ULEE'S GOLD
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1997 Scott Renshaw
(Orion) Starring: Peter Fonda, Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Jessica Biel, Vanessa Zima, Steven Flynn, Dewey Weber, Tom Wood. Screenplay: Victor Nunez. Producers: Sam Gowan, Peter Saraf. Director: Victor Nunez. MPAA Rating: R (profanity, adult themes, violence) Running Time: 115 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Twenty-eight years ago, Peter Fonda became a counter-culture icon in EASY RIDER. If you can name two other Peter Fonda films since then, you have my deepest sympathies; it probably means you sat through delights like WANDA NEVADA. Anyone who remembers Peter Fonda on film probably remembers him as Captain America, which is why it's so startling to see him in ULEE'S GOLD. The broad forehead, the determined chin and the stoic demeanor are all eerily reminiscent of another film Fonda. At some point during the past three decades, Captain America turned into Tom Joad.
It's not just in his physical appearance that Peter resembles Papa Henry. In ULEE'S GOLD, Peter Fonda gives the kind of intense and introspective performance which characterized his father's best work. He plays Ulysses "Ulee" Jackson, a Florida beekeeper trying to hold together the tattered remnants of his family. With his son Jimmy (Tom Wood) in prison and Jimmy's wife Helen (Christine Dunford) run off to parts unknown, Ulee cares for his two granddaughters (Jessica Biel and Vanessa Zima) and keeps to himself. That is before a call from Jimmy informs Ulee that Helen is in the company of Jimmy's old running buddies Eddie (Steven Flynn) and Ferris (Dewey Weber), and possibly in trouble.
At first, Helen's predicament does not move Ulee in the least. One of the riskier steps writer/director Victor Nunez takes is making Ulee fairly unlikeable at the outset, and not unlikeable in that fussy, irrascible but ultimately good-hearted Hollywood way. Wartime experiences in Vietnam, the death of his wife and the problems of Jimmy and Helen have left Ulee scarred and emotionally repressed; even worse, they have left him bitter and judgmental towards those he considers responsible for their own tragedies, like Jimmy and Helen. He no longer knows how to reach out to help others, or how to accept help when someone like his kindly neighbor Connie ("Home Improvement's" Patricia Richardson) reaches out to him.
Like Nunez's 1993 gem RUBY IN PARADISE, ULEE'S GOLD is about a journey of self-discovery, not exactly a high-concept premise. Nunez's particular gift as both a writer and a director is the ability to convey the struggles of troubled souls without resorting to melodramatic situations or hyperbolic speeches. The most spectacular thing about Peter Fonda's performance is exactly that it is so unspectacular, a textbook study of dramatic economy. We understand his survivor guilt in one weary line to his granddaughter about how he made it out of Vietnam ("Your grandpa was tricky"); we see the comfort he takes in his solitary labor as extended sequences follow him through the harvesting of the tupelo honey. This stubborn, driven, hard-working man is not entirely pleasant to be around, but he's fascinating and thoroughly human. Even when the plot takes a turn into crime drama with the search for money from a long-ago holdup, Nunez and Fonda don't take the plot or the character into steely-eyed reluctant heroism. The action in Fonda's lined face is more compelling than a shootout in the swamps.
ULEE'S GOLD is exactly the kind of film some people get suspicious about when the critics go ga-ga, primarily because it is the kind of film critics are _expected_ to go ga-ga over. As a casually-paced, character-driven drama in the middle of summer, it certainly stands out in a crowd, but it is not a flawless masterpiece. Nunez has a tendency to devote almost all his creative energy to his main character, leaving his supporting players far less to work with. There are moments when ULEE'S GOLD starts to wander, when the languid character interactions are merely slow instead of meaningful. Still, one fascinating, carefully-constructed character is one more than almost any other film of the last few months has taken the time to give us. In a way, that makes ULEE'S GOLD just as rebellious a film as EASY RIDER was in its time. Maybe there's still a streak of Captain America in Peter Fonda after all.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 easy riders: 8.
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