Meek's Cutoff (film)

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Meek's Cutoff
Meeks cutoff poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Screenplay by Jonathan Raymond
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Chris Blauvelt
Edited byKelly Reichardt
Music byJeff Grace
Production
companies
  • Evenstar Films
  • FilmScience
  • Harmony Productions
  • Primitive Nerd
Distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories
Release dates
  • September 4, 2010 (2010-09-04)(Venice) [1]
  • April 8, 2011 (2011-04-08)(U.S.)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Downriver Nez Perce [2]
Budget$2 million [3]
Box office$1.2 million [4]

Meek's Cutoff is a 2010 American Western historical survival film directed by Kelly Reichardt and starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Will Patton, Shirley Henderson, Neal Huff, Tommy Nelson, and Rod Rondeaux. The story is loosely based on a historical incident on the Oregon Trail in 1845, in which frontier guide Stephen Meek led a wagon train on an ill-fated journey through the Oregon High Desert along the route later known as the Meek Cutoff in the western United States.

Contents

The film was shown in competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. [1] The film is formatted in the Academy ratio (1.37:1), a standard used in many classic Westerns. [5]

Plot

A small group of settlers travelling across the Oregon High Desert in 1845 suspect that their guide, Stephen Meek, may not know the area well enough to plot a safe and certain route. A journey that was supposed to take two weeks, via what became known as the Meek Cutoff, stretches into five. With no clear sense of where they are going, tensions rise as water and food run low. The wives look on, unable to participate in the decision making, as their husbands discuss how long they should continue to follow Meek.

The dynamics of power shift when they capture a Cayuse man and hold him in the hope he will lead them to a source of water, despite Meek's wish to kill him at once. Meek argues that the man cannot be trusted, but the group by now have no confidence in Meek. Later, when Meek prepares to shoot the captive, Mrs. Tetherow intervenes. In the end, after the group encounters the positive sign of a tree, Meek submits to majority opinion. The fate of the group is left ambiguous as the Cayuse man continues to walk on.

Cast

Production

Development

Writer-director Kelly Reichardt developed the film with screenwriter Jonathan Raymond, with whom she had collaborated on her previous feature, Wendy and Lucy (2008). Through historical research, Raymond had become acquainted with the story of fur trapper Stephen Meek, who led a group of travelers on an ill-fated journal along the Oregon Trail in 1845. [6]

Describing her goal with the film, she commented: "'I wanted to give a different view of the west from the usual series of masculine encounters and battles of strength, and to present this idea of going west as just a trance of walking." [7] In preparation for filming, Reichardt researched extant journals and diaries of women who embarked on the Oregon Trail. [7] [8]

Filming

Principal photography took place in late 2009 in rural central Oregon. [9] During filming, the cast and crew stayed in the city of Burns. [9] Actress Shirley Henderson recalled that the natural elements posed a number of issues during the filming process: "There were quite difficult conditions. The landscape dictates everything, we had snow and really intense dust storms, I’ve never seen anything like that before. Where we were filming was a couple of hours drive into the desert each day so you lose the light quickly. We were against time; there wasn’t the luxury of extra days. There’s a limited amount of film stock because we’re on a budget, so there’s a pressure there, you can feel that." [10]

To help the actors prepare for the shoot, Reichardt set up a pioneer camp in the desert for the actors to spend time in and become accustomed to the demands of 19th-century chores and upkeep in the wilderness. [8]

Reception

Box office

The film was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on April 8, 2011 [11] through Oscilloscope Laboratories, and grossed $20,024 during its opening weekend in two theaters. [4] The release expanded to a total of 45 theaters, grossing $977,772 domestically. [4] It earned an additional $227,485 in international markets, making for a worldwide box-office gross of $1,205,257. [4]

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an 86% approval rating based on reviews from 130 critics, with an average score of 7.5/10. It reported the consensus, "Moving at a contemplative speed unseen in most westerns, Meek's Cutoff is an effective, intense journey of terror and survival in the untamed frontier." [12] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 85 based on 36 reviews. [13]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised the film, writing: "There is a comparable sense of an embattled, frightened expeditionary force, out of food and water, and ideas: without the experience, resources or language to understand someone who may be their destroyer or their only hope of survival. This superbly made, austere film is Reichardt's best yet...  and a powerful new addition to the western genre." [14]

A number of critics praised the film for its realistic depiction of settlers of the period attempting to survive the harsh natural conditions of the American west. Among them were critic Roger Ebert, who gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5 and noted: "To set aside its many other accomplishments, Meek's Cutoff is the first film I've seen that evokes what must have been the reality of wagon trains to the West. They were grueling, dirty, thirsty, burning and freezing ordeals." [5] Henry Cabot Beck of True West Magazine made similar observation, summarizing: "The film is smart and haunting, and, if nothing else, it’s probably more accurate in its depiction of the tedium and uncertainty of daily life and survival in a struggling wagon train than anything ever seen on screen." [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Trail</span> Historic migration route spanning Independence, MO–Oregon City, OR

The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what is now the states of Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming. The western half crossed the current states of Idaho and Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Meek</span> American pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician(1810–1875)

Joseph Lafayette Meek was an American pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A trapper involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek played a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843, where he was elected a sheriff. He was later elected to and served in the Provisional Legislature of Oregon before being appointed as the United States Marshal for the Oregon Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hastings Cutoff</span> Historic site in Humboldt River Basin, Elko County

The Hastings Cutoff was an alternative route for westward emigrants to travel to California, as proposed by Lansford Hastings in The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California. The ill-fated Donner Party infamously took the route in 1846.

