The Missing
Encyclopedia
The Missing is a 2003 Western
thriller film directed by Ron Howard
, based on Thomas Eidson
's 1996 novel The Last Ride
.
This Western
thriller set in 1885 New Mexico Territory
is notable for the authentic use of the Apache
language by various actors, some of whom spent long hours studying it. The film was produced by Revolution Studios
and Imagine Entertainment
and distributed by Columbia Pictures
.
) reappears hoping to reconcile with his adult daughter Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett
). She is unable to forgive him for abandoning the family and leaving her mother to a hard life and early death. This situation changes when Pesh-Chidin (Eric Schweig
) and a dozen of his followers who have left the reservation pass through the area, ritualistically killing settlers and taking their daughters to be sold into prostitution south of the American border. Among those captured is Maggie's eldest daughter, Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood
) and Maggie's rancher and boyfriend Blake Baldwin (Aaron Eckhart
) was among the settlers killed.
The U.S. Cavalry refuses to help retrieve the captive women as its resources are tied up conducting forced relocation of captive Native Americans
. This leaves Maggie, her father, and the younger daughter Dot (Jenna Boyd
) alone in tracking the attackers. The group unexpectedly meets up with Kayitah (Jay Tavare
), a Chiricahua
, and an old friend of Jones, who also happens to be tracking the attackers with his son Honesco, because among the captives is a young Chiricahua woman who is engaged to Honesco. After the two agree to join the group, and Maggie treats Honesco's injuries, Kayitah informs Maggie that Jones had been a member of their Chiricahua band where he gained the name Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan (translates as “shit for luck”) during his wanderings.
It is finally with the combined efforts of the two families that they are able to free the women at the cost of Kayitah's life and immediately flee to the mountains with the kidnappers behind them. Knowing they have no other choice but to stand their ground, the group fights off the remaining kidnappers including Two Stone (Steve Reevis
) and during the battle, Jones fights El Brujo, the one responsible for kidnapping his granddaughter, Lilly. When Brujo attempts to kill Maggie with a pistol, Jones sacrifices his life to save his daughter as both he and Brujo fall off a cliff to their deaths. Next, Maggie shoots the last remaining kidnapper Naazhaao (Deryle J. Lujan) to death. She realizes her father's love for her and finally forgives him.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
thriller film directed by Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
, based on Thomas Eidson
Thomas Eidson
Thomas Eidson is an American author best known for his writing of The Last Ride, which turned into a movie known as The Missing in 2003. It was filmed entirely in Santa Fe, New Mexico where the novel is set.His writing credits include:...
's 1996 novel The Last Ride
The Last Ride
The Last Ride is a western novel by Thomas Eidson, first published in 1995. It is the sequel to St. Agnes' Stand and is followed by All God's Children ....
.
This Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
thriller set in 1885 New Mexico Territory
New Mexico Territory
thumb|right|240px|Proposed boundaries for State of New Mexico, 1850The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of...
is notable for the authentic use of the Apache
Southern Athabaskan languages
Southern Athabaskan is a subfamily of Athabaskan languages spoken primarily in the North American Southwest with two outliers in Oklahoma and Texas...
language by various actors, some of whom spent long hours studying it. The film was produced by Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios is an American production company founded in 2000 by Joe Roth, a former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox. Revolution was formerly a strategic partner of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributed and marketed Revolution's films. The company's film division...
and Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1986 by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.Its productions include the television series 24 and Arrested Development and the films Apollo 13 , A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code .-Organization:Karen...
and distributed by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
.
Plot
Set in the late 19th-century New Mexico, Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
) reappears hoping to reconcile with his adult daughter Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
). She is unable to forgive him for abandoning the family and leaving her mother to a hard life and early death. This situation changes when Pesh-Chidin (Eric Schweig
Eric Schweig
Eric Schweig is a First Nations actor best known for his role as Chingachgook's son Uncas in The Last of the Mohicans .-Early life:...
) and a dozen of his followers who have left the reservation pass through the area, ritualistically killing settlers and taking their daughters to be sold into prostitution south of the American border. Among those captured is Maggie's eldest daughter, Lilly (Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
) and Maggie's rancher and boyfriend Blake Baldwin (Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...
) was among the settlers killed.
The U.S. Cavalry refuses to help retrieve the captive women as its resources are tied up conducting forced relocation of captive Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. This leaves Maggie, her father, and the younger daughter Dot (Jenna Boyd
Jenna Boyd
Jenna Michelle Boyd is an American teen actress.-Life and career:Jenna Boyd was born in Bedford, Texas and moved with her parents and younger brother Cayden to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career...
