Ulee's Gold

Ulee's Gold
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Victor Nuñez
Produced by	Jonathan Demme
Written by	Victor Nuñez
Starring	Peter Fonda Patricia Richardson Jessica Biel J. Kenneth Campbell Christine Dunford Steven Flynn Dewey Weber Tom Wood Vanessa Zima
Music by	Charles Engstrom
Cinematography	Virgil Mirano
Edited by	Victor Nuñez
Production company	Motion Picture Corporation of America Clinica Estetico Nunez-Gowan
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date	June 13, 1997 (1997-06-13)
Running time	113 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$2.7 million
Box office	$9,054,736 (U.S.)[1]

Ulee's Gold is a 1997 American drama film written and directed by Victor Nuñez and starring Peter Fonda in the title role. Co-stars include Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood, Jessica Biel, J. Kenneth Campbell and Vanessa Zima. It was released by Orion Pictures, with Jonathan Demme receiving presenter credits for his role in the film's financing.^[2]

The film was the "Centerpiece Premiere" at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.^[3] Fonda won a Golden Globe Award for his performance and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

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.

Van Morrison sings "Tupelo Honey" (the title song of his 1971 album) over the end credits.

Plot

Ulee Jackson (Peter Fonda) is a widowed Florida beekeeper whose son Jimmy (Tom Wood) is in prison following a botched robbery. Jimmy's wife Helen (Christine Dunford) has abandoned their two daughters and is living in Orlando. Ulee's stubborn independence prevents him from asking for help, and as the movie begins he has his hands full running his business and acting as surrogate parent to his granddaughters Casey and Penny. Casey (Jessica Biel) is a rebellious teenager and Penny (Vanessa Zima) is a timid 10-year-old who seems confused by her parents' absence and the tension at home.

When Ulee visits Jimmy in prison, Jimmy tells him that Helen has turned up at the Orlando home of two low-lifes named Ferris and Eddie. They were Jimmy's accomplices in the bank robbery, but were never caught. Now they say Helen is sick, and Jimmy asks Ulee to bring her home.

Ulee goes to Orlando to pick up Helen, but it turns out what Ferris and Eddie really want is the bank money that Jimmy hid after the robbery. Ulee agrees to ask Jimmy about it, and then takes Helen home. Helen's "illness" is actually drug addiction, and while she is almost comatose on the way home, she becomes violent and belligerent as she wakes up near the house. Ulee's tenant and neighbor, a divorced nurse named Connie Hope (Patricia Richardson), is brought into the home by a frightened Penny, and over the next few days she helps Helen through her drug withdrawal.

Meanwhile Ulee learns that Jimmy hid the bank money in one of his beeyards. He tells Ferris and Eddie he'll bring the money to Orlando in a few days, but they decide they can't wait and take Helen, Casey, and Penny hostage in Ulee's home. They tie them to chairs and gag them with duct tape. They then force Ulee at gunpoint to take them to the beeyard, where he shows them the hiding place. As they are recovering the money, Ulee kicks the gun into the swamp. The angry men ride with Ulee back into town, then stab him in the parking lot when they arrive. As Ulee lies bleeding on the ground, Ferris and Eddie drive off but are pulled over almost immediately by the sheriff.

The film ends with a newly hopeful Jackson household. Helen has stepped back into her role as a mother, and Jimmy expects to be paroled soon. Ulee is happy to return to his bees, but has mixed feelings about giving up some of his responsibilities. As he recovers from his knife wound he begins work on expanding his business to accommodate Jimmy's eventual return, and seems to finally be taking a romantic interest in Connie.

Cast

• Peter Fonda as Ulee Jackson
• Patricia Richardson as Connie Hope
• Christine Dunford as Helen Jackson
• Tom Wood as Jimmy Jackson
• Jessica Biel as Casey Jackson
• Vanessa Zima as Penny Jackson
• Steven Flynn as Eddie Flowers
• Dewey Weber as Ferris Dooley
• J. Kenneth Campbell as Sheriff Bill Floyd
• Traber Burns as Chance Barrow
• Ryan Marshall as Charley Myers

Production

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 appearing as extras in the film.^[3] Other filming locations were Orlando, Carrabelle, Apalachicola and Port St. Joe, Florida.^[5]

During a 1997 interview held in Melbourne, Fonda commented on the character he portrayed:

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.^[6]

Reception

Ulee's Gold was well-received by critics. It currently holds an approval rating of 94% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from 50 reviews counted, with an average rating of 8.1/10.^[7] Metacritic gave the film a score of 77 out of 100 based on 23 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[8]

Andrew Johnston wrote in Time Out New York: "The plot poses ample opportunities for cliches, all of which Nunez deftly avoids. The characters are wonderfully drawn and bring out the best in the actors —the taciturn Fonda often seems to be channeling his father, and Richardson proves she's too talented to be wasting her time on Home Improvement".^[9] Variety's Todd McCarthy described the film as a "gem of rare emotional depth and integrity".^[10]

References

External links

• Ulee's Gold on IMDb
• Ulee's Gold at AllMovie
• Ulee's Gold at Rotten Tomatoes