AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Coventry In between "Live and Let Die" and "The Man with the Golden Gun" - one of my personal favorite James Bond flicks – Roger Moore took a little side trip to Johannesburg in South Africa, in order to star in this routine but nevertheless entertaining action/adventure movie. Rod Slater (Moore) is appointed as the General Manager of the prominent Sonderditch goldmine, but in fact the mine's owner and a couple of rich stakeholders in London have different plans with it. They intend to flood the mine and thus boost up the gold prices worldwide, so that they can profit more from prior investments. If their devious plans, loyally but unknowingly executed by Slater and his teams, succeed in time before Christmas, it will be the biggest mining catastrophe in African history. The basic storyline is quite thin and simplistic, so indeed the vast majority of the film exists of unnecessary padding footage, mainly focusing on the romance between James Bond and the bored wife of the corrupt mine owner. With a running time of two hours, "Gold" is definitely a bit overlong and we certainly didn't need so much "falling-in-love" collages with sappy musical guidance! The first fifteen and last twenty minutes are very exciting and tense, because these are the only times "Gold" actually looks like a disaster film. There are terrific performances from veteran actors Ray Milland (as the elderly and stubborn mining patriarch) and John Gielgud (as the brains behind the flooding conspiracy).

Chase_Witherspoon Interesting action-thriller concerning a private syndicate conspiring to influence the price of gold on the stock market, by flooding a mine under the control of one its members. Roger Moore plays Rod Slater the newly appointed mine GM, enlisted by owner Bradford Dillman to ostensibly carry out a plan to drill into an underground reservoir in which there are untapped gold deposits. Of course, Moore isn't in on the ruse to affect the stock market, and both he and his employees risk becoming collateral damage unless Dillman's plan can be foiled.Top-notch cast features Ray Milland as the mine's board director, his daughter played by Susannah York is Dillman's neglected wife who finds comfort in Moore's embrace, and Sir John Gielgud is the scheming syndicate boss, ruthless and double crossing in the extreme. Although Gielgud's role takes place in the boardroom back in London, his presence permeates the entire movie, such is his cold, sinister dominance. Gielgud's callous greed is shockingly immortalised in the scene in which he arranges for a Christmas 'present' to be sent to a betraying syndicate member that ends with catastrophic results. Long but relatively taut thriller has the ingredients for success, with realistic looking set design, commanding score, competently handled action sequences and stunt-work, and a plot that weaves an engaging tale of sinister ambition and double cross. Considering all its elements (brassy theme tune, comic book villains, Maurice Binder's title sequence), "Gold" is something of a Bond surrogate, leveraging off Moore's alter ego at the time, and incorporating all the villains and motifs appropriate for a 007 adventure - by any other name. Great cast, highly entertaining.

suemartin23264 I just bought this film on DVD. It came free in The Mail On Sunday.To be honest, I didn't really expect it to be a proper adventure, but I thought it would be good for a laugh. And although this film does have some great one - liners, it also builds up a lot of suspense towards the end. And Sir John Gielgud was really evil as ONE of the MANY villains.When a general manager of a South African mine dies as a result of a cave - in, Roger Moore is appointed the new manager. However, is there a specific reason for him being appointed as the new one? As he works, he uncovers a plot to flood the mine, so that the price of gold in the Stock Exchange will be raised, and the villains of the piece will be able to sell their stocks of gold and make a huge profit...The only problem I have with this movie is that it ends a bit abruptly. It would have been nice to see the prices fall in the stock exchange, and maybe a closing scene showing good old John blowing a casket! But never mind. This still is great viewing!

Jonathon Dabell Wilbur Smith's bestselling novels haven't been viewed by film-maker's as a good source of screen material. In spite of the fact that Smith has spent forty years writing one acclaimed novel after another, only a handful of his books have been adapted for the big screen – and of those films, none have been hugely successful. Gold is based on one of the author's shortest novels, originally entitled Gold Mine, and features a very attractive cast including the then-Bond Roger Moore, the luscious Susannah York, archetypal villainous actors Bradford Dillman and Tony Beckley, and old stalwarts Ray Milland and John Gielgud. Much of the film was shot in South Africa, amidst a volatile environment of political controversy, while the more dangerous-looking underground action sequences were done on an impressive studio stage back in the UK. On the whole the film is highly watchable and polished, though it is never quite as absorbing or exciting as it was obviously meant to be.An accident at a South African gold mine results in the mine's general manager being trapped and crippled. The underground manager Rod Slater (Roger Moore) tries his best to save his superior, but his efforts fail and the general manager dies. Later, it transpires that the managing director of the mine, Manfred Steyner (Bradford Dillman), is actually a member of a secret syndicate that is deliberately trying to destroy the mine in order to increase the value of their own gold stocks. Steyner has had his workers drilling in a highly dangerous area close to a water dyke, insisting that they are close to a precious gold strike when in reality they are metres away from flooding and destroying their own mine. Steyner is the grandson-in-law of the mega-rich gold entrepreneur Hurry Hirschfield, and is married to Hurry's grand-daughter Terry (Susannah York). However, Terry is having an affair with Slater, so Steyner's plan is to fulfil his act of sabotage for his syndicate whilst simultaneously exacting revenge on his cheating wife by ruining her family business. Eventually the dyke is breached and the mine is on the verge of catastrophic flooding, with Slater the only man brave (and foolish) enough to go underground and trigger an explosion to seal off the flooded areas before it is too late.Gold begins and ends with two very powerful and convincing underground sequences that are extremely well put together. In between, the plot unfolds rather slowly and laboriously, seeming to take a long time to reach its conclusion, though certain scenes along the way are quite well handled. Moore plays the hero fairly well, even though it is a much grittier role than his Bond persona. York is even better as the deceitful wife, while Dillman and Beckley provide thoroughly ugly baddies. Elmer Bernstein's very-70s music score adds a sense of drama to the proceedings, in spite of its dated sound. Peter Hunt (formerly a Bond editor and director) directs the film competently without doing anything out of the ordinary with his material. At 124 minutes, Gold is a pretty exhausting movie – certainly worth one, maybe even two, viewings but beyond that it doesn't particularly endear itself to repeat screenings. Still, if you like big, old-fashioned adventure flicks or are a fan of the stars, this movie is worth catching.