) alone in tracking the attackers. The group unexpectedly meets up with Kayitah (Jay Tavare
Jay Tavare
Jay Tavare is an American actor. Tavare is perhaps best known as Vega in 1994 film Street Fighter. Tavare has played a number of roles in movies, including a Seminole in Adaptation, an Apache in The Missing, a Cherokee in Cold Mountain, and a Cheyenne in Into the West.His mother was White Mountain...
), a Chiricahua
Chiricahua
Chiricahua are a group of Apache Native Americans who live in the Southwest United States. At the time of European encounter, they were living in 15 million acres of territory in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona in the United States, and in northern Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico...
, and an old friend of Jones, who also happens to be tracking the attackers with his son Honesco, because among the captives is a young Chiricahua woman who is engaged to Honesco. After the two agree to join the group, and Maggie treats Honesco's injuries, Kayitah informs Maggie that Jones had been a member of their Chiricahua band where he gained the name Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan (translates as “shit for luck”) during his wanderings.
It is finally with the combined efforts of the two families that they are able to free the women at the cost of Kayitah's life and immediately flee to the mountains with the kidnappers behind them. Knowing they have no other choice but to stand their ground, the group fights off the remaining kidnappers including Two Stone (Steve Reevis
Steve Reevis
Steve Reevis is a Blackfoot Native American actor. His best known role as Shep Proudfoot in the Academy Award-winning film Fargo .He grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation...
) and during the battle, Jones fights El Brujo, the one responsible for kidnapping his granddaughter, Lilly. When Brujo attempts to kill Maggie with a pistol, Jones sacrifices his life to save his daughter as both he and Brujo fall off a cliff to their deaths. Next, Maggie shoots the last remaining kidnapper Naazhaao (Deryle J. Lujan) to death. She realizes her father's love for her and finally forgives him.
Main cast
- Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
- Samuel Jones/Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan - Cate BlanchettCate BlanchettCatherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
- Magdalena "Maggie" Gilkeson - Evan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
- Lilly Gilkeson - Jenna BoydJenna BoydJenna Michelle Boyd is an American teen actress.-Life and career:Jenna Boyd was born in Bedford, Texas and moved with her parents and younger brother Cayden to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career...
- Dot Gilkeson - Aaron EckhartAaron EckhartAaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...
- Brake Baldwin - Val KilmerVal KilmerVal Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
- Lt. Jim Ducharme - Sergio CalderónSergio CalderónSergio Calderón is a Mexican actor.Calderón's first role was that of "Pedro" in the 1971 film The Bridge in the Jungle. Since then he has appeared in numerous films including the 1997 film Men in Black and the 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End .-External links:...
- Emiliano - Eric SchweigEric SchweigEric Schweig is a First Nations actor best known for his role as Chingachgook's son Uncas in The Last of the Mohicans .-Early life:...
- Pesh-Chidin/El Brujo - Steve ReevisSteve ReevisSteve Reevis is a Blackfoot Native American actor. His best known role as Shep Proudfoot in the Academy Award-winning film Fargo .He grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation...
- Two Stone - Jay TavareJay TavareJay Tavare is an American actor. Tavare is perhaps best known as Vega in 1994 film Street Fighter. Tavare has played a number of roles in movies, including a Seminole in Adaptation, an Apache in The Missing, a Cherokee in Cold Mountain, and a Cheyenne in Into the West.His mother was White Mountain...
- Kayitah - Simon R. BakerSimon R. BakerSimon Richard Baker III is an Aboriginal Canadian actor, of Cree, Haida, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh descent. He hails from North Vancouver-Capilano, British Columbia. Baker began his filming career at the age nine in the movie Once in a Blue Moon...
- Honesco - Deryle J. Lujan - Naazhaao, the Hunter
- David Midthunder - Happy Jim, Apache scout
- Clint HowardClint HowardClinton "Clint" Howard is an American film and television actor. He is a character actor with numerous brief appearances on television and films. He has played many bit parts in movies directed by his brother, actor-turned-director Ron Howard. He is also the uncle of actress Bryce Dallas Howard...
- The Sheriff - Ray McKinnonRay McKinnon (actor)Ray McKinnon is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. He was married to actress and producer Lisa Blount from 1998 until her death on October 25, 2010...
- Russell J. Wittick, photographer - Max PerlichMax Perlich-Biography:He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother was a teacher and his father, Martin Perlich, a writer and radio programming director and announcer, worked for a time with the Cleveland Orchestra. The Perlich family moved to Los Angeles, California when Max was four...
- Issac Edgerly