document_title: Italy (Everybody Loves Raymond)

question_text: where in italy did they film everybody loves raymond

text: Italy (Everybody Loves Raymond)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts) announce to their family that they're all going to Italy for two weeks. The latter reasons that with her birthday coming up, she is using the money she had kept aside for 45 years to pay for the family to meet her cousin Colletta (Silvana De Santis), who lives in a small village outside of Rome. Everyone is excited to go, except Raymond (Ray Romano). Ray informs Debra (Patricia Heaton) that he doesn't want to go on the trip because he has no interest in other cultures. Debra replies that she doesn't want his "dumbness" to ruin the vacation.

text: The family arrive at Colleta's home, who welcomes them along with her husband Giorgio. Ray begins developing a cold which he claims he got from the air conditioning on the van they rode. Robert (Brad Garrett), also becomes miserable, due to his "dilemma"; because he plans to marry Amy but keeps focusing on his ex-wife Joanne, he claims that he is unable to sort out his feelings. At a gelato parlor, he becomes attracted to a waitress named Stefania Fogagnolo (Alex Meneses), whose father Signore Focagnolo (David Proval) is also the owner. He visits Rome with Stefania, but she tells him she doesn't want her dad to know she is dating. Meanwhile, Ray also goes to the city with the rest of the family, but while Debra, Frank and Marie are apparently having a great time, Ray is not.

text: After some time visiting Rome, Debra finally bursts out about Ray's attitude towards the trip and compares his behavior to Frank and Marie's; she argues that while his parents are at least trying to make the best out of things, he has been "a grumpy pain-in-the-ass". Angered, Ray tells her he "will not be a pain in anyone's ass anymore" and gets away from the three. Meanwhile, Signore Fogagnolo catches Stefania and Robert about to make out in her room, and goes after Robert. It also appears that the trip is starting to go downhill for Frank, Marie and Debra. Marie decides Ray should take a walk with her to lighten him up and release her stress from Debra's behavior towards him moping and not wanting to have fun. It seems with the walk, he is starting to become positive and enjoying the vacation.

text: At lunch, Robert, who confronts Marco again, decides to talk with him so he can convince him to be with Stefania. Meanwhile, Ray gives flowers to some of the women, including Colleta, Marie and Debra. Ray shows Debra that he is starting to enjoy being in the country, which makes Debra happy, and the two go on their own date around Rome, as well and Marie and Frank. Colleta and Giorgio give a farewell to the family, while Robert and Stefania say goodbye to each other with Marco watching them. During the van ride, all the family members together sing "C'è La Luna Mezzo Mare" by Lou Monte.

text: The episode ends with Ray annoying his fellow passengers by singing loudly in Italian on the plane back to New York.

text: Production[edit]

text: After the first season of Everybody Loves Raymond ended in 1997, the series' creator, Philip Rosenthal, asked Ray Romano what he was going to do over the summer. When Rosenthal suggested he go to Italy, Romano did not accept because he was "not really interested in other cultures." According to Rosenthal, "After I got up off the floor, I realized: Here's an episode."[2] Directed by Gary Halvorson, "Italy" guest stars Silvana De Santis as Colletta, Pierrino Mascarino as Giorgio, Alex Meneses as Stefania, David Proval as Signore Fogagnolo, Enzo Vitagliano as the Bocce player, Sergio Sivori, Vanni Bramat, Luca Francucci and Alessandro Francucci.[1] It was filmed in July 2000 in the town Anguillara Sabazia outside of Rome.[2] Romano first hinted of the episode in an interview published that same month in the Rome News-Tribune.[3]

text: According to the Los Angeles Times, Brad Garrett threatened not to participate in the two-part episode unless he got a raise, which he was given.[4]

text: Release and reception[edit]

text: "Italy" initially aired on the American television network CBS, part one on October 2, 2000 and part two on October 9.[5] In 2005, it was released to DVD as part of the official DVD release for the fifth season, which also came with an audio commentary for both parts of the episode by Phil Rosenthal and Ray Romano.[6] "Italy" has been positively received by critics. Former DVD Verdict writer Russell Engebretson said that while the episode "veers into sentimentality, it provides a dose of sweetness to counter a few of the more darkly comic episodes [of season five], especially the funny but bitter "Christmas Present." He also praised the impressive cinematography.[7] DVD Talk's Jeffrey Robinson called it "a fun way to start the season. It was a nice change of pace after the same settings and atmospheres." He also highlighted the introduction of a new love interest for Robert.[6] However, in a mixed review published in The Gadsden Times, David Kronke opined that in keeping with the nature of usual "special" episodes, "it's not quite up to the series' usual laugh quotient."[8] On March 2, 2002, Rosenthal won the Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Comedy for writing "Italy".[9] He has cited the episode to be one of his favorites of Everybody Loves Raymond.[10]


document_title: Book of Joel

question_text: who wrote the book of joel in the bible

question_tokens: who wrote the book of joel in the bible

root

text: Book of Joel

text: Content[edit]

text: After a superscription ascribing the prophecy to Joel (son of Pethuel), the book may be broken down into the following sections:

tag: p

text:
Lament over a great locust plague and a severe drought (1:1–2:17)

The effects of these events on agriculture, farmers, and on the supply of agricultural offerings for the Temple in Jerusalem, interspersed with a call to national lament. (1:1–20)
A more apocalyptic passage comparing the locusts to an army, and revealing that they are God’s army. (2:1–11)
A call to national repentance in the face of God's judgment. (2:12–17)

Promise of future blessings (2:18–32 or 2:18–3:5)

Banishment of the locusts and restoration of agricultural productivity as a divine response to national penitence. (2:18–27)
Future prophetic gifts to all God’s people, and the safety of God’s people in the face of cosmic cataclysm. (2:28–32 or 3:1–5)

Coming judgment on God's (Israel's) enemies and the vindication of Israel. (3:1–21 or 4:1–21)

tag: ul

text: (Note: the Book of Joel's division verses differs greatly between editions of the Bible; some editions have three chapters, others four.[1])

text: Historical context[edit]

text: As there are no explicit references in the book to datable persons or events, scholars have assigned a wide range of dates to the book. The main positions are:[2]

text:
Ninth century BC, particularly in the reign of Joash – a position especially popular among nineteenth-century scholars (making Joel one of the earliest writing prophets)
Early eight century BC, during the reign of Uzziah (contemporary with Hosea, Amos, and Jonah)[3]
c. 630–587 BC, in the last decades of the kingdom of Judah (contemporary with Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk)
c. 520–500 BC, contemporary with the return of the exiles and the careers of Zechariah and Haggai.
The decades around 400 BC, during the Persian period (making him one of the latest writing prophets)

text: Evidence produced for these positions are allusions in the book to the wider world, similarities with other prophets, and linguistic details. Other commentators, such as John Calvin,[4] attach no great importance to the precise dating.

text: History of interpretation[edit]

text: The preservation of the Book of Joel indicates that it was accorded special status by its contemporaries as “the word of the Lord” (1:1). Its history as part of the Jewish and Christian canons followed that of the entire scroll of the Minor Prophets.

