Gold (1974)

Director:

Peter R. Hunt

Writers:

Wilbur Smith (screenplay) and
Stanley Price (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 October 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

The world's most daring conspiracy against the world's most precious metal! And only one man can stop it!

Plot:

Rod Slater is the newly appointed general manager of the Sonderditch gold mine, but he stumbles across an ingenious plot to flood the mine...

Plot Keywords:

Gold | South Africa | Nudity | Mining Accident | Ambulance

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Roger Moore	...	Rod Slater
Susannah York	...	Terry Steyner
Ray Milland	...	Hurry Hirschfeld
Bradford Dillman	...	Manfred Steyner
John Gielgud	...	Farrell
Tony Beckley	...	Stephen Marais
Simon Sabela	...	Big King
Marc Smith	...	Tex Kiernan
John Hussey	...	Plummer
Bernard Horsfall	...	Dave Kowalski
Bill Brewer	...	Aristide
Norman Coombes	...	Lemmer
George Jackson	...	Mine Doctor
Ken Hare	...	Jackson
Ralph Loubser	...	Mine Captain

Also Known As:

The Great Gold Conspiracy (USA)

Runtime:

120 min | USA:119 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Johannesburg Airport, South Africa

Company:

Avton Films

Trivia:

Roger Moore was reluctant to accept the role at first, owing to the character being a cigarette smoker (he had recently stopped smoking cigarettes and gravitated to Monte Cristo cigars). As it was necessary for Rod Slater's character to smoke cigarettes rather than cigars Moore's objection was overruled, though his smoking scenes were reduced to a bare minimum.

Quotes:

Rod Slater: My God, you're beautiful.
Terry Steyner (Sussanah York): Kiss me you fool.
Farrel (John Gielgud): Rod Slater, Do you know what your getting yourself into?
Rod Slater: No, No I dont.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge: (#1.1)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

WHEREVER LOVE TAKES ME

Has Its Moments

This is not a great film, but it has its moments. In 1974 probably not too many people knew much about South Africa and the gold mining process, so for that reason it was educational. The mine sequences are interesting although undoubtedly filmed on a studio set. For me the most interesting action sequence though is when the hero is trying to land a plane on a tailings pile at a speed low enough to almost stall out. Most interesting of all, thirty years ago it was almost unheard of to see frontal nudity in a major film. When Susannah York's breast appeared out of the suds in the bathtub scene, my jaw dropped open. I couldn't believe I was really seeing it. For sheer surprise it ranks right up there with Charlton Heston kissing a black woman in that science fiction film that I think was called The Omega Man. Today of course such things are commonplace.