How Gold Rush Movies Have Shown Different Aspects of the Era

How Gold Rush Movies Have Shown Different Aspects of the Era

The Gold Rush era continues to fascinate us and inspire new movies. While there’s no definitive film that represents this period in history, this look at some of the most popular movies in the genre shows how filmmakers have tried different ways of showing it.

The Gold Rush – Charlie Chaplin Treads the Line Between Comedy and Tragedy

1925’s The Gold Rush starring Charlie Chaplin was the first high-profile movie to cover this period of American history. It’s worth remembering that it’s based on the Klondike Gold Rush which had occurred at the end of the 19th century, so it was fairly recent history at the time. Chaplin was inspired by photos of the period and stories of the extreme hunger the participants had endured. This led to a comedy that mixes slapstick elements and the biting hunger that forces the characters to cook a shoe.

The cultural impact of the Gold Rush here and in other parts of North America can still be seen in other types of entertainment like TV shows and the Art of the Gold Rush exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California. It’s also become a recurring theme in online slot games. Gold Rush Express and Prospector Wilds: Minecart Madness are among the slots based on this activity. These games typically feature grizzly miners and their equipment as the key symbols in an atmospheric setting.

Paint Your Wagon – The Musical Approach

This 1969 musical based on the California Gold Rush starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood was inspired by the Broadway musical of the same name. The song Wand’rin’ Star sung by Marvin became a hit in some countries but the movie disappointed at the box office despite some positive reviews.

This negative review at the time of its release pointed out that Marvin did his best to carry the film, putting its failure to inspire down to a bloated budget that ruined any chance of creating intimate scenes. Other reviews call it amiable and the presence of future big stars like Eastwood and Jean Seberg certainly adds some extra interest for modern viewers watching it for the first time.

Deadwood: The Movie – A Look at the Complicated Relationships in a Gold Rush Town

Many other 20th-century movies were set in the Gold Rush era, with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and Pale Rider (1985) among the most notable efforts featuring horseback adventures and rugged characters. If we fast forward to 2019 we can find the memorable Deadwood: The Movie. Based on the TV series of the same name, it features Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, and Molly Parker in the cast.

The movie doesn’t particularly focus on gold prospecting. Rather, it looks at the complicated relationships between the characters in a lawless Gold Rush town that springs up out of nowhere and now contains a series of rivalries that spill over as everyone looks out for their own interests.

We should continue to see different takes on the Gold Rush, with Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga set to cover this period in future chapters. The numerous different ways filmmakers have approached this subject reveal how many different strands of history can be used to create interesting movies.