list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around The Claim on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/The_Claim/177823/default.aspx Title: The Claim
Year: 2000
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Plot: One man's small empire threatens to collapse under the weight of his greed and deceit in this drama that transplants the story of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge to 19th century America. In 1867, Dillon (Peter Mullan) is an Irish immigrant who settled in California during the Gold Rush of '49 and has done quite well for himself. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town of Kingdom Come; if someone wants to dig for gold, rent a room, open a bank account, or even order a drink, they have to go to Dillon to do it. One of the few profitable enterprises in town that he doesn't own is the brothel, which is operated by Lucia (Milla Jovovich), Dillon's lover. But Dillon sees his hold on the town threatened when Dalglish (Wes Bentley) arrives in Kingdom Come. Dalglish is a surveyor with the Central Pacific Railroad, which wants to put a train line through Kingdom Come. Dillon believes that Dalglish's plans could pull control of Kingdom Come out of his hands, and he's willing to go to any lengths to see that this doesn't happen. Arriving in town the same time as Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena (Nastassja Kinski) and her lovely teenage daughter Hope (Sarah Polley); their presence is deeply troubling for Dillon, for they are the keys to a dark secret Dillon has kept from the people of Kingdom Come. The Claim is Michael Winterbottom's second adaptation of the works of Thomas Hardy; his 1996 feature Jude was adapted from Hardy's final novel, Jude the Obscure. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 1
Number of Lists: 1
Number of blog posts: 1
Number of discussion threads: 1
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:01:56 GMTThe Claim2000Michael WinterbottomOne man's small empire threatens to collapse under the weight of his greed and deceit in this drama that transplants the story of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge to 19th century America. In 1867, Dillon (<a href="/players/P____51229/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Peter Mullan</a>) is an Irish immigrant who settled in California during the Gold Rush of '49 and has done quite well for himself. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town of Kingdom Come; if someone wants to dig for gold, rent a room, open a bank account, or even order a drink, they have to go to Dillon to do it. One of the few profitable enterprises in town that he doesn't own is the brothel, which is operated by Lucia (<a href="/players/P____36397/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Milla Jovovich</a>), Dillon's lover. But Dillon sees his hold on the town threatened when Dalglish (<a href="/players/P___263919/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Wes Bentley</a>) arrives in Kingdom Come. Dalglish is a surveyor with the Central Pacific Railroad, which wants to put a train line through Kingdom Come. Dillon believes that Dalglish's plans could pull control of Kingdom Come out of his hands, and he's willing to go to any lengths to see that this doesn't happen. Arriving in town the same time as Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena (<a href="/players/P____38430/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Nastassja Kinski</a>) and her lovely teenage daughter Hope (<a href="/players/P____57251/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Sarah Polley</a>); their presence is deeply troubling for Dillon, for they are the keys to a dark secret Dillon has kept from the people of Kingdom Come. The Claim is <a href="/players/P___194595/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Michael Winterbottom</a>'s second adaptation of the works of Thomas Hardy; his 1996 feature <a href=/films/93173/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Jude</a> was adapted from Hardy's final novel, Jude the Obscure. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide1Slightly Tagged (1-5)1113http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t1181343nd7.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/The_Claim/177823/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/shaunhuston/archive/2008/6/18/31390.aspx Post By: ShaunHuston
Post To: ShaunHuston filmblog
Post Date: 6/18/2008 9:01:56 PM
Body: The Western Top 10 is the toughest for me. As some of you may know, while I'm hardly Richard Slotkin or Jane Tompkins, I write, teach, and think about this genre on a regular basis, and, as a result, my views are not only fairly strong, but well-informed. And, where certain well regarded classics are concerned, they are also iconoclastic. This is probably nowhere more obvious than with The Searchers (1956), the film that tops the AFI list. This film does not resonate with me on any level. I have never found the ending credible. John Wayne does not portray Ethan Edwards with any of the complexity needed for his embrace of Debbie (Natalie Wood) to ring true after his 118 (or so) minutes of hard, racist ranting about Native Americans and his intent to kill her. I also find the photography and production design to be garish without purpose, and for all of its superficial sophistication about Native peoples, the talk of ritual, the use of indigenous language, it only serves to perpetuate the myth of white mastery. After all, it is white men who “know” and understand Native peoples, not the other way around. Native Americans are no less the brutish savages in this film than they are in Stagecoach (1939), but at least that film doesn't pretend to be anything but pulpy fantasy (indeed, it remains my favorite John Ford/John Wayne Western). And the landscape changes in The Searchers drive me crazy. Even though no one seems to actually leave Texas, the weather and land change in absurd ways during the course of the quest. Where are these people supposed to be? I fully recognize that I am a freak when it comes to this film, and as a result, I'm not going to make a pitch for taking it off of the list, although I do think that it needs to be demoted. The other film worth