text: The Masoretic text places Joel between Hosea and Amos (the order inherited by the Tanakh and Old Testament), while the Septuagint order is Hosea–Amos–Micah–Joel–Obadiah–Jonah. The Hebrew text of Joel seems to have suffered little from scribal transmission, but is at a few points supplemented by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate versions, or by conjectural emendation.[5] While the book purports to describe a plague of locusts, some ancient Jewish opinion saw the locusts as allegorical interpretations of Israel's enemies.[6] This allegorical interpretation was applied to the church by many church fathers. Calvin took a literal interpretation of ch.1, but allegorical view of chapter 2, a position echoed by some modern interpreters. Most modern interpreters, however, see Joel speaking of a literal locust plague given a prophetic/ apocalyptic interpretation.[7]

text: The traditional ascription of the whole book to the prophet Joel was challenged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by a theory of a three-stage process of composition: 1:1–2:27 were from the hand of Joel, and dealt with a contemporary issue; 2:28–3:21/3:1–4:21 were ascribed to a continuator with an apocalyptic outlook. Mentions in the first half of the book to the day of the Lord were also ascribed to this continuator. 3:4–8/4:4–8 could be seen as even later. Details of exact ascriptions differed between scholars.

text: This splitting of the book’s composition began to be challenged in the mid-twentieth century, with scholars defending the unity of the book, the plausibility of the prophet combining a contemporary and apocalyptic outlook, and later additions by the prophet. The authenticity of 3:4–8 has presented more challenges, although a number of scholars still defend it.[8]

text: Biblical quotes and allusions[edit]

text: There are many parallels of language between Joel and other Old Testament prophets. They may represent Joel’s literary use of other prophets, or vice versa.

text: In the New Testament, his prophecy of the outpouring of God′s Holy Spirit upon all people was notably quoted by Saint Peter in his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2).

text: The table below represents some of the more explicit quotes and allusions between specific passages in Joel and passages from the Old and New Testaments.

text:
Joel
Old Testament
New Testament

1:6, 2:2–10

Revelation 9:3, 7–9

1:15
Isaiah 13:6
Ezekiel 30:2–3

2:1
Zephaniah 1:14–16

2:1–2
Amos 5:18, 20

2:11
Malachi 3:2

2:14
Jonah 3:9

2:20–21
Psalm 126:2–3

2:27
Isaiah 45:5
Ezekiel 36:11

2:28–32/3:1–5

Acts 2:16–21

2:31/3:4
Malachi 3:23/4:5

2:32/3:5
Obadiah 17
Romans 10:13

3:1/4:1
Psalm 126:1

3:10/4:10
Isaiah 2:4
Micah 4:3

3:16/4:16
Amos 1:2

3:17/4:17
Obadiah 17

3:18/4:18
Amos 9:13

tag: table

text: Plange quasi virgo, the third responsory for Holy Saturday, is loosely based on some verses of the Book of Joel.


document_title: Gold standard

question_text: when did the us officially go off the gold standard

question_tokens: when did the us officially go off the gold standard

text: Gold standard

text: History

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Origin

text: The gold specie standard arose from the widespread acceptance of gold as currency.[5] Various commodities have been used as money; typically, the one that loses the least value over time becomes the accepted form.[6] Chemically, gold is of all major metals the one most resistant to corrosion.[citation needed]

text: The use of gold as money began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor.[7]

text: During the early and high Middle Ages, the Byzantine gold solidus, commonly known as the bezant, was used widely throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.  However, as the Byzantine Empire's economic influence declined, so too did the use of the bezant.[8]  In its place, European territories chose silver as their currency over gold, leading to the development of silver standards.[citation needed]

text: Silver pennies based on the Roman denarius became the staple coin of Mercia in Great Britain around the time of King Offa, circa 757–796 CE.[9] Similar coins, including Italian denari, French deniers, and Spanish dineros, circulated in Europe. Spanish explorers discovered silver deposits in Mexico in 1522 and at Potosí in Bolivia in 1545.[10] International trade came to depend on coins such as the Spanish dollar, the Maria Theresa thaler, and, later, the United States trade dollar.[citation needed]

text: In modern times, the British West Indies was one of the first regions to adopt a gold specie standard. Following Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704, the British West Indies gold standard was a de facto gold standard based on the Spanish gold doubloon. In 1717, Sir Isaac Newton, the master of the Royal Mint, established a new mint ratio between silver and gold that had the effect of driving silver out of circulation and putting Britain on a gold standard.[11][self-published source]

text: A formal gold specie standard was first established in 1821, when Britain adopted it following the introduction of the gold sovereign by the new Royal Mint at Tower Hill in 1816. The United Province of Canada in 1854, Newfoundland in 1865, and the United States and Germany (de jure) in 1873 adopted gold.  The United States used the eagle as its unit, Germany introduced the new gold mark, while Canada adopted a dual system based on both the American gold eagle and the British gold sovereign.[12]

text: Australia and New Zealand adopted the British gold standard, as did the British West Indies, while Newfoundland was the only British Empire territory to introduce its own gold coin.[13] Royal Mint branches were established in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth for the purpose of minting gold sovereigns from Australia's rich gold deposits.[citation needed]

text: The gold specie standard came to an end in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire with the outbreak of World War I.[citation needed]

text: Silver

text: From 1750 to 1870, wars within Europe as well as an ongoing trade deficit with China (which sold to Europe but had little use for European goods) drained silver from the economies of Western Europe and the United States.  Coins were struck in smaller and smaller numbers, and there was a proliferation of bank and stock notes used as money.

text: United Kingdom

text: In the 1790s, the United Kingdom suffered a silver shortage. It ceased to mint larger silver coins and instead issued "token" silver coins and overstruck foreign coins.  With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Bank of England began the massive recoinage programme that created standard gold sovereigns, circulating crowns, half-crowns and eventually copper farthings in 1821.  The recoinage of silver after a long drought produced a burst of coins. The United Kingdom struck nearly 40 million shillings between 1816 and 1820, 17 million half crowns and 1.3 million silver crowns.

text: The 1819 Act for the Resumption of Cash Payments set 1823 as the date for resumption of convertibility, which was reached by 1821. Throughout the 1820s, small notes were issued by regional banks. This was restricted in 1826, while the Bank of England was allowed to set up regional branches. In 1833 however, Bank of England notes were made legal tender and redemption by other banks was discouraged.  In 1844, the Bank Charter Act established that Bank of England notes were fully backed by gold and they became the legal standard.  According to the strict interpretation of the gold standard, this 1844 act marked the establishment of a full gold standard for British money.

text: United States

text: In the 1780s, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton recommended to Congress the value of a decimal system. This system would also apply to monies in the United States. The question was what type of standard: gold, silver or both.[14] The United States adopted a silver standard based on the Spanish milled dollar in 1785.

text: International

text: From 1860 to 1871 various attempts to resurrect bi-metallic standards were made, including one based on the gold and silver franc; however, with the rapid influx of silver from new deposits, the expectation of scarce silver ended.

text: The interaction between central banking and currency basis formed the primary source of monetary instability during this period. The combination of a restricted supply of notes, a government monopoly on note issuance and indirectly, a central bank and a single unit of value produced economic stability. Deviation from these conditions produced monetary crises.

text: Devalued notes or leaving silver as a store of value caused economic problems. Governments, demanding specie as payment, could drain the money out of the economy. Economic development expanded need for credit. The need for a solid basis in monetary affairs produced a rapid acceptance of the gold standard in the period that followed.

