Old School 80s Christian Film. This movie has some cheesy music and 80s hair in it, but a good story line. GTF is a family film that deals with a young Russian and his new life in the US. Young kids will probably enjoy this, but fail to understand the references to Communist Russia. This may be a good teaching tool for children learning their history from the cold war era. A good film on the issue of religion in public schools as well. This may also be a good tool for evangelism. Some good scenes of conflict between a young adolescent and his parents. If you have a rebellious teen, this may hit a nerve. In a good way, of course. Enjoy.
10 Reviews
Underrated Christian film does struggle but overall is very good
lukecon-6343612 June 2020
Yes, I am not saying this film does not have flaws. Gold Through The Fire contains some minor issues, such as (yes) a couple clichés involved that could have been fixed easily. However, while there are a couple issues with the script, this film still is very good.
It has a great message about standing up for one's faith even in times of persecution, which kids and teens should definitely learn. The message is valuable. I also appreciated the cinematography, which I felt was overall well-done, and added to the realistic look of the film. Some of the actors were good in playing their role, but other actors did not do well delivering dialogue at times. One particular actress was not that great at portraying her role. The main actor did a great job at portraying his character. While it may have not been perfect, he did do an overall good performance. Other actors did alright in their roles.
Still, there were some flaws along the way. While the script did get a little unrealistic and cliched at times, it still had its good moments. And the acting was imperfect, but certain performances were good.
Overall, I feel that this film is underrecognized, and deserves some more credit. This is a very good movie that, while flawed, delivers a valuable message of standing up for your beliefs.
There was, however, a scene that does show Playboy magazines, but nothing too explicit is shown. Other scenes were intense at times, but nothing too bad for preteens and up.
Holy garbage, Batman!
llarian-327 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
With all the production values of some 1970s porno, it's little wonder that most people won't ever have heard of this. Written and directed by Edward T. McDougal, who seems to specialise in BAD movies with a religious message, Gold Through the Fire "stars" teenage eye candy Charles Harlan at Peter Smyslov, a refugee from Soviet oppression who arrives in the US with bible clutched firmly in hand. Unfortunately for Peter, he finds even greater oppression against his Christian faith in America. This movie attempts to show how conviction in one's beliefs can overcome all obstacles, which is a noble enough theme, but Harlan's worse-than-wooden performance and McDougal's dire script makes it feel as though the film is never going to end. Truly awful and this is the only listing you'll ever find for Charles Harlan (no surprise there!). Unfortunately,McDougal continues his holy quest with more equally bad movies. Watch out for Gold Through the Fire on obscure 'inspirational' channels and prepare to be VERY amused and/or bored.
What a difference a regime makes
bkoganbing10 September 2018
I see that one of the reviewers entitled his review of Gold Through The Fire an
'Old School Christian Film'. If by old school he meant outdated that is certainly
correct. The Soviet Union fell two years after this film came out in 1987. And
now in 2018 former KGB agent Vladimir Putin rules Russia and the pretenses of
leftwing rhetoric are cast aside. One of the main props to the Putin regime is
the newly invigorated Russian Orthodox church which now happily persecutes
among others gay people.
Young Charles Hallan plays Christian kid Peter Smieslov who with a lot of grit and determination flees the Soviet Union and gets asylum from our Embassy in Finland. He's placed with a Christian family in America. Funny though it's not an Orthodox family or an Eastern Catholic family which is what you would think but an evangelical Protestant family.
Hallan has trouble fitting in, some don't like his proselytizing and make trouble for the school administration. The KGB also takes an interest in him, why God only knows. They want him to come back and renounce his faith. Why him of all the many that fled the Soviet Union? I'm not sure they have enough agents.
All the right evangelical buttons are pushed in this film which is now dated so even church audiences wouldn't find it feasible for showing.
Curiously enough we now have a president whose main desire is to build a wall and keep out the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. I wonder how evangelicals square this film with that president.
One of those yearning to breathe free is a young gay man that I know named Alexander Nabatov. Alex this review is dedicated to you and your plight.
This is one flawed and outdated film.
Young Charles Hallan plays Christian kid Peter Smieslov who with a lot of grit and determination flees the Soviet Union and gets asylum from our Embassy in Finland. He's placed with a Christian family in America. Funny though it's not an Orthodox family or an Eastern Catholic family which is what you would think but an evangelical Protestant family.
Hallan has trouble fitting in, some don't like his proselytizing and make trouble for the school administration. The KGB also takes an interest in him, why God only knows. They want him to come back and renounce his faith. Why him of all the many that fled the Soviet Union? I'm not sure they have enough agents.
All the right evangelical buttons are pushed in this film which is now dated so even church audiences wouldn't find it feasible for showing.
Curiously enough we now have a president whose main desire is to build a wall and keep out the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. I wonder how evangelicals square this film with that president.
One of those yearning to breathe free is a young gay man that I know named Alexander Nabatov. Alex this review is dedicated to you and your plight.
This is one flawed and outdated film.
