Line #5 Film/TheGoldRush


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8	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goldrush_98.png]]
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10	''The Gold Rush'' is a 1925 film directed by, written by, and starring Creator/CharlieChaplin.
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12	Chaplin plays "The Lone Prospector" -- that is, {{the Tramp}} in Alaska during the Alaska Gold Rush. Charlie, blundering around the snowy mountains, winds up stuck in a cabin with considerably more competent prospector Big Jim [=McKay=] (Creator/MackSwain). Big Jim and Charlie are reduced to eating Charlie's shoe, and Big Jim nearly eats Charlie before Charlie finally shoots a bear. After eating they part ways amicably. Big Jim stumbles across a very rich gold strike ("a mountain of gold!") as well as fugitive murderer Black Larsen (Tom Murray), who hits Jim in the head, causing him to have amnesia.
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14	Charlie makes his way into the nearest gold rush boom town, gets a job cabin-sitting for another prospector, and falls in love with haughty dance-hall girl Georgia ([[TheDanza Georgia Hale]]). Georgia loves another, ladies' man Jack Cameron, and teases Charlie. Eventually Big Jim, who remembers that he found a mountain of gold but can't remember where it is, runs into Charlie in the town and gets Charlie to lead him back to where the claim was. Will the Lone Prospector find riches and true love?
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16	Is often cited as one of Creator/CharlieChaplin's greatest works, and reportedly Chaplin's favorite of his own films. He re-released in 1942, in a version crafted for sound that replaced all the title cards with Chaplin's own narration. The newer version also revised a plot point (Georgia's letter) and cut TheBigDamnKiss from the end of the movie.
17	----
18	!!This film provides examples of:
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20	* AccidentalAimingSkills: When Big Jim and Black Larsen struggle over a shotgun, the gun always winds up pointing at Charlie, no matter where he tries to hide in the cabin.
21	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Jack is a real asshole, but all the ladies love him. Even Georgia, who repeatedly quarrels with him when she stands up for herself, keeps coming back to him.
22	* AloneInACrowd: A memorable scene when Charlie first enters the dance hall. He stands at the edge of a crowd of people. Then the music starts playing, and everyone hits the dance floor, leaving Charlie watching, alone.
23	* BearsAreBadNews: The Tramp is menaced by a bear a few times. In his first scene, he doesn't notice a bear following him, but it takes a different path. Later, a bear arrives when he and Big Jim are fighting, and the Tramp ultimately shoots it, which ends their starvation.
24	* TheBigDamnKiss: The film ends with the Tramp and Georgia "spoiling" the picture by finally kissing.
25	* TheBully: Jack is a creep who delights in picking on Charlie.
26	* DisneyVillainDeath: Black Larsen falls into a ravine when the ice cracks.
27	* DramaticIrony:
28	** The Tramp is followed by a bear along the mountainside unbeknownst to him. when he turns around, it's gone.
29	** No one sees that the Tramp's foot is on fire, so we watch it slowly burn into the chair that one of the girls is sitting on, waiting for everyone to notice.
30	** It takes a minute for the Tramp and Big Jim to realize that their cabin is hanging precariously over the side of a cliff. We watch them wander around the cabin obliviously.
31	* EatingShoes: The Tramp eats a candle to stave off starvation, garnishing it with salt. Later, he boils one of his boots with Big Jim. He even eats the shoestrings like spaghetti. Big Jim is much less enthusiastic.
32	* TheGayNineties: Set during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.
33	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Chaplin re-released the film in 1942 with a new musical score. He also added sound effects to the film and replaced the silent movie title cards with descriptive voice-over narration.
34	* GoldDigger: A mild version considering Georgia does not hide that she is looking for a rich husband in the Klondike, but she's a nice enough woman whose love happens to have a price, but Charlie is willing and able to pay it in the end.
35	* GoldFever: A whole town full of people looking for gold in the Yukon in 1898.
36	* GunStruggle: Big Jim and Black Larson struggle for a shotgun while Charlie tries to stay out of the conflict.
37	* HangoverSensitivity: Charlie gets hammered on whatever's in Big Jim's flask. He wakes up the next morning with a hangover, so when everything starts swaying, that's what he blames it on.
38	* HappyEnding: One of the very few pure, unadulterated ones in the Chaplin canon where Charlie not only becomes a millionaire, but gets the girl afterward. It's even lampshaded in the 1942 narration.
39	* HeelRealization: Georgia has this when she, her girlfriends, and Jack all barge into Charlie's cabin on New Year's, only to find the elaborate party that he had prepared for them.
40	* ImagineSpot: Chaplin's character is playing out the New Years Eve party in his head including being fondled by Georgia. He couldn't be further from the truth.
41	* IrisOut: The film opens with an Iris In effect.
42	* KickTheDog: We know that Jack is a jerk because he snatches the photos of Georgia from her hand and wags his finger at her condescendingly when she demands them back.
43	* LargeHam: Jim is a large person so his gestures and dialogue are over-the-top.
44	--> "I MUST HAVE FOOD!"
45	* LaserGuidedKarma: After Black Larson attacks Jim, he soon meets his demise when the snow collapses beneath him sending him falling down a cliff.
46	* LastMinuteHookup: Between Chaplin and Georgia after both [[ContrivedCoincidence coincidentally]] board the same boat.
47	* LiteralCliffhanger: Jim and Charlie's cabin winds up teetering on the edge of a cliff, with Charlie hanging from the door.
48	* MeatOVision: A starving Jim sees Charlie as a giant chicken. Possibly the TropeMaker.
49	* MistakenMessage: Georgia writes an apologetic love letter to [[TheHeavy her boyfriend]], and he gives it to the Tramp as a cruel prank. The 1942 re-cut version changed this so that Georgia writes the note for the Tramp, making their LastMinuteHookup less unexpected.
50	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Georgia is left looking very guilty when, after cruelly toying with the Tramp's affections and promising to meet him only to stand him up, she and her friends barge into his (now empty) cabin only to discover the feast he'd laid out for her.
51	* {{Narrator}}: Chaplin in the 1942 version.
52	* NewYearHasCome: Charlie plans a fancy party for New Year's for Georgia and her friends. After they stand him up, he wanders down to the dance hall and watches everyone sing "Auld Lang Syne".
53	* NoNameGiven: As usual with Charlie's character. The 1942 version narration refers to him as "little man".
54	* PrettyInMink: Georgia and her playmates look fancy in fur coats.
55	* SecretTestOfCharacter: Although a completely accidental one. Georgia stumbles upon Charlie on the boat, dressed in his tattered prospector's clothes. Believing him to be a stowaway, she tries to hide him from the stewards, and even offers to pay his fare when the stewards catch him.
56	* SnowedIn: The first cabin sequence, wherein Jim and Charlie are trapped and starving.
57	* TastesLikeChicken: The film has a pantomime version of it as Charlie eats his boot like it was a chicken.
58	* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Jim, who is whacked on the head by Black Larsen, wanders back into town in a daze, and can't remember how to get to his gold claim.
59	* WantedPoster: How we find out about Black Larsen.
60	* WealthyEverAfter: Charlie and Big Jim find the mountain of gold at great personal risk and the story ends with them leaving the Klondike rich.
61	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Black Larsen leaves with his dog, but at some point it just stops showing up.

Context Film / TheGoldRush