text: Japan

text: Following Germany's decision after the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War to extract reparations to facilitate a move to the gold standard, Japan gained the needed reserves after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. For Japan, moving to gold was considered vital for gaining access to Western capital markets.[15]

text: Bimetallic standard

text: US: Pre-Civil War

text: In 1792, Congress passed the Mint and Coinage Act. It authorized the federal government's use of the Bank of the United States to hold its reserves, as well as establish a fixed ratio of gold to the U.S. dollar. Gold and silver coins were legal tender, as was the Spanish real. In 1792 the market price of gold was about 15 times that of silver.[14] Silver coins left circulation, exported to pay for the debts taken on to finance the American Revolutionary War. In 1806 President Jefferson suspended the minting of silver coins. This resulted in a derivative silver standard, since the Bank of the United States was not required to fully back its currency with reserves. This began a long series of attempts by the United States to create a bi-metallic standard.

text: The intention was to use gold for large denominations, and silver for smaller denominations.  A problem with bimetallic standards was that the metals' absolute and relative market prices changed. The mint ratio (the rate at which the mint was obligated to pay/receive for gold relative to silver) remained fixed at 15 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold, whereas the market rate fluctuated from 15.5 to 1 to 16 to 1. With the Coinage Act of 1834, Congress passed an act that changed the mint ratio to approximately 16 to 1. Gold discoveries in California in 1848 and later in Australia lowered the gold price relative to silver; this drove silver money from circulation because it was worth more in the market than as money.[16] Passage of the Independent Treasury Act of 1848 placed the U.S. on a strict hard-money standard. Doing business with the American government required gold or silver coins.

text: Government accounts were legally separated from the banking system. However, the mint ratio (the fixed exchange rate between gold and silver at the mint) continued to overvalue gold. In 1853, the US reduced the silver weight of coins to keep them in circulation and in 1857 removed legal tender status from foreign coinage. In 1857 the final crisis of the free banking era began as American banks suspended payment in silver, with ripples through the developing international financial system. Due to the inflationary finance measures undertaken to help pay for the US Civil War, the government found it difficult to pay its obligations in gold or silver and suspended  payments of obligations not legally specified in specie (gold bonds); this led banks to suspend the conversion of bank liabilities (bank notes and deposits) into specie. In 1862 paper money was made legal tender. It was a fiat money (not convertible on demand at a fixed rate into specie). These notes came to be called "greenbacks".[16]

text: US: Post-Civil War

text: After the Civil War, Congress wanted to reestablish the metallic standard at pre-war rates. The market price of gold in greenbacks was above the pre-War fixed price ($20.67 per ounce of gold) requiring deflation to achieve the pre-War price. This was accomplished by growing the stock of money less rapidly than real output. By 1879 the market price matched the mint price of gold. The coinage act of 1873 (also known as the Crime of ‘73) demonetized silver. This act removed the 412.5 grain silver dollar from circulation. Subsequently silver was only used in coins worth less than $1 (fractional currency). With the resumption of convertibility on June 30, 1879 the government again paid its debts in gold, accepted greenbacks for customs and redeemed greenbacks on demand in gold. Greenbacks were therefore perfect substitutes for gold coins. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the use of silver and a return to the bimetallic standard were recurrent political issues, raised especially by William Jennings Bryan, the People's Party and the  Free Silver movement. In 1900 the gold dollar was declared the standard unit of account and a gold reserve for government issued paper notes was established. Greenbacks, silver certificates, and silver dollars continued to be legal tender, all redeemable in gold.[16]

text: Fluctuations in the US gold stock, 1862–1877

text:
US gold stock

1862
59 tons

1866
81 tons

1875
50 tons

1878
78 tons

text: The US had a gold stock of 1.9 million ounces (59 t) in 1862. Stocks rose to 2.6 million ounces (81 t) in 1866, declined in 1875 to 1.6 million ounces (50 t) and rose to 2.5 million ounces (78 t) in 1878. Net exports did not mirror that pattern. In the decade before the Civil War net exports were roughly constant; postwar they varied erratically around pre-war levels, but fell significantly in 1877 and became negative in 1878 and 1879. The net import of gold meant that the foreign demand for American currency to purchase goods, services, and investments exceeded the corresponding American demands for foreign currencies. In the final years of the greenback period (1862–1879), gold production increased while gold exports decreased.  The decrease in gold exports was considered by some to be a result of changing monetary conditions. The demands for gold during this period were as a speculative vehicle, and for its primary use in the foreign exchange markets financing international trade. The major effect of the increase in gold demand by the public and Treasury was to reduce exports of gold and increase the Greenback price of gold relative to purchasing power.[17]

text: Gold exchange standard

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Towards the end of the 19th century, some silver standard countries began to peg their silver coin units to the gold standards of the United Kingdom or the United States. In 1898, British India pegged the silver rupee to the pound sterling at a fixed rate of 1s 4d, while in 1906, the Straits Settlements adopted a gold exchange standard against sterling, fixing the silver Straits dollar at 2s 4d.

text: Around the start of the 20th century, the Philippines pegged the silver peso/dollar to the U.S. dollar at 50 cents. This move was assisted by the passage of the Philippines Coinage Act by the United States Congress on March 3, 1903.[18] Around the same time Mexico and Japan pegged their currencies to the dollar. When Siam adopted a gold exchange standard in 1908, only China and Hong Kong remained on the silver standard.

text: When adopting the gold standard, many European nations changed the name of their currency, for instance from Daler (Sweden and Denmark) or Gulden (Austria-Hungary) to Crown, since the former names were traditionally associated with silver coins and the latter with gold coins.

text: Impact of World War I

text: Governments with insufficient tax revenue suspended convertibility repeatedly in the 19th century. The real test, however, came in the form of World War I, a test which "it failed utterly" according to economist Richard Lipsey.[5]

text: By the end of 1913, the classical gold standard was at its peak but World War I caused many countries to suspend or abandon it.[19] According to Lawrence Officer the main cause of the gold standard’s failure to resume its previous position after World War I was “the Bank of England's precarious liquidity position and the gold-exchange standard.” A run on sterling caused Britain to impose exchange controls that fatally weakened the standard; convertibility was not legally suspended, but gold prices no longer played the role that they did before.[20] In financing the war and abandoning gold, many of the belligerents suffered drastic inflations. Price levels doubled in the US and Britain, tripled in France and quadrupled in Italy. Exchange rates changed less, even though European inflations were more severe than America’s. This meant that the costs of American goods decreased relative to those in Europe. Between August 1914 and spring of 1915, the dollar value of US exports tripled and its trade surplus exceeded $1 billion for the first time.[21]

text: Ultimately, the system could not deal quickly enough with the large balance of payments deficits and surpluses; this was previously attributed to downward wage rigidity brought about by the advent of unionized labor, but is now considered as an inherent fault of the system that arose under the pressures of war and rapid technological change. In any case, prices had not reached equilibrium by the time of the Great Depression, which served to kill off the system completely.[5]

text: For example, Germany had gone off the gold standard in 1914, and could not effectively return to it because War reparations had cost it much of its gold reserves. During the Occupation of the Ruhr the German central bank (Reichsbank) issued enormous sums of non-convertible marks to support workers who were on strike against the French occupation and to buy foreign currency for reparations; this led to the German hyperinflation of the early 1920s and the decimation of the German middle class.

