The Lighthorsemen (film)

The Lighthorsemen
DVD cover
Directed by	Simon Wincer
Written by	Ian Jones
Produced by	Ian Jones Simon Wincer
Starring	Jon Blake Peter Phelps Tony Bonner Bill Kerr John Walton Gary Sweet Tim McKenzie Sigrid Thornton Anthony Andrews
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Edited by	Adrian Carr
Music by	Mario Millo
Production companies	RKO Pictures FGH Picture Show International Film Management Australian Film Commission Film Victoria South Australian Film Corporation
Distributed by	Hoyts Distribution (Australia) Cinecom Pictures (US)
Release dates	10 September 1987 (1987-09-10) (Australia) 8 April 1988 (1988-04-08) (United States)
Running time	131 minutes
Countries	Australia United States
Language	English
Budget	A$10.49 million[1][2]
Box office	A$1.62 million (Australia)

The Lighthorsemen is a 1987 Australian war film about the men of a World War I light horse unit involved in Sinai and Palestine campaign's 1917 Battle of Beersheeba. The film is based on a true story and most of the characters in the film were based on real people. (Elyne Mitchell wrote the novelization based on the screenplay.)

It follows in the wake of other Australian New Wave war films such as Breaker Morant (1980), Gallipoli (1981), and the 5-part TV series Anzacs (1985). Recurring themes of these films include the Australian identity, such as mateship and larrikinism, the loss of innocence in war, and also the continued coming of age of the Australian nation and its soldiers (the Anzac spirit).

The film was directed by Simon Wincer, and several pieces of footage from the climactic scenes were re-used in the episode "Palestine, October 1917" of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. This episode, which aired in 1993, likewise focuses on the Battle of Beersheeba, and was also directed by Wincer.