FILM

The Homesman

A film adaptation of the 1988 Glendon Swarthout novel of the same name, The Homesman follows the story of spinster Mary Bee Cuddy and claim jumper George Briggs as they transport three mentally ill women on a journey from Nebraska to Iowa in the 1850s.

The Homesman
Cast:

Tommy Lee Jones
Hilary Swank
Grace Gummer
Miranda Otto
Sonja Richter
Meryl Streep
John Lithgow
James Spader
Hailee Steinfeld
Tim Blake Nelson
Jesse Plemons
William Fichtner

Director:
Tommy Lee Jones

Producer:
Tommy Lee Jones, Luc Besson, Peter M. Brant, Brian Kennedy

Written by:
Tommy Lee Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald, Wesley Oliver

Distributor:
Roadside Attractions, Saban Films

Budget:
$16 million

Box Office:
$2.8 million

Awards:

2014 Cannes Film Festival - Palme d’Or - Nominated



Metacritic Score:
68%

Rotten Tomatoes Score:
82%

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Why Does “The Homesman” Use Such Blatantly Disturbing Imagery to Tell How the Three Women Went Crazy?

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How Does “The Homesman” Depict Views on Marriage in 1850 vs. Today?

Mary Bee Cuddy is the film’s central character. She’s an unmarried, land-owning, fairly well-off, 31 year-old religious woman who is described by multiple men as “plain as a tin can.” She is a voracious worker and a good citizen who…
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What Does “The Homesman” Say About Women’s Roles in Frontier America?

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In “The Homesman,” Why Did Mary Bee Hang Herself?

In The Homesman (2014), Mary Bee (Hilary Swank) was the antithesis of a regular woman in 1850. She could plow, she could shoot, and she wasn’t afraid to take on duties that other men shied away from. But, the first and last times she speaks in…
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In “The Homesman,” Does the “Outsider” Attitude of the Lead Characters Serve as a Benefit or Crutch?

Mary Bee (Hilary Swank) is, quite obviously, not a typical woman of the times. George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones) is not a typical man, but a deserter and a drifter who Mary Bee finds wailing in his long johns, waiting for his own horse to hang him.…
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What is the Significance of “The Homesman’s” Final Scene?

The Homesman wants to do justice to its female characters. It shows the brutal ways in which the woman went crazy with painful honesty because that’s what the characters deserve. It followed a strong female lead to promote female fortitude, but…
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How Does “The Homesman” Show Different Definitions of Civilization, and How They Came To Be?

There are a couple major settings in The Homesman, punctuated by long expanses of nothingness that defined America in 1850. Philip David Morton for Huffington Post writes, “The desolate and unforgiving Nebraska territory is the stage and the…
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Why Burn Down the Hotel in “The Homesman”? What’s the Point of the Hotel Scenes?

George’s (Tommy Lee Jones) character in The Homesman (2014) pulls up in front of a hotel in the middle of nowhere seeking nothing out of the ordinary. He asks for lodging and food, is willing to pay, and shows complete hospitality to the hotel…
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For “The Homesman,” How Did Rodrigo Prieto Approach the Cinematography?

Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto is known for his aptitude at capturing beautiful, natural shots that help transform a film’s setting into their own characters. Having worked on very different films like 8 Mile (2002) and The Wolf of Wall Street…
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