Gold is a 1974 British thriller film starring Roger Moore and Susannah York and directed by Peter R. Hunt. It was based on the 1970 novel Gold Mine by Wilbur Smith. Moore plays Rodney "Rod" Slater, general manager of a South Africangold mine, who is instructed by his boss Steyner (Bradford Dillman) to break through an underground dike into what he is told is a rich seam of gold. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Steyner's wife Terry, played by York. In the United States, the film was released only as part of a double bill with The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
Johannesburg, 1973. A tunnel collapse at the Sonderditch gold mine is no accident. It was actually a failed plan by an international syndicate to manipulate gold prices. They now arrange for a hole to be drilled into Sonderditch's underground wall next to a huge water reserve. Presumably, when the wall is breached, a flood will result, destroying the mine and boosting gold's market value. The syndicate's membership includes the mine-owner's son-in-law, Manfred Steyner, so this should all be a done deal. But Steyner's chief accomplice, his general manager, died in the tunnel collapse. So he now interviews Rod Slater, the underground manager, for the vacant post. Afterwards, Slater meets Steyner's wife Terry and is attracted, but she shows no interest. However, Steyner arranges for them to meet again, hoping Terry will influence her grandfather, Hurry Hirschfeld, Sonderditch's owner, to endorse Slater. The plan works: Slater becomes general manager, and he and Terry begin an affair.
Slater, unaware of the syndicate or its plans, carries out Steyner's orders to drill near the reservoir. But to provide insurance against catastrophe, he plants a safety charge to block the tunnel in case of a water breakage. Steyner soon discovers Slater is seeing his wife but allows the affair to continue. It will keep Slater away from the mine so that the safety charge can be disabled without his knowledge. Over a warm Christmas, Slater and Terry pilot her small plane to a vacation spot. While they are away, drilling back at the mine continues. When the final breach is made, a wall of water roars into the mazes of tunnels and shafts. The mine then floods, trapping a thousand workers. Slater hears of the disaster on the radio and demands Terry fly him back to the mine. Once there, Slater and Big King, a trusted indigenous worker, descend into the mine, braving flood waters, to reconnect the safety charge that will seal the dike and save the trapped miners. They succeed, but only because Big King sacrifices his own life to detonate the charge, allowing Slater to fall injured into a rubber dinghy and float to safety.
As Slater is carried from the mine to an ambulance, Hirschfeld tells him, "You're a maniac!"—but with a satisfied smile. Terry adds, "I love you." Which is just as well, for when Steyner's plot to destroy Sonderditch has failed, he is targeted for assassination by the syndicate. He perishes after being run over by a co-conspirator commandeering Steyner's own car. This conveniently leaves Terry free to continue her relationship with Slater.
The movie is based on a 1970 novel by Wilbur Smith.[3][4]
The story was based on a real-life flooding of a gold mine near Johannesburg in 1968.[5][6] Smith researched the book by working in a gold mine for a few weeks. "I was a sort of privileged member of the team, I could ask questions and not be told to shut up", he says.[7]
The New York Times said "Mr Smith, an adventure writer disdainful of subtleties, blasts his way to a finale strewn with broken bodies and orange blossoms."[8]
Development
Producer Michael Klinger bought the rights to it and Shout at the Devil as his follow up to Get Carter. "Actually they're both just as tough as Carter,” said Klinger of the projects. The South African government promised to co operate in filming at the mines.[9]
The film Klinger most wanted to make was Shout at the Devil. However, because it was a period film it needed a large budget. Gold was cheaper because it told a contemporary story and he ended up filming that instead.[10]
Klinger tried to set up the film with MGM, for whom he had made Get Carter. The studio bought out Klinger's option for Gold Mine for £25,000, but insisted that Klinger hire an experienced writer, Stanley Price, to work on the script along with Wilbur Smith. MGM later withdrew from the project – they were pulling out of all production in Britain – and Klinger bought back rights to the novel and script.[2]
The budget of over £1 million was raised mostly from South African businessmen.[1] (One account said it was three South African furniture manufacturers.[11])
Roger Moore was cast in the lead. It was his first film since making his debut as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).[12] He was paid $200,000 plus a percentage of the profits.[2] Producer Michael Klinger used a number of other people associated with James Bond films, including editor John Glen, production designer Syd Cain, titles designer Maurice Binder and director Peter Hunt.
Tony Klinger, assistant to the producer, said he tried to get Steven Spielberg to direct the movie after having been impressed by Duel. However, Roger Moore vetoed the choice on the basis of Spielberg's youth. "Roger was, I think, a little insecure about his acting ability, and as a consequence was always protective of his image, like most movie stars that are less actor and more star. I guess that's why we got the message loud and clear that he turned down our first choice for the director for Gold", he said.[13]
It was reported that the South African government was opposed to the film but Klinger said it was actually the mining industry. However the General Mining Corporation eventually gave its support.[11]
Filming
The film was controversially filmed in South Africa under the apartheid regime, with scenes shot at two large mines, Buffelfontein and West Rand.[6] "We had to drop down two miles, which was horrendous,” said Moore. "It was great to start with, and I got tremendously enthusiastic about the mine, but after ten days down there it got very claustrophobic."[12]
The British film union, ACTT, put a black ban on the movie because its members were forbidden to work in South Africa. The Union suggested the film be shot in a mine in Wales instead but the filmmakers refused, claiming Wales looked nothing like South Africa. Some members defied the ban.[1][12]
Bradford Dillman later recalled "Susannah York, a militant liberal, used every publicity opportunity to deplore the conditions of the black miners, despite pleas from the producers to cool it."[15]
The complexity of filming the final flood scenes resulted in the movie going over budget.[2]
Klinger tried to sell the film to companies such as British Lion, Anglo-EMI, and Rank, but was rejected. He succeeded in selling the film to Hemdale.[2]
Release
The film had its world premiere on 5 September 1974 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London before opening to the public the following day.[16] It expanded on 8 September 1974 to the rest of the United Kingdom and further expanded on 12 September.
Reception
The film was popular at the box office – it was one of the 19 most popular films at the British box office in 1974[17] – enabling Klinger to raise finance for Shout at the Devil.[18][10]
Critical
The Los Angeles Times said the film "is everything people have in mind when they talk about a movie movie. Its hero is heroic, its heroine is beautiful and kittenishly sexy, its villains are outrageously villainous, its characters crustily colorful. It has scope, scale, surprise. It has more punch than a 15 round fight and more corn than Kansas. It is a travelogue of South Africa and a fascinating audiovisual essay on gold mining."[19]
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References
1 2 3 Hebert, Hugh (24 November 1973). "Will 'Gold' bite the dust?: Hugh Hebert on the ACTT's attempts to black a film". The Guardian. p.13.
↑ Weiler, A. H. (20 October 1974). "News of the Screen: Radnitz Making Schoolboy Story 6 Composers' Lives Subjects of Films Newman to Study Pershing Career 'Gold' Team Sets New Adventure". New York Times. p.65.
↑ Champlin, Charles (8 November 1974). "Seething Mix in Plot of 'Gold': Plot of 'Gold'". Los Angeles Times.
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