text: The US did not suspend the gold standard during the war.  The newly created Federal Reserve intervened in currency markets and sold bonds to “sterilize”[vague] some of the gold imports that would have otherwise increased the stock of money.[citation needed] By 1927 many countries had returned to the gold standard.[16] As a result of World War I the United States, which had been a net debtor country, had become a net creditor by 1919.[22]

text: Abandonment of the gold standard

text: The gold specie standard ended in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire at the outbreak of World War I, when Treasury notes replaced the circulation of gold sovereigns and gold half sovereigns.  Legally, the gold specie standard was not repealed. The end of the gold standard was successfully effected by the Bank of England through appeals to patriotism urging citizens not to redeem paper money for gold specie. It was only in 1925, when Britain returned to the gold standard in conjunction with Australia and South Africa that the gold specie standard was officially ended.

text: The British Gold Standard Act 1925 both introduced the gold bullion standard and simultaneously repealed the gold specie standard. The new standard ended the circulation of gold specie coins. Instead, the law compelled the authorities to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price, but "only in the form of bars containing approximately four hundred ounces troy [12 kg] of fine gold".[23][24] John Maynard Keynes, citing deflationary dangers, argued against resumption of the gold standard.[25] By fixing the price at the pre-war rate of $4.86,[clarification needed] Churchill is argued to have made an error that led to depression, unemployment and the 1926 general strike. The decision was described by Andrew Turnbull as a "historic mistake".[26]

text: Many other countries followed Britain in returning to the gold standard, this was followed by a period of relative stability but also deflation.[27] This state of affairs lasted until the Great Depression (1929–1939) forced countries off the gold standard. In September 19, 1931, speculative attacks on the pound forced Britain to abandon the gold standard. Loans from American and French Central Banks of £50,000,000 were insufficient and exhausted in a matter of weeks, due to large gold outflows across the Atlantic.[28][29][30] The British benefited from this departure. They could now use monetary policy to stimulate the economy. Australia and New Zealand had already left the standard and Canada quickly followed suit.

text: The interwar partially backed gold standard was inherently unstable, because of the conflict between the expansion of liabilities to foreign central banks and the resulting deterioration in the Bank of England's reserve ratio. France was then attempting to make Paris a world class financial center, and it received large gold flows as well.[31]

text: In May 1931 a run on Austria's largest commercial bank caused it to fail. The run spread to Germany, where the central bank also collapsed. International financial assistance was too late and in July 1931 Germany adopted exchange controls, followed by Austria in October. The Austrian and German experiences, as well as British budgetary and political difficulties, were among the factors that destroyed confidence in sterling, which occurred in mid-July 1931. Runs ensued and the Bank of England lost much of its reserves.

text: Depression and World War II

text: Great Depression

text: Some economic historians, such as Barry Eichengreen, blame the gold standard of the 1920s for prolonging the economic depression which started in 1929 and lasted for about a decade.[33] In the United States, adherence to the gold standard prevented the Federal Reserve from expanding the money supply to stimulate the economy, fund insolvent banks and fund government deficits that could "prime the pump" for an expansion. Once off the gold standard, it became free to engage in such money creation. The gold standard limited the flexibility of the central banks' monetary policy by limiting their ability to expand the money supply. In the US, the central bank was required by the Federal Reserve Act (1913) to have gold backing 40% of its demand notes.[34] Others including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman place the blame for the severity and length of the Great Depression at the feet of the Federal Reserve, mostly due to the deliberate tightening of monetary policy even after the gold standard.[35] They blamed the US major economic contraction in 1937 on tightening of monetary policy resulting in higher cost of capital, weaker securities markets, reduced net government contribution to income, the undistributed profits tax and higher labor costs.[36] The money supply peaked in March 1937, with a trough in May 1938.[37]

text: Higher interest rates intensified the deflationary pressure on the dollar and reduced investment in U.S. banks.  Commercial banks converted Federal Reserve Notes to gold in 1931, reducing its gold reserves and forcing a corresponding reduction in the amount of currency in circulation. This speculative attack created a panic in the U.S. banking system.  Fearing imminent devaluation many depositors withdrew funds from U.S. banks.[38] As bank runs grew, a reverse multiplier effect caused a contraction in the money supply.[39] Additionally the New York Fed had loaned over $150 million in gold (over 240 tons) to European Central Banks. This transfer contracted the US money supply. The foreign loans became questionable once Britain, Germany, Austria and other European countries went off the gold standard in 1931 and weakened confidence in the dollar.[40]

text: The forced contraction of the money supply resulted in deflation. Even as nominal interest rates dropped, inflation-adjusted real interest rates remained high, rewarding those who held onto money instead of spending it, further slowing the economy.[41] Recovery in the United States was slower than in Britain, in part due to Congressional reluctance to abandon the gold standard and float the U.S. currency as Britain had done.[42]

text: In the early 1930s, the Federal Reserve defended the dollar by raising interest rates, trying to increase the demand for dollars. This helped attract international investors who bought foreign assets with gold.[38]

text: Congress passed the Gold Reserve Act on 30 January 1934; the measure nationalized all gold by ordering Federal Reserve banks to turn over their supply to the U.S. Treasury. In return the banks received gold certificates to be used as reserves against deposits and Federal Reserve notes. The act also authorized the president to devalue the gold dollar. Under this authority the president, on 31 January 1934, changed the value of the dollar from $20.67 to the troy ounce to $35 to the troy ounce, a devaluation of over 40%.

text: Other factors in the prolongation of the Great Depression include trade wars and the reduction in international trade caused by barriers such as Smoot–Hawley Tariff in the US and the Imperial Preference policies of Great Britain,[43] the failure of central banks to act responsibly,[44] government policies designed to prevent wages from falling, such as the Davis–Bacon Act of 1931, during the deflationary period resulting in production costs dropping slower than sales prices, thereby injuring business profits[45] and increases in taxes to reduce budget deficits and to support new programs such as Social Security. The US top marginal income tax rate went from 25% to 63% in 1932 and to 79% in 1936,[46] while the bottom rate increased over tenfold, from .375% in 1929 to 4% in 1932.[47] The concurrent massive drought resulted in the US Dust Bowl.

text: The Austrian School asserted that the Great Depression was the result of a credit bust.[48] Alan Greenspan wrote that the bank failures of the 1930s were sparked by Great Britain dropping the gold standard in 1931. This act "tore asunder" any remaining confidence in the banking system.[49] Financial historian  Niall Ferguson wrote that what made the Great Depression truly 'great' was the European banking crisis of 1931.[50] According to Fed Chairman Marriner Eccles, the root cause was the concentration of wealth resulting in a stagnating or decreasing standard of living for the poor and middle class. These classes went into debt, producing the credit explosion of the 1920s. Eventually the debt load grew too heavy, resulting in the massive defaults and financial panics of the 1930s.[51]

text: World War II

text: Under the Bretton Woods international monetary agreement of 1944, the gold standard was kept without domestic convertibility. The role of gold was severely constrained, as other countries’ currencies were fixed in terms of the dollar. Many countries kept reserves in gold and settled accounts in gold. Still they preferred to settle balances with other currencies, with the American dollar becoming the favorite. The International Monetary Fund was established to help with the exchange process and assist nations in maintaining fixed rates. Within Bretton Woods adjustment was cushioned through credits that helped countries avoid deflation. Under the old standard, a country with an overvalued currency would lose gold and experience deflation until the currency was again valued correctly. Most countries defined their currencies in terms of dollars, but some countries imposed trading restrictions to protect reserves and exchange rates. Therefore, most countries' currencies were still basically inconvertible. In the late 1950s, the exchange restrictions were dropped and gold became an important element in international financial settlements.[16]

text: Bretton Woods

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: After the Second World War, a system similar to a gold standard and sometimes described as a "gold exchange standard" was established by the Bretton Woods Agreements. Under this system, many countries fixed their exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar and central banks could exchange dollar holdings into gold at the official exchange rate of $35 per ounce; this option was not available to firms or individuals. All currencies pegged to the dollar thereby had a fixed value in terms of gold.[5]

text: Starting in the 1959–1969 administration of President Charles de Gaulle and continuing until 1970, France reduced its dollar reserves, exchanging them for gold at the official exchange rate, reducing US economic influence. This, along with the fiscal strain of federal expenditures for the Vietnam War and persistent balance of payments deficits, led U.S. President Richard Nixon to end international convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold on August 15, 1971 (the "Nixon Shock").

