Animals were harmed in these films
Daniel Day-Lewis won a second Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of ruthless oilman Daniel Plainview, who strikes black gold in Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, this movie stars Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and John Malkovich as the platform workers desperately trying to avert a disaster.
Jett Rink (James Dean) strikes oil on land he owns on a cattle ranch run by disgruntled Jordan Benedict (Rock Hudson). Benedict's wife Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor) does her best to keep the peace. This epic Western, a Hollywood classic, was the last of three films Dean made as leading actor: he was killed in a car crash before the picture was released.
Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy are two down-on-their-luck oilmen who join forces to explore a well in California in this boom and bust adventure that sees the two wildcatters fall for the same woman.
Two engineers drilling for oil in the Louisiana gulf face opposition from local shrimp fishermen who fear for their livelihoods should the pair strike it rich. James Stewart and Dan Duryea star, with Joanne Dru complicating matters as a fisherman's daughter who distrusts them both but ends up falling in love with one of them.
This crime thriller concentrates on the events surrounding the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III and the refusal of his grandfather, the multi-billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, to cooperate with the kidnappers' extortion demands. Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, and Mark Wahlberg star in Ridley Scott's acclaimed version of the real-life abduction, the efforts made to win Getty's release, and its unhappy aftermath.
Oil rig worker Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson) comes from a privileged background and was once a promising pianist. Now he lives a rootless existence, picking up employment when he can. Bob Rafelson's seminal picture features one of Nicholson's finest performances.
Oilman Jan Nyman (Stellan Skarsgård) is left paralyzed after an industrial accident. Unable to engage in any sexual activity, he urges his wife Bess (Emily Watson) to seek the attention of other men. She does this reluctantly, and with ultimately tragic results. Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier directs.
'Armageddon' sees a group of deep core oil drillers head into space aboard a shuttle bound for a colossal asteroid that's on a collision course with Earth. The idea is to land on the errant rock, drill a deep hole down through the surface into which they will insert and detonate a nuclear bomb to split it in half. At least that's the plan Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and the rest of the shuttle crew have in mind.
This movie is based loosely on the exploits of famed oil well firefighter Red Adair (1915–2004). John Wayne tackles an oil rig blowout in Venezuela while at the same time having to deal with a guerilla unit who are trying to undermine the operation.
Lena Doyle (Faye Dunaway) owns oil-rich land. The bad guys want to buy her out. Her father hires some muscle named Mason (George C. Scott), and the bullets begin to fly.
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) unravels a plot devised by former KGB agent Victor Zokas (Robert Carlyle) to increase petroleum prices by triggering a nuclear meltdown in the waters of Istanbul, thus sabotaging the Russian oil pipeline in the Bosphorus.
Clint Eastwood's pale horse ghost rider sides with a community of independent gold prospectors and their families after a mining baron threatens them with eviction. Masquerading as a preacher, the mysterious gunslinger then has to face down a corrupt marshal and his murderous deputies.
'Promised Land' follows two petroleum land surveyors (Matt Damon and Frances McDormand) who visit a rural town in an attempt to buy drilling rights from the local residents. However, the company they represent is in the midst of a lawsuit over environmental complications, likely the result of their fracking practices. The townsfolk get wind of this, and refuse to sell.
A complicated and politically charged plot revolves around an American energy giant and its efforts to procure natural gas drilling rights that have already been promised to a Chinese conglomerate. Instead, a merger is agreed with a smaller, less transparent company. George Clooney is the CIA veteran serving as a middle man who finds himself involved in an assassination plot, while Matt Damon's character is charged with closing the potentially lucrative deal.
Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War of 1991–2002, 'Blood Diamond' follows the fortunes of Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a local fisherman who unearths a huge pink diamond while working for a ruthless warlord. Smuggler Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) learns of the discovery and tries to persuade Vandy to disclose where he has hidden the valuable gemstone.
Jupiter's moon Io provides the backdrop for this science fiction thriller that sees Marshal William T. O'Niel (Sean Connery) assigned to investigate underhand goings-on at a titanium ore mining outpost located on the moon's surface.
'North Country' is a fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment class action case in the United States, Jenson vs. Eveleth Taconite Co. Charlize Theron is the mine worker who realizes the female workforce are constant targets for sexual harassment and humiliation by most of their male co-workers. She eventually files a lawsuit against the mining company.
John Huston's masterful Western stars Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston (the director's father) as three prospectors searching for gold in Mexico in the 1920s.
The Molly Maguires were a secret organization of coal miners allegedly responsible for acts of terrorism in the coalfields of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, from 1862 to 1876. This movie starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris tells the story of an undercover detective sent to a coal mining community to expose the shadowy group.
Based on the 1885 novel by Émile Zola, 'Germinal' recreates the real-life story of a violent coalminers' strike in northern France in the 1860s. Gérard Depardieu heads the cast in this celebrated film directed by Claude Berri.
John Ford's beautifully shot drama set in the South Wales valleys during the late Victorian era chronicles life in the region's coalfields, the loss of that way of life, and its effects on the family. Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O'Hara head the cast.
Smilla Jaspersen (Julia Ormond) treks through the frozen wastes of Greenland to uncover the secret research being undertaken by a mining organization on a fallen meteorite hidden in an ice cave.
Starring Matthew McConaughey and Édgar Ramírez, 'Gold' is loosely based on the true story of the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia.
This Scottish comedy revolves around the ambitions of a Texas oil and gas executive to acquire a village in the Scottish Islands to make way for a refinery. Opposition to the plan by local residents is vocal and persuasive. Hollywood A-lister Burt Lancaster is among the stellar cast.
The formula in question is a synthetic fuel formula that the Nazis produced during the Second World War and which was subsequently kept secret. Now it's sought after by oil executive Adam Steiffel (Marlon Brando) whose acquisition of the formula is being thwarted by an LA cop, who is investigating a parallel murder connected to the potentially lucrative equation.
Antonio Banderas stars as Mario Sepúlveda, one of a group of 33 miners trapped inside the San José Mine in Chile. This biographical film recounts the 69 days the men were stuck underground, and is based on the real-life 2010 Copiapó mining accident.
Set during the Tulsa, Oklahoma oil boom of the 1920s, 'Tulsa' examines how obsession with accumulating wealth and power has the ability to corrupt moral character. Susan Hayward and Robert Preston are among those facing this particular dilemma.
Sources: (National Geographic) (MNopedia) (CNN) (MoneyWeek) (Town and Country) (History)
See also: Films inspired by fire and flame
Roger Moore took time out from 007 duties to portray the general manager of a South African goldmine who gets caught up in a get-rich-quick scheme devised by the mine's corrupt owners.
This Western musical starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood is set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. The movie sees both actors sing, with Marvin's rendition of 'Wand'rin' Star' a number one hit in the United Kingdom.
Oil, gas, gold, diamonds, and coal—anything it seems that can be mined or pumped out of the ground makes great material for a movie. In fact, films themed around drilling and mining number among some of the most intriguing and compelling ever made. But what pictures do audiences dig the most?
Click through and tap into this rich vein of cinema favorites.
Dig it! Movies about drilling and mining
Today is National Miners Day
MOVIES Film
Oil, gas, gold, diamonds, and coal—anything it seems that can be mined or pumped out of the ground makes great material for a movie. In fact, films themed around drilling and mining number among some of the most intriguing and compelling ever made. But what pictures do audiences dig the most?
Click through and tap into this rich vein of cinema favorites.