A great movie
dabeatlesrocks20 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The only reason why this movie got a 3.7 out of 10 overall is because of those two people who gave this movie one or two stars. I can't see how they can do that.
It had excellent actors, great plot, and awesome message. I recommend everyone watch this then write a review because more people will know that this movie is actually very good. the movie starts off with a 17 year old boy who is trying to escape religious persecution in Russia. After he makes it to America. He tries to fit in with everyone, but he finds a very judgmental place. As he is in America he finds a family who takes him under their wings. But surprisingly Peter and the family both help each in many different ways. A GREAT MOVIE FOR THE FAMILY but does contain some sexual content such as someone is seen burning play boy magazines but the only thing shown in the title Play boy.
It had excellent actors, great plot, and awesome message. I recommend everyone watch this then write a review because more people will know that this movie is actually very good. the movie starts off with a 17 year old boy who is trying to escape religious persecution in Russia. After he makes it to America. He tries to fit in with everyone, but he finds a very judgmental place. As he is in America he finds a family who takes him under their wings. But surprisingly Peter and the family both help each in many different ways. A GREAT MOVIE FOR THE FAMILY but does contain some sexual content such as someone is seen burning play boy magazines but the only thing shown in the title Play boy.
Christian persecution in small town America
Leofwine_draca28 June 2018
Warning: Spoilers
GOLD THROUGH THE FIRE is another low budget Christian propaganda flick from America. The story is about a teenager who flees Communist Russia and ends up starting a new life in America. Unfortunately, his school work is interrupted by the extreme hostility towards his Christian beliefs displayed by fellow pupils and teachers alike; eventually he winds up in court as a result. I found the story of persecution rather overblown and laughable, while the do-gooding hero is a little bit too perfect to be in any way likeable.
Powerful message
carolrogers-1372725 May 2019
This movie isn't the best quality due to the age, which is why I didn't give it a 10; however, after just 10 minutes, you will forget the quality and be caught up in the content. I could watch it again. This is a powerful movie about Christian persecution and the fight for religious freedom, that we, as Americans, sometimes take for granted.
Incompetent in almost every aspect!
TOMNEL20 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
When it's late at night and nothing else is on, you sometimes settle for some strange choices. This film was featured as a late night showing on TBN (The Bible Network), and it looked interesting enough, and in that assumption I was correct. This movie was thoroughly entertaining in it's single, simple minded clichéd kind of way. But entertaining or not, this movie was still downright horrible! Everything, except for some of the acting was awful, and some of the acting was too. Really this was just a mess of a film!
Peter is a teenager who escapes from communist Russia to come to America. While in America, he is adopted by a nice Christian family. Unfortunately for him, the people at school aren't as nice, and they tease him for being Russian. He wants to join the soccer team, but he's just too different, and he wants to share the word of Christ with the school, but they don't want to hear it. He expresses to his Biology teacher that he doesn't believe evolution is right, and that he doesn't believe that the world is four billion years old, but the teacher just sends him to the Principal's office. Poor kid, hopefully the clichés don't build up and give him a happy ending!
I understand that this is a Christian film, but geez is it preachy. With some subtlety, this film could have improved a little, but instead every three seconds we're being hit over the head with religion. In addition to preachy, this film has every cliché in the book. Peter isn't allowed to play soccer, but wait....the team's losing their big game. Better send him in! We won! Now Peter can get the girl that he'd been asking out but she kept saying no! This soccer match will show her what a winner he is! Everybody bullies the Russian kid cause he's different, and he doesn't get to sit at the cool kid table. He sits with the weirdos! The bullies with no motive but to be mean aren't clichéd in the least!
Another strange aspect of this film is how much it seems like it believes in complete conformity. Peter is treated badly, and ridiculed for his silly clothing, which is really just nice button up shirts. Once he starts wearing "American" clothes, and wearing sunglasses, and playing air guitar to American bands, he starts being accepted and gaining friends. Oh, that's a good message to give to the kids. Conform to what others like. Individuality doesn't matter in America!
The direction is awful, again mainly because of the unsubtle nature of it. We are supposed to know a character is lazy and likes TV. So the scene has him sitting a literal two inches from the screen, while other characters in the background talk about how bad he is. BONK! Right over the head with that one! We could've got the message in a more realistic way!
The most irritating thing this film does is twist the Atheist characters around to be the villains. The teacher who is just teaching evolution before rudely being interrupted, is played off as a minor villain. She's doing her job, it's not a religious school, and she can teach this theory. A courtroom scene at the end features an Atheist mother complaining about Peter with no logic to back up her statements. She's a bumbling idiot, and blames him for a rash on her daughter's chest...what? And in the very same scene, we basically are told the message that church and state should not be separate...yes they should! Just because the people behind this film thinks it would be better to live in the 1600s Puritan American colonies, doesn't mean the rest of the country does.
The ending...wow, it was bizarre. Peter talks to his "adopted family" sibling David about religion. Meanwhile in a van a hundred feet away, a Russian spy holds out a rifle aiming for Peter. The dude was actually going to kill Peter! But then Peter teaches his "brother" about the importance of religion, and somehow, this dude from far away hears their soft conversation and his heart is so warmed, he puts the gun down and smiles, and the end credits roll. What a weird and horrible ending to an awful film!