text: This was meant to be a temporary measure, with the gold price of the dollar and the official rate of exchanges remaining constant. Revaluing currencies was the main purpose of this plan. No official revaluation or redemption occurred. The dollar subsequently floated. In December 1971, the "Smithsonian Agreement" was reached. In this agreement, the dollar was devalued from $35 per troy ounce of gold to $38. Other countries' currencies appreciated. However, gold convertibility did not resume. In October 1973, the price was raised to $42.22. Once again, the devaluation was insufficient. Within two weeks of the second devaluation the dollar was left to float. The $42.22 par value was made official in September 1973, long after it had been abandoned in practice. In October 1976, the government officially changed the definition of the dollar; references to gold were removed from statutes. From this point, the international monetary system was made of pure fiat money.

text: Production of gold

text: An estimated total of 174,100 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, according to GFMS as of 2012. This is roughly equivalent to 5.6 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 9,261 cubic metres (327,000 cu ft), or a cube 21 metres (69 ft) on a side. There are varying estimates of the total volume of gold mined. One reason for the variance is that gold has been mined for thousands of years. Another reason is that some nations are not particularly open about how much gold is being mined. In addition, it is difficult to account for the gold output in illegal mining activities.[52]

text: World production for 2011 was circa 2,700 tonnes. Since the 1950s, annual gold output growth has approximately kept pace with world population growth (i.e. a doubling in this period)[53] although it has lagged behind world economic growth (approximately 8-fold increase since the 1950s[54], and 4x since 1980[55]).

text: Theory

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Commodity money is inconvenient to store and transport in large amounts. Furthermore, it does not allow a government to manipulate the flow of commerce with the same ease that a fiat currency does. As such, commodity money gave way to representative money and gold and other specie were retained as its backing.

text: Gold was a preferred form of money due to its rarity, durability, divisibility, fungibility and ease of identification,[56] often in conjunction with silver. Silver was typically the main circulating medium, with gold as the monetary reserve. Commodity money was anonymous, as identifying marks can be removed. Commodity money retains its value despite what may happen to the monetary authority. After the fall of South Vietnam, many refugees carried their wealth to the West in gold after the national currency became worthless.[citation needed]

text: Under commodity standards currency itself has no intrinsic value, but is accepted by traders because it can be redeemed any time for the equivalent specie. A US silver certificate, for example, could be redeemed for an actual piece of silver.

text: Representative money and the gold standard protect citizens from hyperinflation and other abuses of monetary policy, as were seen in some countries during the Great Depression. Commodity money conversely led to deflation and bank runs.

text: Countries that left the gold standard earlier than other countries recovered from the Great Depression sooner. For example, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had a silver standard, almost entirely avoided the depression (due to the fact it was then barely integrated into the global economy). The connection between leaving the gold standard and the severity and duration of the depression was consistent for dozens of countries, including developing countries. This may explain why the experience and length of the depression differed between national economies.[57]

text: Variations

text: A full or 100%-reserve gold standard exists when the monetary authority holds sufficient gold to convert all the circulating representative money into gold at the promised exchange rate. It is sometimes referred to as the gold specie standard to more easily distinguish it. Opponents of a full standard consider it difficult to implement, saying that the quantity of gold in the world is too small to sustain worldwide economic activity at or near current gold prices; implementation would entail a many-fold increase in the price of gold.[citation needed] Gold standard proponents have said, "Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income."[58] While prices would necessarily adjust to the supply of gold, the process may involve considerable economic disruption, as was experienced during earlier attempts to maintain gold standards.[59]

text: In an international gold-standard system (which is necessarily based on an internal gold standard in the countries concerned),[60] gold or a currency that is convertible into gold at a fixed price is used to make international payments. Under such a system, when exchange rates rise above or fall below the fixed mint rate by more than the cost of shipping gold, inflows or outflows occur until rates return to the official level. International gold standards often limit which entities have the right to redeem currency for gold.

text: Advantages

text:
Long-term price stability has been described as one of the virtues of the gold standard.[61] The gold standard makes it difficult for governments to inflate prices through expanding the money supply. Under the gold standard, significant inflation is rare, and hyperinflation is essentially impossible because the money supply can only grow at the rate that the gold supply increases. High inflation under a gold standard is seen only when warfare destroys a large part of an economy, reducing the production of goods, or when a major new gold source becomes available.[62] In the U.S., inflation occurred during the Civil War, which destroyed the economy of the South.[63] Inflation also followed the California Gold Rush that made large amounts of gold available for minting.[64] Historical data shows that the magnitude of short run swings in prices were far higher under the gold standard.[65][61]
The gold standard provides fixed international exchange rates between participating countries and thus reduces uncertainty in international trade. Historically, imbalances between price levels were offset by a balance-of-payment adjustment mechanism called the "price–specie flow mechanism".[62] Gold used to pay for imports reduces the money supply of importing nations, causing deflation, which makes them more competitive, while the importation of gold by net exporters serves to increase their money supply, causing inflation, making them less competitive.[66]
A gold standard does not allow some types of financial repression.[67] Financial repression acts as a mechanism to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors, particularly the governments that practice it. Financial repression is most successful in reducing debt when accompanied by inflation and can be considered a form of taxation.[68][69] In 1966 Alan Greenspan wrote "Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard."[70]

