IMDb RATING
5.9/10
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In 1925, a lone and obsessed Arctic prospector Jack McCann finally strikes gold. Twenty years later, he begins spiraling out of control when his only daughter becomes engaged to a man he str... Read allIn 1925, a lone and obsessed Arctic prospector Jack McCann finally strikes gold. Twenty years later, he begins spiraling out of control when his only daughter becomes engaged to a man he strongly dislikes.In 1925, a lone and obsessed Arctic prospector Jack McCann finally strikes gold. Twenty years later, he begins spiraling out of control when his only daughter becomes engaged to a man he strongly dislikes.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe character of Mayakofsky (Joe Pesci) is a thinly disguised name for real-life mob boss Meyer Lansky. According to Wikipedia, source novelist Marshall Houts "proposed the theory that American gangster boss Meyer Lansky was behind the killing of (Harry) Oakes (the real-life person on whom Gene Hackman's Jack McCann was based), due to Oakes' resistance to casino gambling in the Bahamas."
- GoofsJack McCann's discovery of the gold is several times said to take place in the winter of 1925. At this time, McCann has no family and is a complete loner. Yet, when the film moves forward to 1945, he has a married daughter who is said to be twenty years old in the early part of 1945. Her mother, McCann's wife, is an aristocratic Englishwoman who has married him for his money, and who therefore cannot have married him before 1926 at the earliest, which makes the daughter unlikely to be more than 18 in the 1945 scenes. Theresa Russell, who plays the daughter, was in her late twenties when the film opened.
- Quotes
Jack McCann: Once I had it all. Now I just have everything.
- Alternate versionsAlthough the UK cinema version was intact the 1986 Warner video release was missing 7 seconds from the death of Jack McCann, notably shots of a flame thrower being run over his body and face. These were not cut by the BBFC so presumably they were distributor edits. DVD releases are fully uncut.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Loose Talk: Episode #1.7 (1983)
Featured review
interesting cast
Jack McCann (Gene Hackman) fights off his partner, witnesses a shocking suicide, and hallucinates about his wife Helen. During a long, harsh Arctic exploration, he stumbles into a cave where he literally unleashes a river of gold. Years later, he is filthy rich with his own island. He doles on his daughter Tracy (Theresa Russell) but dislikes her pick Claude Maillot Van Horn (Rutger Hauer) to marry. Charles Perkins (Ed Lauter) is his business partner. Mobsters Aurelio D'Amato (Mickey Rourke) and Mayakofsky (Joe Pesci) want to buy the island to build a casino but Jack refuses. It's WWII and everybody wants to kill Jack.
The first act has so many surreal touches which doesn't always fit the rest of the movie. There are also some weirdness in the rest including a voodoo orgy and a crazy kill. All the strange touches distract from a more tense thriller. Although I can say that I've never seen a blowtorch used that way. This does have a killer cast which keeps it interesting. This is a cross between Hitchcock and an experimental art-house film. The trial is extraneous and adds no tension to the movie. That's par for the course.
The first act has so many surreal touches which doesn't always fit the rest of the movie. There are also some weirdness in the rest including a voodoo orgy and a crazy kill. All the strange touches distract from a more tense thriller. Although I can say that I've never seen a blowtorch used that way. This does have a killer cast which keeps it interesting. This is a cross between Hitchcock and an experimental art-house film. The trial is extraneous and adds no tension to the movie. That's par for the course.
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- SnoopyStyle
- Sep 23, 2016
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Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $123,572
- Gross worldwide
- $123,572
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