A pretty good little movie. The pace is a little slow, and often not much seems to be happening. This is not a bad thing here. Hollywood is usually so formulaic that they must not be discouraged when they try something a little different. Everything worked well here, the acting, the photography, the direction. Yes, Peter Fonda turned in a fine performance. I wonder if as much would have been made of this if Fonda hadn't spent most of his career playing in total stinkers, though. The small-time crooks, Fonda must deal with (including his son) are such losers they seem directly imported from an Elmore Leonard novel. Special mention for the child actress Vanessa Zima (Penny Jackson). She performed wonderfully in her role, full of soulful and meaningful looks. Either she is a very good child actress, or the casting director did a great job finding a girl who looks the part.
Plot summary
Third-generation Florida beekeeper Ulee Jackson may have gotten out of Vietnam alive, but he left a part of himself behind. Now he methodically tends his bees, carefully provides for his two grandchildren and keeps his emotions at bay. But when a long-buried secret threatens Ulee's business and family, he is forced to break through his emotional walls and confront the terror of his wounded spirit.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
April 11, 2016 at 03:02 PM
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Good stuff. Slow, but that's OK.
A bright spot in a summer of "The Lost World", "Speed 2", and "Batman and Robin".
When "Ulee's Gold" came out, it seemed as though Peter Fonda had been off of the radar for many years. But he made a comeback here as Florida beekeeper Ulysses Jackson, having to raise his granddaughters after their father gets put in jail and their mother can't take care of them. A triumph for all involved.
This movie was truly a breath of fresh air when it came out in summer, 1997. That summer saw such "scum-sucking corporate products" (to use Peter Travers's description of "Armageddon") as "The Lost World", "Speed 2", and "Batman and Robin". Once again, we see that the small indie flicks are better remembered. Thank God.
A modern Ulysses
Peter Fonda received his only Oscar nomination for Best Actor in this film which
got no other recognition from the Academy. As Ulysses Jackson he's the troubled
patriarch of his family. Right now widower Fonda is raising his two granddaughters
Jessica Biel and Vanessa Zima because their father is in jail and their mother.
ran
off and is on narcotics. Fonda works as a beekeeper in the Florida Everglades
swamps.
Visiting son Tom Wood in jail, Wood asks Fonda to fetch his wife who is now
running around with his two low life running buddies who pulled a bank job,
but it was Wood who was arrested and doing a stretch. They think that wife
Christina Dunford knows where the loot is, but she's too strung out to help
them.
They let Dunford go with Fonda, but they want his help in getting the stolen
loot. The running buddies are a pair with Dewey Weber threatening to go
psycho any minute and Steven Flynn cooler, but maybe more deadly.
The climax is with Fonda taking these two to where the loot is with the rest of
the family tied up at home.
This was the beauty of this film. Fonda is no hero, he's a good man, tends to be self righteous, but still a decent soul. He's not used to dealing with criminals though his son is one. Can he outwit these two is what Ulee's Gold
boils down to.
Fonda gives a wonderful performance and one can see why he got the Oscar
nomination. He lost to Jack Nicholson for As Good As It Gets. Also in the cast
are Patricia Richardson as Fonda's neighbor and a nurse and J.Kenneth Campbell as a very wise sheriff.
The cinematography of the Florida swamps is good as well. Ulee's Gold is a
crowning achievement in the career of Peter Fonda.