Remember the diner scene in “Benny and Joon” where Johnny Depp uses the forks and rolls to make a set of legs and feet and makes them dance? The movie I will be blogging about today is the movie that this bit was stolen from back when it was performed by a relevant actor.
“The Gold Rush” takes Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character out of his normal street-urchin element and plants him in the Alaskan Klondike at the height of the 19th century gold rush. This is the perfect foil for a convincing change of scenery for The Tramp- he can still be his optimistic, always trying to get-rich-quick self, but have a fresh new backdrop and new opportunities for comedic scenarios. In his later films Chaplin took to making bold and unapologetic political statements, thus in many ways “The Gold Rush” represented the passing of the torch in his films.
Lost in the vast nothingness of the Yukon The Tramp wanders into the cabin of a murderous fugitive Black Larsen. Larsen’s attempts to throw him out are thwarted by the powerful outside winds blowing The Tramp back in the door. The wind also brings in another unwanted guest- Big Jim McKay who has just found “a mountain of gold” near the cabin. The storm gets so bad that the three are awkwardly confined to the cabin for days. The need for food forces Black Larsen out into the storm after he draws the deciding low card from the deck. As The Tramp and Big Jim continue to grow more and more desperate for food Black Larsen stumbles on two Marshalls who are pursuing him who he promptly kills, taking refuge in their campsite. He also stumbles on Big Jim’s claim and proceeds to plunder it.
Meanwhile, back at the cabin Big Jim is so overcome with hunger he begins to hallucinate that The Tramp is a chicken. In an effort to stave off their hunger and potential cannibalism, they cook one of The Tramp’s shoes for Thanksgiving Dinner. This makes for one of the most famous comedy sequences of all time as the shoe is divided between the two men. The Tramp makes the most of a bad situation by pretending the nails are bones and eating the leather off them like meat. The laces are transformed into spaghetti, which, while hilarious, does remind me of a similar gag in “City Lights” which was a couple movies back on the list, where The Tramp is at a party and eats a streamer off his plate believing it is spaghetti- while it is a different gag I know Chaplin’s comedy is better than having to recycle bits.
”Chicken or no chicken, the little fellow looks appetizing.” (Big Jim McKay, “The Gold Rush”)
And of course it wouldn’t be a Chaplin film if there wasn’t a girl involved. This time it is Georgia, an employee in the dancehall at one of the many gold rush boom towns. When he first meets her she is embroiled in a fight with the local “ladies man” Jack. It is ambiguous if Jack is just trying to make a conquest of Georgia or if they have an on/off relationship: either way she looks right through The Tramp, both literally and figuratively until she is so determined to make Jack jealous that she dances with The Tramp simply because he is the most sorry specimen in the joint. Even though he has just been unwittingly used The Tramp bravely stands up to Jack in a hysterical fight scene culminating with him wildly swinging at a wall, knocking a clock down and subsequently cold-conking Jack with it.
The Tramp is now more determined than ever to strike it rich in hopes of winning Georgia’s heart. The scenarios that lead up to and follow these events create little nuances that speak to the Tramp’s character. No matter how cruelly Georgia uses or ignores him, he still pursues her and welcomes her into his life with open arms, but not to the extent that would make you think he is a sucker, just a romantic. Even when he is cramped in the cabin with Big Jim, he is the one who offers up his shoe for a meal, and his other one when things turn REALLY desperate. Even in a dream sequence when The Tramp imagines a New Year’s Dinner with Georgia and her friends he envisions himself giving elaborate gifts to everyone, not just Georgia.
The other character who is given a particularly impressive level of depth is Georgia herself. At first she seems like just a one-dimensional, shallow flapper-girl. We see her internally struggle with her complete lack of feelings for The Tramp but also her sympathy for him. She also is susceptible to peer-pressure, as her friends encourage her to lead him on for the sake of a joke though it is evident every time she turns her back to her friends that she is torn. At one point she opens up to another girl about how she just wants to meet a worthwhile man, which indicates that she is anything but a gold digger since she is so dissatisfied with Jack, who clearly appears to be well-off.
Perhaps the most telling indication of Georgia’s true personality comes at the end of the film. Setting sail away from Alaska her and The Tramp are unknowingly on the same ship- The Tramp a success, her a failure. When The Tramp is mistaken for a stowaway Georgia offers to pay his fare, despite the fact that she clearly is not in a position to do so and, as far as she knows, The Tramp is in no position to pay her back. This selflessness finally creates an undeniable common thread between the two and completely redeems her earlier wrongdoings.
“The Gold Rush” isn’t as “important” of a film as “The Great Dictator,” nor is it as deep a movie as “City Lights” but what it lacks in substance it makes up for in memorable sequences. The eating of the shoe, the Dance of the Dinner Rolls and the amazing physical comedy demonstrated in the climactic scene where Big Jim and The Tramp are trapped in the cabin as it teeters back and forth on the edge of a cliff have become Comedy 101 mainstays.
I’m sad to say that “The Gold Rush” is the last of the Chaplin films on the AFI List, but it is almost a blessing as far as the credibility of my blog is concerned. I can only pretend to be objective about so many movies and I think the 3 Chaplin films and “Frankenstein” fills my quota.
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