arguing about is one that I would knock of the AFI list, and that is Shane (1953). My biggest block with this film is Joey (Brandon de Wilde). The whining, oh the whining. Gah. I can't get past it. At the same time, I don't think that Alan Ladd makes for a convincing hero; he has too much of a “contemporary” presence. Van Heflin's Joe Starrett is virtually the same guy as Dan Evans, Heflin's character in 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and much less interesting. As menacing as Jack Palance's black hatted gunfighter is, he's also more hollow than the norm. And, yes, I understand the subtext about the Frontiersman and his lack of place in civilization, but that theme is punctuated in many a film without Shane's weaknesses. The selection of Cat Ballou (1965) still seems like some kind of a joke, but it is perhaps typical of an industry that has wanted to bury this genre for the past five decades or so. Red River (1948) made no impression on me when I saw it. Is that a reason to take it off the list? I don't know, but I would have no shortage of replacements if it is. Part of the difficulty with these lists is how the boundary is drawn around “American” film. I can see where Sergio Leone's movies with Clint Eastwood might be precluded as “American”, but, given some of the other selections on other lists, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) seems perfectly fair game to me (it was, after all, co-produced by Paramount, not to mention featuring a group of notable American actors in all of the lead male roles). Were it up to me, this film would certainly be on the list, and possibly even on top (I might just elevate High Noon, 1952, to the top spot depending on how much of a classisist I want to be). Undoubtedly, The Wild Bunch (1969) is Sam Peckinpah's magnum opus, but that's hardly a reason to make it his only film on the list. Ride the High Country (1962), for example, is an early elegiac Western that explores Western archetypes in more interesting ways than most of the films on the list from its same general period. The AFI's definition of the Western - “a genre of films set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier” - also seems to leave room for a movie like Lone Star (1996), or, and I know I'm pushing it here, Serenity (2005) (and you can scoff at this if you want, but Joss Whedon's movie re-imagines the Frontier and the supposed line between savagery and civilization in interesting and vital ways; I think that it certainly makes a more original contribution to the genre than does Shane). Two other recent Westerns for which I have a great deal of affection are The Claim (2000) and Open Range (2003). I'm not sure I'd end up placing all of the films listed above on a reconstructed list, but I do think that there is a tendency to treat the Western as a “dead” genre, killed at some point in the 1960s, with an occasional raising from the dead, and it's not so. It's also a genre with a fairly well-rehearsed canon. Placing The Searchers at the top of a list like this is much like putting Citizen Kane (1941) at the top of the AFI's ur-list: it's almost reflexive. Link to introduction. Originally posted on:Short-Circuit Signs
]]>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:01:56 GMTShaunHustonShaunHuston filmblog6/18/2008 9:01:56 PMThe Western Top 10 is the toughest for me. As some of you may know, while I'm hardly Richard Slotkin or Jane Tompkins, I write, teach, and think about this genre on a regular basis, and, as a result, my views are not only fairly strong, but well-informed. And, where certain well regarded classics are concerned, they are also iconoclastic. This is probably nowhere more obvious than with The Searchers (1956), the film that tops the AFI list. This film does not resonate with me on any level. I have never found the ending credible. John Wayne does not portray Ethan Edwards with any of the complexity needed for his embrace of Debbie (Natalie Wood) to ring true after his 118 (or so) minutes of hard, racist ranting about Native Americans and his intent to kill her. I also find the photography and production design to be garish without purpose, and for all of its superficial sophistication about Native peoples, the talk of ritual, the use of indigenous language, it only serves to perpetuate the myth of white mastery. After all, it is white men who &ldquo;know&rdquo; and understand Native peoples, not the other way around. Native Americans are no less the brutish savages in this film than they are in Stagecoach (1939), but at least that film doesn't pretend to be anything but pulpy fantasy (indeed, it remains my favorite John Ford/John Wayne Western). And the landscape changes in The Searchers drive me crazy. Even though no one seems to actually leave Texas, the weather and land change in absurd ways during the course of the quest. Where are these people supposed to be? I fully recognize that I am a freak when it comes to this film, and as a result, I'm not going to make a pitch for taking it off of the list, although I do think that it needs to be demoted. The other film worth arguing about is one that I would knock of the AFI list, and that is Shane (1953). My biggest block with this film is Joey (Brandon de Wilde). The whining, oh the whining. Gah. I can't get past it. At the same time, I don't think that Alan Ladd makes for a convincing hero; he has too much of a &ldquo;contemporary&rdquo; presence. Van Heflin's Joe Starrett is virtually the same guy as Dan Evans, Heflin's character in 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and much less interesting. As menacing as Jack Palance's black hatted gunfighter is, he's also more hollow than the norm. And, yes, I understand the subtext about the Frontiersman and his lack of place in civilization, but that theme is punctuated in many a film without Shane's weaknesses. The selection of Cat Ballou (1965) still seems like some kind of a joke, but it is perhaps typical of an industry that has wanted to bury this genre for the past five decades or so. Red River (1948) made no impression on me when I saw it. Is that a reason to take it off the list? I don't know, but I would have no shortage of replacements if it is. Part of the difficulty with these lists is how the boundary is