Best treasure-hunting films
I don't think anybody can deny themselves the pleasure of a good treasure-foraging yarn. It seems this time of year, with the weather warmer and summer upon us, I get gold fever. What better way to satiate that craving than by watching unscrupulous buccaneers and intrepid adventurers scavenge for hidden loot?
I thought it was best to divide these up qualitatively, and chronologically in each subset. I own all of these, so if you have any good suggestions, I'm more than happy to add them to the collection. CAVEAT: NO PAPER MONEY. TREASURE AS IN DOUBLOONS, STONES, JEWELS, RUBIES, OR PRECIOUS ARTIFACTS.
The Cream of the Crop:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - Huston's immortal parable about greed in Mexico, with a career-best performance from Bogart, is probably the gold standard for cinematic cautionary tales. The affable Bogie's gradual disintegration and consumption by mounting paranoia is terrifying. Huston would only win 2 Oscars in his long, illustrious career, and they were both for this certified classic.
The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly - Sergio Leone's epic tale of two amoral outlaws and a ruthless bounty hunter scrambling to find a chest of gold buried in the middle of the desert, set against the panorama of the Civil War. The apex of a trilogy that redefined the western and made Clint Eastwood an international star.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God - Engimatic German filmmaker Werner Herzog's unrelentingly bleak and harrowing masterpiece about a crazed and increasingly detached madman leading an expedition of conquistadors through the dense, unforgiving jungles of Peru in search of the fabled lost "City of Gold", El Dorado. Kinksi's portrayal of the eponymous "Aguirre" is one of the screen's scariest incarnations of greed and lust, risking the lives of his men and losing his grasp on reality as he blindly pushes forward on a quest where the only thing attainable is destruction.
The Man Who Would be King - Huston again (indeed, these two films plus The Maltese Falcon comprise a loose trilogy of amoral dreamers and schemers), working from Rudyard Kipling's legendary critique of British imperialism. Connery and Caine (rarely better) star as English adventurers who set out to appoint themselves as divinely-inspired kings of remote Kafiristan. They inherit the riches and spoils of the empire as they teach the men how to soldier and help them repel invaders. However, pride goeth before the fall. Originally intended as a vehicle for Bogie and Gable, it's impossible to imagine anybody but Conner and Caine in the lead roles. Their mastery of the devilish, "jolly good" sense of English humor makes for an irresistible pairing, and Christopher Plummer is along as a pitch-perfect Kipling.
The Indiana Jones Trilogy - The collaboration of the two biggest creative forces in Hollywood along with its most bankable star redefined the term "adventure" and resulted in a hero for the ages. The rip-snortin' return to the cliffhanger serials of the 30s and the fedora-sporting, whip-cracking, globe-trotting archaelogist trying to thwart evil Nazis and Thuggee cults spawned a slew of rip-offs and imitators that failed to get the formula right that worked so magically here. It's better for the sake of humanity that we repudiate the existence of the abomination that was the 4th installment *shudders*
Romancing the Stone - One of the few Jones imitators that actually works...and works well, this romantic derring-do succeeds primarily on the screen chemistry between its stars, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. In their perilous quest to evade bad guys and retrieve a rare emerald stone, the two go from sparring cohorts unexpectedly thrust together to inflamed lovers.
The Goonies - Not for the more discerning adult, but arguably the best and most popular "kids" movie of all time. Diminuitive fortune seekers on the verge of losing their homes to greedy land developers follow a treasure map through the cavernous bowels of their city with an aloof family of criminals in hot pursuit. The ambitious set-pieces, rapport between its young stars, and spot-on childhood sense of wonder and excitement make this a definitive film of the 80s that continues to be enjoyed by generations of children.
Treasure Island (1990) - Unquestionably the best adaptation of Stevenson's archetypal boyhood adventure novel, this film excels on its cast, Jamaican location shooting, lively musical cues, appropriation of the epic ship constructed for The Bounty to double as the Hispaniola, and astonishing fidelity to Stevenson's text.
Trespass - I hold this little Walter Hill gem in high regard. Originally called Looters before the L.A. riots necessitated a name change, two Arkansas firemen abscond from a burning building with a treasure map that leads them to stolen Vatican goods sequestered in a delapidated warehouse on the outskirts of East St. Louis. The territory, unfortunately, is also the turf of a vicious street gang. It's a case of being in the wrong case at the wrong time, as the pair witness a gangland execution in the middle of their excavating. A tense stand-off between both sides ensues. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre meets Assault on Precinct 13, this is a pulpy, gritty little B-film elevated by Hill's skills as an action craftsman.
