Mother Lode (1982)

A couple of youngish adventurers go into the wilderness of British Columbia in search of a lost colleague. Their plane crashes and they find themselves at the mercy of a crazed old Scottish... See full summary »

Directors:

Charlton Heston, Fraser C. Heston (uncredited)

Writer:

Fraser C. Heston (as Fraser Heston)

Stars:

Charlton Heston, Kim Basinger, Nick Mancuso

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charlton Heston	...	Silas McGee / Ian McGee
Nick Mancuso	...	Jean Dupre
Kim Basinger	...	Andrea Spalding
John Marley	...	Elijha
Dale Wilson	...	Gerrard Elliot
Rocky Zantolas	...	George Patterson
Marie George	...	Elijha's Wife

Storyline

A couple of youngish adventurers go into the wilderness of British Columbia in search of a lost colleague. Their plane crashes and they find themselves at the mercy of a crazed old Scottish miner, who has lived in isolation for many decades searching the mountain caves for a chamber of long lost gold. He is prepared to do anything - including murder - to keep his gold for himself.

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Plot Keywords:

double cross | twin | gold | evil twin | plane crash | 

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Taglines:

The lure of Gold can make a man do anything. Anything.

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Genres:

Adventure | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 1982 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Search for the Mother Lode: The Last Great Treasure

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$5,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agamemnon Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer-producer Fraser C. Heston conceived the idea for the screenplay for this movie while visiting Death Valley, California, during the filming of The Mountain Men (1980). There, he visited mines, shafts, tunnels, and caves while researching the old stories, yarns, myths, and legends of old miners. His story was also inspired by his experiences living with the Eskimo people, and Athabascan Indians when visiting the Kenai Peninsula on the southern coast of Alaska.

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Goofs

The characters say the name of the area, and river, as STIKINE as if it rhymes with SKY PINE. It is properly pronounced as STICK KEEN.

User Reviews

"You stay the Hell out of my mine, laddie!"

Decent wilderness adventure with the legendary Charlton Heston directing himself in a tale of two young people, Jean (Nick Mancuso) and Andrea (Kim Basinger) flying to Northern British Columbia. They do it ostensibly to look for a colleague / friend who'd come there and disappeared, but the lure of a potential windfall in gold proves too strong to resist. Unfortunately for them, already residing in the area is grizzled old Scottish miner Silas McGee (Heston), who's not as friendly as he initially seems to be. Heston, directing from a screenplay by his son Fraser (Fraser was also the producer), does a capable job of drawing us into this story with good acting and well orchestrated thrills; the second unit direction was the work of Joe Canutt, son of another legend, Yakima Canutt, so there are two second generation filmmakers filling out important roles here. The film is well shot (by Richard Leiterman) in claustrophobic settings and paced well. Mainly, it's worth seeing for Heston's fine performance (there's a major twist regarding his character, but you won't hear it from me) as he completely immerses himself in the character and does a good job with the accent to boot. Basinger looks great as usual and she and Mancuso are both quite capable. John Marley is Elijha, the forest dweller who lends some much needed assistance and he's just a delight. This is quite well made technically, with some breathtaking aerial photography and lots of gorgeous rural scenery. Ken Wannbergs' music likewise adds to the overall enjoyment. It's too bad that this little film is not that well known nowadays, but it is on DVD now so more people can discover it for themselves. Not that it's anything truly *great*, necessarily, but it's tense and gripping stuff and entertaining all the way. Seven out of 10.