drawn around &ldquo;American&rdquo; film. I can see where Sergio Leone's movies with Clint Eastwood might be precluded as &ldquo;American&rdquo;, but, given some of the other selections on other lists, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) seems perfectly fair game to me (it was, after all, co-produced by Paramount, not to mention featuring a group of notable American actors in all of the lead male roles). Were it up to me, this film would certainly be on the list, and possibly even on top (I might just elevate High Noon, 1952, to the top spot depending on how much of a classisist I want to be). Undoubtedly, The Wild Bunch (1969) is Sam Peckinpah's magnum opus, but that's hardly a reason to make it his only film on the list. Ride the High Country (1962), for example, is an early elegiac Western that explores Western archetypes in more interesting ways than most of the films on the list from its same general period. The AFI's definition of the Western - &ldquo;a genre of films set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier&rdquo; - also seems to leave room for a movie like Lone Star (1996), or, and I know I'm pushing it here, Serenity (2005) (and you can scoff at this if you want, but Joss Whedon's movie re-imagines the Frontier and the supposed line between savagery and civilization in interesting and vital ways; I think that it certainly makes a more original contribution to the genre than does Shane). Two other recent Westerns for which I have a great deal of affection are The Claim (2000) and Open Range (2003). I'm not sure I'd end up placing all of the films listed above on a reconstructed list, but I do think that there is a tendency to treat the Western as a &ldquo;dead&rdquo; genre, killed at some point in the 1960s, with an occasional raising from the dead, and it's not so. It's also a genre with a fairly well-rehearsed canon. Placing The Searchers at the top of a list like this is much like putting Citizen Kane (1941) at the top of the AFI's ur-list: it's almost reflexive. Link to introduction. Originally posted on:Short-Circuit Signs http://www.spout.com/groups/Top_5/Re_Top_Westerns/190/18747/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: ShaunHuston
Post To: Top 5
Post Date: 8/25/2007 11:07:33 AM
Body: I want to mention McCabe and Mrs. Miller and The Claim. McCabe is probably my favorite Robert Altman film and is one of the best revisonist Westerns of the 70s - reworking both the classic location, from desert southwest to wet and snowy Pacific Northwest, and characters, deconstructing the gunslinger myth and upsetting traditional gender dynamics. The Claim was heavily inspired by McCabe and intensifies the earlier film's sense of how isolated, lonely, and boring life on the frontier must have been for white settlers/colonizers. Wes Bentley's railroad surveyor is also an interesting character and one that you don't see very often inspite of how important the railroad was to Western communities (a theme that The Claim shares with Once Upon a Time in the West). I also think that Deadwood owes a debt to McCabe in its look and feel. I would also like to second the mentions of Heaven's Gate, which is far more interesting than its reputation suggests, and Open Range, which is quite brilliant in the way that it synthesizes traditional and revisionist elements in its plot and characters.
]]>Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:07:33 GMTShaunHustonTop 58/25/2007 11:07:33 AMI want to mention McCabe and Mrs. Miller and The Claim. McCabe is probably my favorite Robert Altman film and is one of the best revisonist Westerns of the 70s - reworking both the classic location, from desert southwest to wet and snowy Pacific Northwest, and characters, deconstructing the gunslinger myth and upsetting traditional gender dynamics. The Claim was heavily inspired by McCabe and intensifies the earlier film&#39;s sense of how isolated, lonely, and boring life on the frontier must have been for white settlers/colonizers. Wes Bentley&#39;s railroad surveyor is also an interesting character and one that you don&#39;t see very often inspite of how important the railroad was to Western communities (a theme that The Claim shares with Once Upon a Time in the West). I also think that Deadwood owes a debt to McCabe in its look and feel. I would also like to second the mentions of Heaven&#39;s Gate, which is far more interesting than its reputation suggests, and Open Range, which is quite brilliant in the way that it synthesizes traditional and revisionist elements in its plot and characters. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/town/MemberTagFilms.aspxtown
Number of films tagged: 827

Number of people who tagged: 16

Number of times used: 21

]]>Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:22 GMT8271621Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/brothel/MemberTagFilms.aspxbrothel
Number of films tagged: 172

Number of people who tagged: 12

Number of times used: 14

]]>Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:22 GMT1721214Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/railroad/MemberTagFilms.aspxrailroad
Number of films tagged: 606

Number of people who tagged: 6

Number of times used: 8

]]>Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:02:23 GMT60668Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/westwardexpansion/MemberTagFilms.aspxwestwardexpansion
Number of films tagged: 73

Number of people who tagged: 1

Number of times used: 1

]]>Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:04:41 GMT7311Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/goldrush/MemberTagFilms.aspxgoldrush
Number of films tagged: 88

Number of people who tagged: 0

Number of times used: 0

]]>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:02:56 GMT8800Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/landsurvey/MemberTagFilms.aspxlandsurvey
Number of films tagged: 5

Number of people who tagged: 0

Number of times used: 0

]]>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:01:44 GMT500Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/railroadagent/MemberTagFilms.aspxrailroadagent
Number of films tagged: 3

Number of people who tagged: 0

Number of times used: 0

]]>Wed, 07 Dec 2005 20:14:32 GMT300Tag