| Produced by: | Universal Pictures
| Certification:
| USA:PG
| Cast
|
| Christina Ricci
| Beth Easton
| Anna Chlumsky
| Jody Salerno
| Polly Draper
| Kate Easton
| Brian Kerwin
| Matt Hollinger
| Diana Scarwid
| Lynnette Salerno
| David Keith
| Ray Karnisak
| Credits
|
| Director
| Kevin James Dobson
| Producers
| Martin Bregman,
| | Rolf Dehyle,
| | Michael Scott Bregman
| Screenplay
| Barry Glasser
| Director of Photography
| Ross Berryman, A.C.S.
| Editor
| Stephen W. Butler
| Music
| Joel McNeely
| Production Designer
| Michael S. Bolton
| Costume Designer
| Mary McLeod
| |
| Summary:
| Gold Diggers is the story of thirteen-year-old Beth (Christina | | Ricci,)
and her recently widowed mother
(Polly Draper), who move from L.A. to a small town
in Washington. Beth, a city girl, asks, "Where's the mall?" She finds
country life dull, dull, dull. Then she meets fellow outcast Jody (Anna
Chlumsky), a tomboy who is the subject of many whispers and little
affection. Jody's a bad kid, everyone says, from a bad family. But Beth
sees beyond the gossip, to someone who can fill her new life with
adventure. | Director Kevin Dobson lets the girls loose on some lush, gorgeous Northwest scenery: rivers rush, forests hide a multitude of secrets, and mountains gleam. The woods hold both promise and peril, not unlike puberty. Against this backdrop unfolds the legend that Jody is intent to live out. In the late nineteenth century, a Scottish orphan named Molly Morgan crossed the Atlantic, then made her way across the United States to Washington state, where she cut her hair to pass as a boy and worked in the mines. Some say Molly died in a mining accident, but Jody chooses to believe the legend that she was still living on Bear Mountain in the 1930s, having discovered a fortress of gold. The girls set off in Jody's makeshift motor boat, treasure map in hand--two modern-day Huck Finns in search of gold and adventure on the river. It soon becomes clear that one goal of this adventure is escape. Beth learns that Jody has set up a "condo" in a Bear Mountain cave, where she hides when her mother's boyfriend becomes abusive. In the cave, Jody feels free and independent, just like her heroine, Molly Morgan.
The story yields few surprises. Jody and Beth are consistently smarter,
wiser, faster, and, in the end, richer than the adults. Justice is served all
around, which quite satisfied the audience of preteen girls at the
screening I attended. "It was good!" said Monique and Lisa, two
ten-year-olds whom I met in line. They also agreed that the depictions of
domestic abuse were frightening, but they still thoroughly enjoyed the
film. "I wish I could be friends with them," added Lisa--and that is the
secret to the film's appeal. Ricci and Chlumsky give fine performances
as bright, energetic, and independent spirits, and my young friends
clearly envied their friendship--the kind that often seems to end when
high school, and more peer pressures, tend to begin.
|