Three Kings - David O'Russell's best pre-tailspin film (and arguably still his best, period) traces the fortunes of 3 (well, at first 4) American soldiers during the Gulf War as they embark across the desert to recover stolen Kuwaiti gold bullion. Their search exposes them to the hostilities of their environment and brings them into contact with Iraqui freedom fighters. Three Kings is a brilliantly-made war satire that examines values of personal honor and loyalty with insight and humor.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Just when you thought that the disastrous Cutthroat Island sank buccaneers to the sea depths for good, Disney reanimated the rascally rogues with this wildly successful hybrid of old-fashioned pirate lore and supernatural ghost story. Johnny Depp's leading man sails got a ferocious gust of wind he is still coasting with. As the selfish and double-crossing yet charming and lovable 'Captain' Jack Sparrow, Depp created one of the most memorable and iconic characters of last decade. In true uncharacteristic fashion, he received [his first] Best Actor academy award nomination for his work, and the film became lucrative property for Disney. Unfortunately, they've been unable to recapture lightening twice, as the sequels have become increasingly tiresome, ponderous affairs.
The Good:
King Solomon's Mines (1950) - Renowned for being the first film shot almost entirely in Africa, this adaptation of Haggard's classic page-turner about a search for a fabled diamond quarry in the heart of the "dark" continent tempers the Victorian machismo by adding a fiery love interest in Kerr's character. Less an outright adventure film than an intermittently-exciting travelogue of Africa's interior, this famous iteration of the story derives its thrills mainly from the natural surroundings. Compared to its source, it's tame and tranquil.
Kelly's Heroes - A WWII yarn made at the height of the hippie era sees a ragtag group of Allied G.I.s hash a daring plan to cross enemy lines and seize control of a bank housing Nazi gold. The film is purposely anachronistic and the interesting cast is fine. The humor didn't always work for me and I didn't find myself bowled over by it, but it's a solid diversion.
National Treasure - Endlessly idiotic, the film nevertheless gets by on a breezy charm and the novelty of a treasure chamber intricately tied to America's most important document. It's a fun Indiana Jones-esque romp that one hopes can spark some interest in history, American or general.
Holes - A best-selling novel faithfully rendered on screen, the film is a tapestry of different storylines that gradually congeal into a satisfying whole (pun intended.) Most of the narrative focus occurs at Camp Green Lake, a cruelly oppressive juvenile detention center for boys who are assigned the bizarre and mysterious task of digging holes in the desert. Like most successful "children's" films, the cast is uniformily likeable and a young Shia LeBeouf is at his most palatable in the lead role.
The O.K.:
Lust for Gold - The story of Jacob Waltz and the legendary Lost Dutchman Mine, the film oscillates between the current day, where a man believed to have familial ties to the mine endeavors to uncover its location, and the past, with how the mine came to be. Glenn Ford plays Waltz a bit too churlish as to be unlikeable, and the ending, with the mine remaining a mystery, is a bit of a downer. However, the climactic fistfight between Prince and the soon-to-be-blacklisted Geer is a highlight.
The Walking Hills - I love the set-up for this; a group of people playing cards in a dingy saloon backroom receive wind that a gold-carrying wagon reputed to be capsized and lost in the desert has been spotted. With picks and shovels, they head out to the sand dunes to claim their prize. However, the film gets a bit too complicated for its own good by continually introducing mysterious ties between this assortment of ostensible strangers.
Plunder of the Sun - Ford again, this time in a south of the border noir. An American insurance adjuster becomes embroiled in a conspiracy which revolves around the exploration of ancient Mexican ruins for a sanctum of...well, plunder. Stock characters, an uninteresting villain, a superfluous horny female, and a failure to take full advantage of its location shooting in Oaxaca prevent this from reaching its potential. Still, it's worth a watch.
Secret of the Incas - Heston stars as a shifty tour guide who's life has been dedicated to the recovery of an ancient Incan gold sunburst encrusted with precious jewels. He agrees to help a female refugee (beautiful, naturally) to get into America and uses her to steal a plane for the carrying out of his real objective. However, his sometime-friend and business rival, Thomas Mitchell, is hot on his heels. This is the one that's eluded me the longest. After finally obtaining a DVD copy, I'm...disappointed. Like King Solomon's Mnes, most of the film's excitement comes from the footage of Machu Picchu and the customs of the indigenous people. The rest of it is pretty tepid, with the film getting too bogged down in the fizzling relationship between Heston and his unwitting accomplice. The dialogue hits in spots and the ending is pretty engaging, while one can easily see that Heston's attire and a particular tomb scene directly inspired Lucas and Spielberg when making their film. However, it's not nearly what it could have been.
***The Deep wasn't very good, and I've heard mostly negative things about Mackenna's Gold and The Long Ships. I'd love to see some rare but involving foraging films mentioned!
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