Directed by: Charles Chaplin
Starring: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, and Tom Murray

The Gold Rush Movie Summary

The Gold Rush begins with a Lone Prospector (Charlie Chaplin) braving the Alaskan wilderness to try and find his fortune. At first, misfortune is all he encounters. He finds himself holed up in a shack during a brutal storm with Black Larsen (Tom Murray) a wanted fugitive and Big Jim McCain (Mack Swain) a kind-hearted gold digger that has just found his mother lode.

The three men are starving and cut a deck of cards to see which man will go look for food. Black Larsen draws the two of clubs and sets out into the cold. He stumbles upon two lawmen that recognize him and the villain shoots them dead. He steals their supplies and explores, finding Big Jim’s Gold Mountain.

Meanwhile, back in the not so cozy cabin, Big Jim hallucinates that the Lone Prospector is a chicken. The little man tries to feed him Thanksgiving dinner of a shoe in the hopes of removing himself from the menu. The Little Prospector gives Big Jim the meatier piece of shoe. Big Jim is still delirious with hunger. Just when it looks hopeless, a bear wanders into the cabin and is shot by the Lone Prospector, providing an appropriate meal.

Well fed, Big Jim leaves the cabin to get back to his claim. He finds Black Larsen on his land and is left unconscious in the snow with a shovel wound to the head at the hands of the outlaw. Karma hits Black Larsen back when he is swept over a cliff in an avalanche and never seen again.

The Lone Prospector heads into town and makes his way into the local bar. It is here that he falls in love with the beautiful Georgia (Georgia Hale ). Georgia is fending off the advances of a ladies man, Jack Cameron (Malcolm Waite). She uses the Lone Prospector to make Jack jealous and sends his hopes and spirit soaring. The little man finds a discarded photo of Georgia on the floor and puts it in his pocket. The Lone Prospector gets in a fight with Jack when he prevents him from following Georgia. His hat is pulled over his eyes and he believes he has taken out the bigger man when in reality a clock fell on Jack, knocking him out cold.

The Lone Prospector finds lodging closer to town as a cabin sitter for another Prospector. The Little Man invites Georgia and her friends for a New Year’s Eve dinner party at his new home. He raises money for the evening by moving the same pile of snow from building to building and charging for the “removal”. The girls forget about the Little Prospector. He sits alone, dreaming that the girls are with him. He performs a “roll dance”, entertaining the ladies in his dream. He awakes and heads to the Bar to find the girls.

He crosses paths with the ladies (who have finally remembered their promise) and Jack. When the group finds the cabin empty, Jack makes a move on Georgia and is refused with a slap.
Big Jim has come to but has some amnesia. He can’t recall where his claim is. As luck would have it, he runs into the Lone Prospector who agrees to help him. They are forced to take shelter again in the lonely cabin, which is almost blown over a cliff by the arctic wind. The two men survive and find Big Jim’s claim, making them millionaires.

By coincidence, Big Jim, The Lone Prospector, and Georgia find themselves on the same Luxury Liner. Big Jim and the Little Man are traveling together while Georgia is confined to steerage. To amuse the press, the Little Millionaire puts back on his tramp clothes. It is dressed as this that he runs into Georgia, who thinks he is a stowaway. All is set straight and the two enjoy a lingering kiss. The End.

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