The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (2001 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not bad, but very TV movie

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 17 May 2016]

Following Dad's death back East, Mum takes their 3 kids out to Gold Rush California to live in a tent. As you do. Oldest child California (played by a young Jena Malone) doesn't want to go, and also doesn't want to be named California, so renames herself Lucy. Soapy wild West stuff ensues.

Glenn Close heads the cast and produces, and Jena Malone is rather more conventional than she has been in her adult roles as feisty but unsettled Lucy. The locations are handsome, the production design is good, and the performances are all pretty solid, with some emotional stuff coming from Close and Malone.

But it's a bit episodic rather than narratively coherent, and it very much has a feel of a TV series rather than a film. Having said that, it is reliable family viewing notwithstanding a couple of moments which aren't appropriate for younger children.

script needed juicing up... or something.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 31 January 2023]

An odd combination of actors - glenn close, meat loaf. And such a different role for close, after fatal attraction, dangerous liaisons, or big chill. When lucy's family heads to the hills of california to cook for the gold miners, she hates everything about it. Ma whipple (close) makes her learn lessons the hard way. And as much as ma wants to be independent, they come to rely on the miners as friends. Like the traveling preacher (robert pastorelli), or rattlesnake jake (meat loaf). Friendships, hardship, loss. Good neighbors, not so good neighbors. Lessons of the old west. It's a very simple tale, possibly aimed at a younger audience. Or maybe a hallmark movie. Like a 90 minute little house on the prairie. Some deus ex machina, when lucy gets advice from a dead relative. It's okay. Directed by jeremy kagan. Story by karen cushman. Pastorelli was also eldin on murphy brown, but overdosed in 2004 at age 49.

Delightful film !!

[GreensAndNettles · 10/10 · 23 September 2007]

Most enjoyable thing I have watched on television in a long time. A really nice portrayal of frontier life in a busy Gold-mining town. The perfect 'American Girl' film ~ would keep any group of young girls ~ I'd say up to about age 14 ~ happy on an overnight or birthday party day. Highly recommended for moms too! A great historical film ~ I really enjoy olde time clothing and the costuming was fantastic! A delightful film all around !! The film is a bit reminiscent of Jane Seymours ~ Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman television show. The funny thing is that I had purchased the paperback book of this film way back in 1999 but had stashed it on the shelf and never read it. Happened upon the film on television tonight and am delighted!

Good research, a strong cast, and a story that just keeps moving made this the best two hours of my week.

[midman · 9/10 · 20 February 2001]

Lucy's mother (Glenn Close) acts on her long-held dream of moving west from Massachusetts after the death of her husband. She brings her three children to a California mining town: a patch of buildings, tents, mud, and rough people on a hillside. Young people's author Karen Cushman, in her third book, provides a rich cast of characters for Lucy's (Jena Malone) learning experiences: traveling preacher Robert Pastorelli, Sheriff Wilford Brimley, Meat Loaf as a cowboy poet and even a cross-dressing prospector. In the months of spring and summer, Lucy encounters death, new friends in strange places, secrets, prejudice, and evil. Resolving a maze of adolescent conflicts with her mother, 13-year old Lucy gains maturity in spite of her frustrations, learns to trust herself, and struggles with a most difficult choice at the story's climax. She ably displays the roots of this kind of story, where we can see ourselves in failure, and as we wish we could be in success.

There is a direct wholesomeness about this story of the Old West that begs comparisons to `Little House on the Prairie' and `Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman.' It would be easy to be cynical about the simplistic and obvious moral values being preached. But good research, a strong cast, first class production values, and a story that just keeps moving made this the best two hours of my week. Malone still has the elfin charm of a child actor, but never falters in stealing the show from far more experienced actors. Fans of character actors Pastorelli and Brimley will not be disappointed, and Close masterfully portrays painful changes as she becomes increasingly disillusioned with her circumstances. Note that Close is co-executive producer (snagged the rights four years ago?) and author Cushman signed on as a producer (is that how an author can stay close to her work without having to do the screenplay?). I wish my kids were the right age to buy Cushman's award-winning books for. I may do it anyway, for myself.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

[erniecrx · 7 August 2014]

My queen Jena Malone always delivers in her acting and will never falter in her performances. She'll keep up with the big names in this movie. You can see immediately when the camera's on her, her facial expression that speaks in volumes. Jena is besides all that a multitasking girl and that's why i admire her so much like her free-styling music band named The Shoe. Jena Malone is also an artistic photographer and poet on a high level and writes beautiful lyrics for her music. Her poems she writes are beautiful and thorough. Like i said about The Shoe, Jena is the front-singer of the band and Lem Jay Ignacio the keyboard player. Their shows are authentic, original and unconventional. All in all Jena Malone is a very special girl and there's no one like her.