text: Disadvantages

text:
The unequal distribution of gold deposits makes the gold standard more advantageous for those countries that produce gold.[71] In 2010 the largest producers of gold, in order, were China, Australia, U.S., South Africa and Russia.[72] The country with the largest unmined gold deposits is Australia.[73]
Some economists believe that the gold standard acts as a limit on economic growth. "As an economy's productive capacity grows, then so should its money supply. Because a gold standard requires that money be backed in the metal, then the scarcity of the metal constrains the ability of the economy to produce more capital and grow."[74]
Mainstream economists believe that economic recessions can be largely mitigated by increasing the money supply during economic downturns.[75] A gold standard means that the money supply would be determined by the gold supply and hence monetary policy could no longer be used to stabilize the economy.[76] The gold standard is often blamed for prolonging the Great Depression, as under the gold standard, central banks could not expand credit at a fast enough rate to offset deflationary forces.[77]
Although the gold standard brings long-run price stability, it is historically associated with high short-run price volatility.[61][78] It has been argued by Schwartz, among others, that instability in short-term price levels can lead to financial instability as lenders and borrowers become uncertain about the value of debt.[78]
Deflation punishes debtors.[79][80] Real debt burdens therefore rise, causing borrowers to cut spending to service their debts or to default. Lenders become wealthier, but may choose to save some of the additional wealth, reducing GDP.[81]
The money supply would essentially be determined by the rate of gold production. When gold stocks increase more rapidly than the economy, there is inflation and the reverse is also true.[61][82] The consensus view is that the gold standard contributed to the severity and length of the Great Depression.[83][84]
Hamilton contended that the gold standard is susceptible to speculative attacks when a government's financial position appears weak. Conversely, this threat discourages governments from engaging in risky policy (see moral hazard). For example, the U.S. was forced to contract the money supply and raise interest rates in September 1931 to defend the dollar after speculators forced the UK off the gold standard.[84][85][86][87]
Devaluing a currency under a gold standard would generally produce sharper changes than the smooth declines seen in fiat currencies, depending on the method of devaluation.[88]
Most economists favor a low, positive rate of inflation of around 2%. This reflects fear of deflationary shocks and the belief that active monetary policy can dampen fluctuations in output and unemployment. Inflation gives them room to tighten policy without inducing deflation.[89]
A gold standard provides practical constraints against the measures that central banks might otherwise use to respond to economic crises.[90] Creation of new money reduces interest rates and thereby increases demand for new lower cost debt, raising the demand for money.[91]

text: Advocates

text: A return to the gold standard was considered by the US Gold Commission back in 1982, but found only minority support.[92] In 2001 Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad proposed a new currency that would be used initially for international trade among Muslim nations, using the Islamic gold dinar, defined as 4.25 grams of pure (24-carat) gold. Mahathir claimed it would be a stable unit of account and a political symbol of unity between Islamic nations.  This would purportedly reduce dependence on the US dollar and establish a non-debt-backed currency in accord with Sharia law that prohibited the charging of interest.[93] As of  2013[update] the global monetary system continued to rely on the US dollar as the main reserve currency.[94]

text: Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan acknowledged he was one of "a small minority" within the central bank that had some positive view on the gold standard.[95] In a 1966 essay he contributed to a book by Ayn Rand, titled "Gold and Economic Freedom", Greenspan argued the case for returning to a 'pure' gold standard; in that essay he described supporters of fiat currencies as "welfare statists" intending to use monetary policy to finance deficit spending.[96] More recently he claimed that by focusing on targeting inflation "central bankers have behaved as though we were on the gold standard", rendering a return to the standard unnecessary.[97]

text: Similarly, economists like Robert Barro argued that whilst some form of "monetary constitution"  is essential for stable, depoliticized monetary policy, the form this constitution takes—for example, a gold standard, some other commodity-based standard, or a fiat currency with fixed rules for determining the quantity of money—is considerably less important.[98]

text: The gold standard is supported by many followers of the Austrian School of Economics, free-market libertarians and some supply-siders.[99]

text: US politics

text: In the United States, strict constitutionalists object to the government issuing fiat currency through central banks. Some gold-standard advocates also call for a mandated end to fractional-reserve banking. Many similar alternatives have been suggested, including energy-based currencies, collections of currencies or commodities, with gold as one component.

text: Former congressman Ron Paul is a long-term, high-profile advocate of a gold standard, but has also expressed support for using a standard based on a basket of commodities that better reflects the state of the economy.[100]

text: In 2011 the Utah legislature passed a bill to accept federally issued gold and silver coins as legal tender to pay taxes.[101] As federally issued currency, the coins were already legal tender for taxes, although the market price of their metal content currently exceeds their monetary value. Similar legislation is under consideration in other US states.[102] The bill was initiated by newly elected Republican Party legislators associated with the Tea Party movement and was driven by anxiety over the policies of President Barack Obama.[103]

text: In 2013, the Arizona Legislature passed SB 1439, which would have made gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debt, but the bill was vetoed by the Governor.[104]

text: In 2015, some candidates for the 2016 presidential election advocated for a gold standard, based on concern that the Federal Reserve’s attempts to increase economic growth may create inflation. Economic historians did not agree with candidate's assertions that the gold standard would benefit the US economy.[105]

text: Critics

text: In 2012 a poll of 40 U.S. economists in the IGM Economic Experts Panel found that none of them believed returning to the gold standard would result in "price-stability and employment outcomes [that] would be better for the average American." The panel of polled economists included past Nobel Prize winners, former economic advisers to both Republican and Democratic presidents, and senior faculty from Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, MIT, and other well-known research universities. (The specific statement with which the economists were asked to agree or disagree was as follows: "If the US replaced its discretionary monetary policy regime with a gold standard, defining a 'dollar' as a specific number of ounces of gold, the price-stability and employment outcomes would be better for the average American.")[3]

text: The economist Allan H. Meltzer of Carnegie Mellon University presented arguments against Ron Paul's advocacy of the gold standard from the 1970s onward.  He sometimes summarized his opposition by stating simply, "[W]e don’t have the gold standard. It’s not because we don’t know about the gold standard, it’s because we do."[106]


document_title: List of Buffalo Bills starting quarterbacks

question_text: who is the starting quarter back for the buffalo bills

text: Starting quarterbacks[edit]

text: The number of games they started during the season is listed to the right:

text: Regular season[edit]

text:
Season(s)
Quarterback(s)

1960 (AFL)
Johnny Green (6) / Tommy O'Connell (5) / Richie Lucas (2) / Bob Brodhead (1)

1961 (AFL)
Johnny Green (5) / Warren Rabb (3) / M.C. Reynolds (3) / Richie Lucas (2) / Tommy O'Connell (1)

1962 (AFL)
Warren Rabb (7) / Al Dorow (4) / Jack Kemp (3)

1963 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (13) / Daryle Lamonica (1)

1964 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (13) / Daryle Lamonica (1)

1965 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (13) / Daryle Lamonica (1)

1966 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (14)

1967 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (11) / Tom Flores (3)

1968 (AFL)
Dan Darragh (7) / Ed Rutkowski (3) / Kay Stephenson (3) / Tom Flores (1)

1969 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (11) / Dan Darragh (2) / James Harris (1)

1970 (NFL)
Dennis Shaw (12) / Dan Darragh (2)

