confronts Alan with his first experience of morality and the loss of a friend.

These events frame the focus of the films narrative: the immediate attraction between East and the newly arrived wife of a wealthy landowner , Grace McAlister (Charlotte Rampling). Alan himself is strongly attracted to the elegant and yet strong willed Grace. The trio become constant companions —the childless Grace drawn to the motherless Alan- and yet Alan remains the outsider on the fringes of the adult world, most clearly when he walks in on Grace and East in the stables and, concealed by the shadows watches their lovemaking. The affair ends tragically when a fall from a horse leaves East brain damaged.

The films strength lies in the rapport director Ann Turner encourages between the inexperienced Outhred and the expert ensemble cast, including some heated arguments with Alan’s father (Frankie J.Holden). The photography is both expansive in its presentation of South Australia’s Clare Valley and detailed in its inclusion of minutiae which intensify the narration of significant events in Alan’s life. As with her feature debut Celia (1989), Turner presents us with a child’s view of adult behavior which is historically specific in its detail and yet timeless in its observations of human nature. The films title, recalling the blacksmith’s craft, represents the blows which mould a person as he or she passes through life, just as the hammer blows give shape to crude metal.

Web Related Links:

imdb's page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101996/

The Filming of Hammers Over the Anvil - http://www.kaspinet.com/HAMMERS.htm