THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE

US, 1999, 100 minutes, Colour.
Glenn Close, Jena Malone, Bruce Mc Gill, Meatloaf Aday, Chloe Webb, Olivia Burnett, Dennis Christopher, Wilford Brimley, Robert Pastorelli.
Directed by Jeremy Kagan.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple is a very entertaining television movie. It was executive-produced by its star, Glenn Close.

The film is about pioneering, a family from Massachusetts moving to the west coast and the 1850s goldfields. They live in a town called Lucky Diggings. However, the town is small, the miners rough, families living on the outskirts with violent abuse in the home. There is also a black man, a runaway slave who is befriended by the family.

Glenn Close plays the matriarch, a determined woman, a widow who takes three children into the wilderness in order to run a boarding house in the town. Jena Malone is her oldest daughter, resentful of the death of her father and having to go to this town. She is a reader, a thinker, who has to work hard for the family to survive.

There are good performances from Bruce Mc Gill as the founder of the town, Chloe Webb as the woman who works in the bar, a very sympathetic Robert Pastorelli as a minister and Wilford Brimley as an eccentric sheriff.

The film is one of those that can be described as full of human values but the drama works well, especially because of the two stars, their conflict and their reconciliation. Direction is by Jeremy Kagan, a veteran director of a number of films in the 70s and 80s including The Big Fix and The Chosen.

1.An entertaining film? Pioneers and the west? American families in the 19th century? Harships, triumph?

2.The title, the focus on Lucy, her being called California, her wanting to change her name, stand on her own feet, determination? The ballad recited during the story about Jake, a similar ballad about Lucy, her life in the town, her saving Annie Flagg from hanging?

3.The west coast locations, the goldfields, the town, the river? The forests? The period, costumes and décor? The boarding house, the tent, the building? The fire? The musical score?

4.The gold rush of the 1850s, people coming from all over America? The American west coast and its remoteness? The miners, their hopes, rough life, stinking? Their not getting much gold? The despair, especially of Beale, the lawyer who shoots himself? Hardships, the hotel, the boarding house? The dangers of accidents like the death of Butte? The origins of towns which built up – and the end of the film with the hope for the new town, its library?

5.Glenn Close as Arvella, the arrival with the children, the confrontation with Scatter, the tent, her determination to stay, running the boarding house, the meals, the residents and her firm discipline, ousting those who misbehaved? Her making a success even though she could not cook? Her relationship with her children, Prairie and her being very young and accepting things, Butte and his working for Scatter, going to mine? California and her not wanting to be there? Arvella and her determination, memories of her husband, dancing on the hill? Her harshness with her daughter? The gradual mellowing, Lucy and her name, her work, the hunting? The defence in the court, her change of heart, her pride in her daughter? Her initial antagonism towards Clyde, accepting his generosity, his saving Butte from the river? The tenderness between the two, the possibility of their loving each other, the marriage? Her grief after her son’s death, Clyde persuading her to come back and to relate well to Lucy? The final decision, going with Clyde, the farewell to Lucy, her return?

6.Lucy, her age, not wanting to be there, wanting to read, her resentment of her mother, her mother not talking with her despite her asking her to? Having to go hunting? Hungry? Finding Annie, their friendship, her house? Learning more about living in the forest? Her teaching Lucy and Annie to read? The visit to Annie’s father, his brutality? Her antagonism towards Clyde? Her listening to the ballad and her enjoying it, thinking that Buck was Jake – and the girls discovering that she was a woman? Keeping her secret? Her going for the doctor? Her meeting Joe, calling him Bernard after her father, bringing Annie and Bernard to the dance, Arvella forcing Mr Scatter to welcome them? Her wanting to go, Sophie offering the possibility? The court case, Carrots and his having bequeathed her the law books, her having read them, defending Mrs Flagg, her shrewdness, the evidence, the law, saving her? Her decision to come back and stay, becoming the librarian?

7.Scatter, his founding the town, running the bar, giving the job to Arvella? His prejudice with Joe, Arvella forcing him to overcome it? The fire and his determination to begin again? Sophie and her work at the hotel, it never being mentioned that she was the local prostitute? Her goodness of heart, helping people, offering Lucy the possibility of going east? Her pregnancy?

8.Annie, a child of the woods, her skills, the trapping, friendship with Lucy, learning to read? Her father and his brutality, her mother and the brothers, the shooting, Mrs Flagg and her reticence, saying she shot her husband, covering for Annie? Their gratitude towards Lucy? The various miners, their characters, the miner reciting the ballad dramatically? Everybody enjoying it? Joshua Beale and the law, hoping to find gold, his failure, his shooting himself?

9.Clyde Claymore, the eccentric preacher, Arvella’s negative reaction, his preaching to the miners and their not listening, his becoming part of the town, his genuine spirituality, willing to bury people, his attitude towards religion? Saving Butte? Loving Arvella, helping her after her grief, the marriage?

10.The deputy sheriff, his appearance, running the court case, his appreciation of Lucy’s defence?

11.Joe, the runaway slave, 1850, Lucy discovering prejudice, bringing him and Annie to the dance, his participation in the town, being blamed for the fire – and the man saying it was an accident?

12.A rounded picture of the pioneer experience on the goldfields?