1971
Dennis Shaw (12) / James Harris (2)

1972
Dennis Shaw (13) / Leo Hart (1)

1973
Joe Ferguson (14)

1974
Joe Ferguson (14)

1975
Joe Ferguson (14)

1976
Joe Ferguson (7) / Gary Marangi (7)

1977
Joe Ferguson (14)

1978
Joe Ferguson (16)

1979
Joe Ferguson (16)

1980
Joe Ferguson (16)

1981
Joe Ferguson (16)

1982
Joe Ferguson (9)

1983
Joe Ferguson (16)

1984
Joe Ferguson (11) / Joe Dufek (5)

1985
Vince Ferragamo (9) / Bruce Mathison (7)

1986
Jim Kelly (16)

1987
Jim Kelly (12) / Brian McClure (1) / Willie Totten (1) / Dan Manucci (1)

1988
Jim Kelly (16)

1989
Jim Kelly (13) / Frank Reich (3)

1990
Jim Kelly (14) / Frank Reich (2)

1991
Jim Kelly (15) / Frank Reich (1)

1992
Jim Kelly (16)

1993
Jim Kelly (16)

1994
Jim Kelly (14) / Frank Reich (2)

1995
Jim Kelly (15) / Todd Collins (1)

1996
Jim Kelly (13) / Todd Collins (3)

1997
Todd Collins (13) / Alex Van Pelt (3)

1998
Doug Flutie (10) / Rob Johnson (6)

1999
Doug Flutie (15) / Rob Johnson (1)

2000
Rob Johnson (11) / Doug Flutie (5)

2001
Alex Van Pelt (8) / Rob Johnson (8)

2002
Drew Bledsoe (16)

2003
Drew Bledsoe (16)

2004
Drew Bledsoe (16)

2005
J. P. Losman (8) / Kelly Holcomb (8)

2006
J. P. Losman (16)

2007
Trent Edwards (9) / J. P. Losman (7)

2008
Trent Edwards (14) / J. P. Losman (2)

2009
Ryan Fitzpatrick (8) / Trent Edwards (7) / Brian Brohm (1)

2010
Ryan Fitzpatrick (13) / Trent Edwards (2) / Brian Brohm (1)

2011
Ryan Fitzpatrick (16)

2012
Ryan Fitzpatrick (16)

2013
EJ Manuel (10) / Thad Lewis (5) / Jeff Tuel (1)

2014
Kyle Orton (12) / EJ Manuel (4)

2015
Matt Cassel (1)* / Tyrod Taylor (13) / EJ Manuel (2)

2016
Tyrod Taylor (15) / EJ Manuel (1)

2017
Tyrod Taylor (14) / Nathan Peterman (2)

2018
Josh Allen (5) / Derek Anderson (1) /  Nathan Peterman (1)

text: Matt Cassel technically started a game due to the Bills' first play on offense having Tyrod Taylor lined up at wide receiver

text: Postseason[edit]

text:
Season
Quarterback(s)

1963 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (0–1)

1964 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (1–0)

1965 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (1–0)

1966 (AFL)
Jack Kemp (0–1)

1974
Joe Ferguson (0–1)

1980
Joe Ferguson (0–1)

1981
Joe Ferguson (1–1)

1988
Jim Kelly (1–1)

1989
Jim Kelly (0–1)

1990
Jim Kelly (2–1)

1991
Jim Kelly (2–1)

1992
Frank Reich (2–0)

Jim Kelly (1–1)

1993
Jim Kelly (2–1)

1995
Jim Kelly (1–1)

1996
Jim Kelly (0–1)

1998
Doug Flutie (0–1)

1999
Rob Johnson (0–1)

2017
Tyrod Taylor (0–1)

text: Most games started[edit]

text: These quarterbacks have the most starts for the Bills in regular season games (as of Week 17 of 2017 season).

text:
Name

GP

Games played

GS

Games started

W

Number of wins as starting quarterback

L

Number of losses as starting quarterback

T

Number of ties as starting quarterback

Pct

Winning percentage as starting quarterback

text:
Name

Period

GP

GS

W

L

T

%

Joe Ferguson
1973–1984
164
163
77
86
—
.472

Jim Kelly
1986–1996
160
160
101
59
—
.631

Jack Kemp
1962–1969
88
77
43
31
3
.578

Ryan Fitzpatrick
2009–2012
55
53
20
33
—
.377

Drew Bledsoe
2002–2004
48
48
23
25
—
.479

Tyrod Taylor
2015–2017
44
43
23
20
—
.535

text: Team career passing records[edit]

text: (As of Week 17 of 2017 season)

text:
Name

Comp

Att

%

Yds

TD

Int

Jim Kelly
2,874
4,779
60.1
35,467
237
175

Joe Ferguson
2,188
4,166
52.5
27,590
181
190

Ryan Fitzpatrick
1,041
1,742
59.8
11,654
80
64

Jack Kemp
1,039
2,240
46.4
15,134
77
132

Drew Bledsoe
905
1,531
59.1
10,151
55
43

Tyrod Taylor
774
1,236
62.6
8,857
51
16

Doug Flutie
598
1,063
56.3
7,582
47
30


document_title: The Grey (film)

question_text: where was the movie the grey filmed at

question_tokens: where was the movie the grey filmed at

text: The Grey (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: John Ottway (Liam Neeson) works in Alaska, killing wolves that threaten an oil drilling team. On his last day on the job, he shoots one. That evening, Ottway writes a letter "without purpose" to his wife, Ana (Anne Openshaw), explaining his plans to commit suicide. He hears a distant wolf howl and doesn't follow through.

text: The next day, Ottway and other oil drillers board a plane. During the flight, Ottway dreams of sleeping with his wife in bed but is awakened by a loud bang. He buckles up in fear of a possible plane crash. Shortly afterwards, the back of the plane is torn off, luggage starts getting sucked out and the plane crashes. Eight people including Ottway survive the crash. However, a young oil worker, Lewenden, dies of his injuries as Ottway sadly watches. Taking charge, Ottway sets the survivors on the task of building a fire. While doing this, he discovers a corpse, and is attacked by the grey wolf feeding on it. After saving Ottway, the group surmises that they are in the wolves' territory. They decide to take turns keeping watch for the predators.

text: Later, Hernandez (Ben Bray) is killed by two wolves. Ottway suggests they leave the crash site, but Diaz (Frank Grillo) questions his leadership. While searching for the wallets of their deceased colleagues, intending to return them to their families, Diaz finds an emergency wrist watch containing a radio beacon. The group then leaves the site.

text: While walking, Flannery (Joe Anderson) falls behind, and is killed by wolves. One of them spots a pack of wolves approaching, and the survivors run for the trees, lighting a fire in an attempt to ward off their attackers. The group sets about producing makeshift weaponry. A stressed Diaz loses his cool somewhat and belligerently threatens Ottway with a knife, but is quickly disarmed and ultimately begins regretting his actions. Just as he's about to apologize, he's suddenly pounced upon by a wolf from behind. An omega wolf sent by the alpha wolf to test them Ottway later surmises, after all managing to kill it and then roasting it for food. A bloodied and crazed Diaz, elated at having survived the attack, beheads the corpse and loudly howling like a wolf, defiantly throws the severed head back at the pack. A move noted by the group as possibly unwise, as they (erroneously)[5] accept a statement that "wolves are known to take revenge".

text: While sitting around the fire, Diaz tells the group of his atheism, and Talget (Dermot Mulroney) states he believes in God and lovingly talks about his daughter. Ottway states he is also an atheist, but wishes he could believe or have faith. Ottway then recites a simple poem written by his father. A blizzard approaches, and the survivors set to maintaining the fire while some get some rest.

text: The following morning, Burke (Nonso Anozie), who had earlier been suffering from hypoxia, is found dead. The remaining survivors leave the camp, and travel to the edge of a steep canyon. Hendrick (Dallas Roberts) secures a line across to a tall tree opposite and Diaz & Ottway traverse the canyon. Talget, however, is afraid of heights and with the added handicap of a bleeding mangled hand, when his foot becomes caught on a hook, in the ensuing struggle the rope breaks away. He falls to the ground, getting severely thrashed by tree branches on the way down; barely alive, he hallucinates a vision of his daughter, but is instantly set upon and dragged away by four wolves. While attempting to save Talget, Diaz falls from the tree and badly injures his knee.

