Themes: Fathers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters, Drug Addiction
Main Cast: Peter Fonda, Patricia Richardson, Jessica Biel, J. Kenneth Campbell, Tom Wood, Christine Dunford
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Peter Fonda received a richly deserved Oscar nomination for his superb performance as Ulysses "Ulee" Jackson, a Florida beekeeper forced to put his splintered family back together. Ulee is a Vietnam veteran whose wife died several years ago, a blow he's still learning to live with. His son Jimmy (Tom Wood) is in prison, and his daughter-in-law Helen (Christine Dunford) ran away, leaving Ulee to raise their two daughters by himself. Ulee is a quiet man who has a hard time displaying warmth and does not always deal well with the rebellious children put in his care. But he possesses an intense inner strength and a firm sense of loyalty and responsibility. One day Ulee gets a call from Jimmy; he's received word that Helen has fallen in with a pair of drug dealers and is in sad shape. While he doesn't much care for the idea, Ulee heads out to rescue her, only to discover the men who have her were Jimmy's partners in the robbery that put him behind bars; they threaten Ulee by saying if they're not given the $100,000 Jimmy has stashed away, they'll come after his daughters. Meanwhile, Ulee is forced to deal with Helen's painful withdrawal from drugs; he gets some help from Connie (Patricia Richardson), a divorced nurse who has recently moved into the neighborhood and seems to understand Ulee's lonely stoicism. Written and directed with subtle intelligence by Victor Nuñez, Ulee's Gold is a moving story about the trials and responsibilities of family ties, with Peter Fonda leading a fine cast that delivers uniformly impressive work. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Ulee's Gold is a subtle, powerful film about family, sadness and obligation. Writer-director Victor Nuñez crafts a careful portrait of Ulee (Peter Fonda), a wounded but decent man who refuses to turn his back on those who have turned their backs on him in the past. The film succeeds by immersing us in the deliberate, haunted life of the tightly-drawn title character, played to perfection by the similarly stoic Peter Fonda; the actor received an Oscar nomination for his work. Patricia Richardson of TV's Home Improvement provides a thoughtful turn as the neighbor who inches her way into Ulee's life. Some may find the film's pace trying, but there are several scenes of surprising tension, as when Ulee is eventually forced to deal with his son's criminal cohorts. The scene evolves unconventionally, reflecting Nuñez's personal, uniquely independent approach with the material. ~ Matthew Doberman, All Movie Guide
Steven Flynn - Eddie Flowers; Vanessa Zima - Penny Jackson; Dewey Weber - Ferris Dooley
Credit
Debbie De Villa - Art Director, Judy Courtney - Casting, Peter Saraf - Co-producer, Sam Gowan - Co-producer, Marilyn Wall-Asse - Costume Designer, Gus Holzer - First Assistant Director, Victor Nuñez - Director, Edward Saxon - Executive Producer, John Sloss - Executive Producer, Valerie Thomas - Executive Producer, Stewart Lippe - Line Producer, Alex Steyermark - Musical Direction/Supervision, Charles Engstrom - Songwriter, Robert Garner - Production Designer, Virgil Marcus Mirano - Cinematographer, Victor Nuñez - Producer, Charles Kulsziski - Set Designer, Pete Winter - Sound/Sound Designer, Victor Nuñez - Screenwriter
Ulee is the best character I've ever read. It's the kind of role you pay money to do — a complex character full of possibilities and the script was full of moments that were very deep, very pure and very simple. I also found a lot of Ulee in my father. He kept a couple of hives and I can see him hop-footing it across the lawn, thinking he had a bee up his pant leg. As I began to develop Ulee, I used a lot of the way my father was to us as kids, the way he was to us as a family and the way he was to himself.
The film's title refers most concretely to the honey Ulee produces as a beekeeper, particularly that made from the nectar of the tupelo tree. Nuñez used the Lanier family, a third-generation beekeeping family in Wewahitchka, Florida[4] as "bee consultants" for the film; the Lanier family swamp lands and bee yards served as filming locations, with some members of the family even appearing as extras in the film[2].
Fonda plays Ulee (short for Ulysses) Jackson, a Vietnam Vet, widower and grandfather. He is a beekeeper by profession, who raises two granddaughters (played by Biel and Zima) because his son (played by Wood) is in prison and his daughter-in-law Helen (played by Dunford) has run away to a drug user's existence. The son implores him to look for his wife and bring her home. Upon returning home with Helen, Ulee's granddaughters see their mother going through a severe detox, and plead with their neighbor Connie (played by Richardson) to help her. Connie is a twice-divorced nurse who assists Ulee in detoxifying his daughter-in-law. The film shows Ulee holding the family together and attempting to protect them from two young criminals, associates of his son, who come looking for a hidden stash of cash.
Reception
Ulee's Gold was well received by critics. It currently holds a rating of 77 on Metacritic.
