Ulee's Gold (1997)

Director Victor Nunez's richly photographed Ulee's Gold drew critical acclaim for Peter Fonda's and Patricia Richardson's subtle performances--and premiered as the Festival Centerpiece in 1997's Sundance Film Festival. Vividly photographed and set amid southern Florida's tupelo swamps, the film's narrative hinges on the evolution of a more-than-platonic connection between neighbors Ulysses, Ulee for short (Fonda), and Connie (Richardson). Known for her role on TV's Home Improvement, Richardson makes a satisfying foray into film with this appropriately smaller role where she manages to hatch out of potential typecasting. Fonda's independent, stubborn, and reserved Ulee anchors the narrative. He is a bee keeper whose struggling small business is all that keeps him focused in the wake of his wife Penelope's death, his daughter-in-law Helen's (Christine Dunford) drug addiction, and the de facto single-parent obligations he takes on to his adolescent granddaughters. (Notice the Homeric references.) Soon the plot twists, however, in the sociopathy of Eddie and Ferris, friends of Ulee's jailed son--a sociopathy that is also the impetus for the family to confront its dysfunction and for Connie and Ulee to see more in each other than mere neighborliness. Thankfully, Nunez foregoes the bathos of a Hollywood ending and leaves us satisfied on one hand with Helen's healing and Eddie's justice but uncertain, though hopeful, about Ulee's next step. --Erik Macki Amazon.com

Sweet little film

I found the opening shot in this film chilling, and not because I found the bees disturbing. As the camera moves in to Peter Fonda's face, for a moment, he looks exactly like his dad....

As other reviewers have pointed out, the film is slow moving. If you're not the type to use honey because you're too impatient to wait for it to flow slowly from the jar, you probably won't appreciate what takes place here. But a tension develops in the first moments of the film that is nicely sustained until the very end. Further, there are some scenes in which the verisimiltude hits so close to home I found myself getting anxious. Anyone with a dysfunctional family understands that as each member makes poor choices, the entire family is affected in some way eventually. Enough said there.

Peter Fonda has come into his own in this film. I'd love to see him do more work like this. December 14, 2008

The movie that began Jessica Biel's illustrious film career.

Let's face it, there's nothing illustrious about Biel's film career, but she's still the hottest face out there today, and honestly, is the only reason I initially watched Ulee's Gold (the TV synopsis said she was in it, thus, the reason I watched it).

Sadly, this is Biel in her first film, thus, before she became the beauty we all know her for today (I think she was an awkward sixteen year old when she made this movie). But Ulee's Gold pulls a trick out of its hat by actually having a solid plotline that supersedes any one actor's presence within the film.

The plot deals with Ulee, who is a beekeeper and who's raising two granddaughters due to their father spending time in jail and their mother who is on the run as a drug addict. The story escalates when two thugs, who were formerly associated with Ulee's imprisoned son, come looking for money they believe is hidden from a former heist, and seek Ulee as a source to where it might be.

This film was the centerpiece film at Sundance's 1997 Film Festival and still stands as an excellent example of independent film making. May 30, 2008

VERY TOUCHING FILM

I loved the film and it is in my top recommendations to everybody. Its subject is simple: The life of a beekeeper who was a war veteran in Vietnam, a beautiful view of bee culture, and a family disrupted by death, prison, and drugs. This film is a must. April 9, 2007

Good as Gold

Fonda delivers here as an understated everyman hero.
Why is Ulee the way he is? This is a believable story and not
stock at all. Fantastic supporting cast. Patricia Richardson from "Home Improvement" shows she is not a 2nd bannana.
Besides, you will gain a ton of information on the honeybee business. November 12, 2006

Peter Fonda is excellent

Peter Fonda is superb as the bitter, we-don't-need-anybody's-help family head who raises bees in Florida for a living, and must suddenly deal with a daughter-in-law (played by Christine Dunford) strung out on drugs and a son (Tom Wood) who's in prison on robbery charges. A couple of ex-con buddies of Wood learn that he hid away a lot of the money from the robbery they committed, and they make it plain to Fonda that they want it. Fonda's got to figure out how to deal with these two ex-cons while trying to detox Dunford at home - and still get the honey collected from his beekeeping operation.

Fonda plays Ulee Jackson like a man with the DNA of a turtle: all his on-screen actions are slow and deliberate - even his incessant handling of his glasses seems to eat up much screen time. His character is supposed to be the ultimate stoic, and he plays it to the hilt. But the story is an interesting one, and the climax in the swamp is pretty exciting. The director (Victor Nunez) also insists on showing as much of the beekeeping tasks as he can get away with (some of it is so detailed it could be used in a beekeepers documentary); you will either not mind this very much or be driven crazy by it. I didn't mind it very much. Fonda is actually pretty fascinating to watch; his performance is right out of the old method school of acting (he IS Ulee and not just playing a role). The movie works and is satisfying to watch.
November 11, 2006

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