The acting isn't that bad, but that's about all that can be said about this overlong religious after school special. It's got some entertainment value, but mainly in it's camp value, poor writing and strange backwards messages of conformity.
My rating: * out of ****. 80 mins. Contains references to sex.
Peter is a teenager who escapes from communist Russia to come to America. While in America, he is adopted by a nice Christian family. Unfortunately for him, the people at school aren't as nice, and they tease him for being Russian. He wants to join the soccer team, but he's just too different, and he wants to share the word of Christ with the school, but they don't want to hear it. He expresses to his Biology teacher that he doesn't believe evolution is right, and that he doesn't believe that the world is four billion years old, but the teacher just sends him to the Principal's office. Poor kid, hopefully the clichés don't build up and give him a happy ending!
I understand that this is a Christian film, but geez is it preachy. With some subtlety, this film could have improved a little, but instead every three seconds we're being hit over the head with religion. In addition to preachy, this film has every cliché in the book. Peter isn't allowed to play soccer, but wait....the team's losing their big game. Better send him in! We won! Now Peter can get the girl that he'd been asking out but she kept saying no! This soccer match will show her what a winner he is! Everybody bullies the Russian kid cause he's different, and he doesn't get to sit at the cool kid table. He sits with the weirdos! The bullies with no motive but to be mean aren't clichéd in the least!
Another strange aspect of this film is how much it seems like it believes in complete conformity. Peter is treated badly, and ridiculed for his silly clothing, which is really just nice button up shirts. Once he starts wearing "American" clothes, and wearing sunglasses, and playing air guitar to American bands, he starts being accepted and gaining friends. Oh, that's a good message to give to the kids. Conform to what others like. Individuality doesn't matter in America!
The direction is awful, again mainly because of the unsubtle nature of it. We are supposed to know a character is lazy and likes TV. So the scene has him sitting a literal two inches from the screen, while other characters in the background talk about how bad he is. BONK! Right over the head with that one! We could've got the message in a more realistic way!
The most irritating thing this film does is twist the Atheist characters around to be the villains. The teacher who is just teaching evolution before rudely being interrupted, is played off as a minor villain. She's doing her job, it's not a religious school, and she can teach this theory. A courtroom scene at the end features an Atheist mother complaining about Peter with no logic to back up her statements. She's a bumbling idiot, and blames him for a rash on her daughter's chest...what? And in the very same scene, we basically are told the message that church and state should not be separate...yes they should! Just because the people behind this film thinks it would be better to live in the 1600s Puritan American colonies, doesn't mean the rest of the country does.
The ending...wow, it was bizarre. Peter talks to his "adopted family" sibling David about religion. Meanwhile in a van a hundred feet away, a Russian spy holds out a rifle aiming for Peter. The dude was actually going to kill Peter! But then Peter teaches his "brother" about the importance of religion, and somehow, this dude from far away hears their soft conversation and his heart is so warmed, he puts the gun down and smiles, and the end credits roll. What a weird and horrible ending to an awful film!
The acting isn't that bad, but that's about all that can be said about this overlong religious after school special. It's got some entertainment value, but mainly in it's camp value, poor writing and strange backwards messages of conformity.
My rating: * out of ****. 80 mins. Contains references to sex.
Justice for the Senators wife!!
hhvgyzgn4 February 2023
The Senator's wife, played by Vicki Brockman, did great! It was the first time I've ever heard my aunt be quiet! I still can't believe that the dog got credit in the film and not her! Biggest snub of our time! Have you ever seen someone give such a performance without any dialogue! She wasn't even paid and still gave her all! This movie is a SHAM! The director should be ashamed! Such great talent overlooked! The beauty! The grace! She could have been the next Meryl Streep! Okay, maybe that's going too far, but regardless! This has caused our family so much trauma! My aunt never stops talking about it!
Stand up for God
digiteum19 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This is a brilliant film that tells the story of a youth, persecuted for his belief in Jesus Christ, with his parents in prison for printing Bibles in Russia, and his younger brother in an orphanage, who escapes Russia through Finland, and arrives in the USA. He is taken in to a foster home, and starts attending a public school in America. He quickly finds out that there is even persecution in the States, for his faith, and he is initially tested by his schoolmates for his belief in fairy stories. Of course what some call fairy stories, are pages from the Bible, and the reality that Christ has in every believers' heart. Jesus is the living Word.
He stands up for the Lord and is an example to many. He is kidnapped by Russian agents, and manages to escape, helped by the younger brother in the foster family. He stands up in the American Public School unwavering for the Lord.
This is a very good film, available on Amazon Prime Video, and I encourage you to watch it.
He stands up for the Lord and is an example to many. He is kidnapped by Russian agents, and manages to escape, helped by the younger brother in the foster family. He stands up in the American Public School unwavering for the Lord.
This is a very good film, available on Amazon Prime Video, and I encourage you to watch it.
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