Meek Cutoff was a horse trail road that branched off the Oregon Trail in northeastern Oregon and was used as an alternate emigrant route to the Willamette Valley in the mid-19th century. The road was named for frontiersman Stephen Meek, who was hired to lead the first wagon train along it in 1845. The journey was a particularly hard one, and many of the pioneers lost their lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Raymond</span> American writer

Jonathan Raymond, usually credited Jon Raymond, is an American writer living in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for writing the novels The Half-Life and Rain Dragon, and for writing the short stories and novels adapted for the films Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and First Cow, all directed by Kelly Reichardt, with whom he co-wrote the screenplays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Meek</span> A fur trapper and guide in the American Old West

Stephen Hall L. Meek was a fur trapper and guide in the American west, most notably a guide on a large wagon train that used a trail known as the Meek Cutoff. A native of Virginia, both he and his younger brother Joseph Meek would spend their lives as trappers west of the Rocky Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliott Cutoff</span> Covered wagon road in Oregon, United States

The Elliott Cutoff was a covered wagon road that branched off the Oregon Trail at the Malheur River where present-day Vale, Oregon, United States is today. The first portion of the road was originally known as the Meek Cutoff after Stephen Meek, a former trapper who led over 1,000 emigrants into the Harney Basin in 1845. There were considerable difficulties for the 1845 train, and after reaching a hill known as Wagontire, the people left Meek and split into groups. They turned north at the Deschutes River and finally returned to the traditional Oregon Trail near The Dalles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Palmer</span> American pioneer, author, politician (1810–1881)

General Joel Palmer was an American pioneer of the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. He was born in Upper Canada, and spent his early years in New York and Pennsylvania before serving as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Applegate</span> American pioneer (1811–1888)

Jesse Applegate was an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. He was an influential member of the early government of Oregon, and helped establish the Applegate Trail as an alternative route to the Oregon Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sager orphans</span> Orphans during the American westward migration

The Sager orphans were the children of Henry and Naomi Sager. In April 1844 the Sager family took part in the great westward migration, taking the Oregon Trail. During the journey both Henry and Naomi died, leaving their seven children orphaned. Later adopted by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, missionaries in what is now Washington, they were orphaned a second time, when both their new parents, as well as brothers John and Francis Sager, were killed during the Whitman massacre in November 1847. About 1860 Catherine, the oldest daughter, wrote a first-hand account of their journey across the plains and their life with the Whitmans. Today it is regarded as one of the most authentic accounts of the American westward migration.

Samuel Parker (1806–1886) was an American pioneer of the Oregon Country, in what was to become the state of Oregon. Parker would later participate in the legislatures of the provisional, territorial, and state governments of Oregon.

Dr. Elijah White (1806–1879) was a missionary and agent for the United States government in Oregon Country during the mid-19th century. A trained physician from New York State, he first traveled to Oregon as part of the Methodist Mission in the Willamette Valley. He returned to the region after a falling-out with mission leader Jason Lee as the leader of one of the first large wagon trains across the Oregon Trail and as a sub-Indian agent of the federal government. In Oregon he used his authority to regulate affairs between the Natives and settlers, and even between settlers. White left the region in 1845 as a messenger for the Provisional Government of Oregon to the United States Congress, returning in 1850 before leaving again for California in the early 1860s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Phillips House</span> Historic house in Oregon, United States

John Phillips House is a historic 1853 vernacular Greek Revival house in the Spring Valley area of Polk County, Oregon, United States. It was built for pioneer John Phillips, who came to Oregon via the Oregon Trail in 1845. He finished his journey to Oregon on the Meek Cutoff as part of Stephen Meek's "lost wagon train".

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Kelly Reichardt is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema, many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost Blue Bucket Mine</span> Lost mine reputed to be in Oregon, United States

The Lost Blue Bucket Mine is a lost mine reputed to be located along the Meek Wagon Train trail between the present day cities of Vale and The Dalles in Oregon, United States. Its discovery traces back to 1845, several years before the start of the California Gold Rush (1848–1855).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Thomas Lenox</span> American judge

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Rod Rondeaux is a Native American actor and stuntman. As an actor, his work includes the 2005 miniseries Into the West, Comanche Moon in 2008, the Cayuse character in the 2010 Kelly Reichardt film Meek's Cutoff, and the lead role in the 2015 film, Mekko. His stunt work includes Reel Injun and Comanche Moon.

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References

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  13. "Meek's Cutoff". Metacritic . Retrieved July 5, 2011.
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