Gold (1974)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

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:

Plummer (John Hussey): Dont look at me, I'm just a plumber.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

WHEREVER LOVE TAKES ME

Not all Gold ...

Not a particularly good film. The story plods along at an incredibly slow rate and is very predictable. It is a hard slog to watch the whole thing through in one sitting. Each catastrophe that occurs is overworked and expanded far more than is necessary with an excessive amount of time wasted on each event.

There are also numerous inconsistencies with the amount of people involved in each disaster, the size of the mine and how long each rescue takes.

That being said, Ray Milland is absolutely superb as the gruff gold mine chairman, playing the grumpy character he mastered in his later years showing a lack of patience with all around him. The desperation he shows when shouting at the other members of the bowling team is priceless.

Fans of Roger Moore will also appreciate his performance and there is a certain chemistry between Moore and Susannah York - particularly in the bath scene! A certain amount of ad-libbing I wonder!

The question has to be how John Gielgud was persuaded to take part. A very small part which was hardly worthy of such a great actor.

If you enjoy either Milland or Moore, and can put up with a huge number of bad bits, this film may be worth watching just the once.