text: Diaz, Ottway, and Hendrick continue and arrive at a river. There, Diaz, humbled by his journey and unable to walk on, explains that he can accept dying in the middle of nature and will not try to keep running. They part company, leaving a tearful Diaz contemplating the glorious mountainous vista and his resigned fate. Reluctantly Ottway and Hendrick continue on together. Further along the river, Ottway and Hendrick are set upon by the wolves. In an attempt to flee, Hendrick falls into the river and in the chaos is trapped beneath the surface when his foot gets wedged between boulders. Ottway attempts to save him but unable to pull him loose, Hendrick soon drowns. Frustrated and now alone, Ottway looks up and appeals to God for help, to "show him something real", but soon realises the futility of his plea.

text: Ottway, cold and wet, continues on alone. Exhausted, he stops walking and begins going through the collected wallets of the others. Ottway then realizes he has stumbled right into the wolves' den - and that the team had been steadily walking towards, not away from, the source of danger. Surrounded by the pack, he looks at his wife's photo in his wallet; it is then revealed that she was dying of a terminal illness (& hence his own futility earlier). As the large, snarling alpha wolf approaches him, Ottway arms himself with a knife and shards of glass from small liquor bottles taped to his other hand. After reciting his father's poem once more, he lunges at the alpha wolf...

text: In a brief post-credits scene, the wolf is seen lying injured on the ground and breathing softly, with the back of Ottway's head visible resting on the wolf, while also breathing (?) - It is not made clear whether he has been mortally wounded or if he will indeed survive.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Liam Neeson as John Ottway
Frank Grillo as John Diaz
Dermot Mulroney as Jerome Talget
Dallas Roberts as Pete Hendrick
Joe Anderson as Todd Flannery
Nonso Anozie as Jackson Burke
James Badge Dale as Luke Lewenden
Ben Hernandez Bray as Hernandez
Anne Openshaw as Ana Ottway

text: Production[edit]

text: The Grey reunited director Joe Carnahan with producers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott (credited as executive producer) as well as actor Liam Neeson, who collaborated on the 2010 action film The A-Team. The film initially imagined a much-younger lead character and Bradley Cooper, who also worked with Carnahan on The A-Team, was cast in the lead role, but he was eventually replaced by Neeson.[6]

text: Filming began in January 2011 and ended in March. The film was shot in forty days.[7] Though set in Alaska, the film was shot in Vancouver and Smithers, British Columbia, with several scenes being shot at the Smithers Regional Airport.[8] According to Empire magazine, in the climactic scene in which Neeson's character pens a letter to his wife, Carnahan urged Neeson to "channel his grief" over the death of his own wife, Natasha Richardson.[9] Carnahan disclosed, in a Q&A session following an early screening at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, that he had shot an alternative ending (that he'd never intended to use) showing Neeson battling the alpha wolf. It was supposed to be included in deleted cuts,[10] however, no extras were included on the Blu-ray.

text: Release[edit]

text: The world premiere of The Grey took place on January 11, 2012, at the Regal Cinemas Theatre in Los Angeles.[11] The film was released nationwide on January 27, 2012.[12][unreliable source?]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Promotion for The Grey in part targeted Christian groups by issuing a "film companion", which highlighted the spiritual value of the film.[13] Marketing also partnered with The Weather Network to highlight the hazardous filming conditions.[13] Open Road Films incorporated comments tweeted by film critics to promote the film in the third trailer for The Grey. This was the first time tweets from and Twitter handles for professional critics had been used in a film trailer.[14]

text: Music[edit]

text:
The Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Film score by Marc Streitenfeld

Released
February 14, 2012 (2012-02-14)

Length
35:09

Label
Lakeshore

Producer
Marc Streitenfeld

text: The score for The Grey was released on CD February 14, 2012. A digital version available for download was released on January 24, 2012.[15]

text:
No.
Title
Length

1.
"Writing the Letter"
2:00

2.
"Suicide"
1:44

3.
"You Are Gonna Die"
3:14

4.
"Walking"
1:45

5.
"Eyes Glowing"
1:25

6.
"The Morning After"
2:57

7.
"Collecting Wallets"
1:53

8.
"Wife Memory"
1:09

9.
"Life and Death"
2:52

10.
"Lagging Behind"
1:53

11.
"Running from Wolves"
1:46

12.
"Daughter Appears"
2:13

13.
"Last Walk"
2:34

14.
"Memorial"
3:41

15.
"Alpha"
2:16

16.
"Into the Fray"
1:49

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The Grey received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to Neeson's performance, as well as Carnahan's direction and the film's atmosphere. The Grey has a "certified fresh" score of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 192 reviews with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus states, "The Grey is an exciting tale of survival, populated with fleshed-out characters and a surprising philosophical agenda."[16] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 64 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[17]

text: Roger Ebert gave the film 3 and a half stars out of 4, and wrote that the unrelenting harshness of The Grey so affected him that he departed the screening of a different movie on the same day:[18]

text: It was the first time I've ever walked out of a film because of the previous film. The way I was feeling in my gut, it just wouldn't have been fair to the next film... There's time for some conversation among the men, and this film, directed by Joe Carnahan and written by him and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, treats them as individuals. They're not simply a group of victims. The Grey advances with pitiless logic. There are more wolves than men. The men have weapons, the wolves have patience, the weather is punishing. I sat regarding the screen with mounting dread. The movie had to have a happy ending, didn't it? If not "happy," then at least a relief in some sense? Sit through the entire credits. There's one more shot still to come. Not that you wouldn't be content without it.

text: The film also earned a place on A.O. Scott's list of the year's ten best films,[19] and Slate film critic Dana Stevens included it in her runners-up for the year's best movies.[20] Film Critic Richard Roeper also had The Grey in his top 10 best movies of 2012 list, placing it at number 3.[21]

text: Dissenters' reviews tend to focus on the film's abrupt ending and perceive the emotional and philosophical undertones as unnecessary. Siobhan Synnot of The Scotsman gave the film two stars, commenting that "On the down side, there's a lot of dull pretentious philosophizing about the heartlessness of nature and God. On the up side, you get to see a man punch a wolf in the face."[22] Some reviewers and analysts have described the film as having an atheist theme, due to characters such as John Ottway (Liam Neeson) pleading for divine help but not getting any.[23][24][25]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Grey opened in North America on January 27, 2012 in 3,185 theaters and grossed $19,665,101, with an average of $6,174 per theater and ranking #1 at the box office. The film ultimately earned $51,580,236 domestically and $25,698,095 internationally for a total of $77,278,331, above its $25 million production budget.[26]

text: Controversy[edit]

text: On January 19, 2012, British Columbia's The Province featured an article about the movie's crew buying four wolf carcasses from a local trapper, two for props for the film and two wolves for the cast to eat.[8] This angered environmentalists and animal activists, who were already irate that the film depicts wolves in a negative light, specifically at a time when grey wolves had recently been removed from the Endangered Species Act in many western American states.[27][28] In response to the portrayal of wolves in the film, groups including PETA and WildEarth Guardians started drives to boycott the film.[29][30] Open Road responded by placing a fact sheet about the grey wolf on the film's official website, with cooperation from the Sierra Club.[30] Carnahan responded by downplaying the significance of the violent wolves portrayed in the film, instead highlighting the significance of man's internal struggle for survival.[29]

text: Awards[edit]

text: The film was nominated in 2012 for the International Wolf Center's Scat Award in Scare Tactics and Silly Information categories,[31] being granted said distinction in 2013.[32]