Wild Boys 2023

Jack Keenan, Jordan Laemmlen and his ally Dan Sinclair, Patrick J. Andersen, are bushrangers roaming colonial New South Wales in the 1860s. They target travelers on horseback or in carts, usually seizing a substantial stash of valuables. During a bold robbery, their plan almost collapses when another bushranger, Hogan, who often clashes with them on moral grounds, lends a hand but lets his identity slip.

One victim of their misadventure is the new Police Superintendent of Hopetoun, Francis Fuller, who vows to end Jack and Dan at any cost. Jack returns to town and takes shelter at the inn run by Mary Barrett; he has a long absence, which angers Mary. Fuller combs the town and nearly catches them at the inn, but when he recognizes Hogan, he shoots him dead. Fuller then ambushes Jack and Dan on a subsequent robbery attempt, and the two are captured.

En route to trial, Fuller plans to execute Jack, Dan, and an innocent farrier, Conrad Fischer, who is arrested on false pretenses that he stole a horse. He also hopes to quiet Conrad because Conrad knows Emelia Fife, the mayor’s daughter, who has feelings for Conrad, and because Fuller has his own designs on Emelia. Realizing their deaths are imminent, Jack, Dan, and Conrad momentarily escape from the cart, hijack the horses, and ride off. To finance new guns, the trio decides to pull off a payroll robbery at the Hopetoun police station.

Conrad refuses at first, insisting he is no bushranger and will not participate in crime, but when he sees his friends in danger, he helps create a diversion and saves them. In gratitude, they share a portion of their loot and Conrad chooses to head for the gold fields, leaving town because it has grown too dangerous. Emelia is later told by Fuller that Conrad is dead, and she is heartbroken, sensing that Fuller’s accusation came from his anger at her rejection. Yet Conrad himself later visits Emelia before sailing toward the gold mines, and the two confess their mutual feelings, with Conrad vowing to return for her.

Dan takes a short break to regroup and plans to meet Jack again soon. Jack moves on to another family’s home that offers shelter and a warm meal, but that night he hears screams; he finds the family head murdered and, as he steps outside to search for clues, a masked figure ambushes him, shoots him, and knocks him unconscious.