Call number
DVD-DRAMA 94
Collection
Description
A down-and-out silver miner raising a son, self-made oilman Daniel Plainview, whose voracious appetite for oil turns him into a California tycoon in the early years of the 20th century. Getting the oil from the ground is an intensely physical process that later broadens into Plainview's equally indomitable urge to control land and power. Along the way, Plainview deals with a mighty derrick fire, a visit from a long-lost brother, and the ongoing involvement of Plainview's poker-faced adoptive son. Plainview's rivalry with Eli Sunday, the local preacher.
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member comfypants
A successful oil man is revealed to be a misanthropic sociopath.
I don't really get the point of this. It's very well shot, the acting is great, the music is great. The writing of any given scene is great. But it's very slow, and there's just not much of a story. I expect more than subtle character
I don't really get the point of this. It's very well shot, the acting is great, the music is great. The writing of any given scene is great. But it's very slow, and there's just not much of a story. I expect more than subtle character
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development when I sit down for a period epic. Show Less
LibraryThing member gretchgriff
Very loosely based on Oil by Upton Sinclair. One interesting change is that the son is adopted instead of biological, which lends the main character a degree of empathy and kindness that has to carry the audience's sympathy through some monstrous behavior. One of those movies that should feel slow,
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but every moment is riveting due to the carefully choreographed tension between the characters, and between Daniel's precarious morality. Show Less