Wet Gold

Remember how the search for gold in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" led to greed, paranoia, and violence? The same sort of thing happens here, only the setting has been transferred to the Bahamas and Burgess Meredith now plays Walter Huston's role. The results are easy to watch but flat dialog, thin characterizations, and indifferent acting put this into the "forgettable" category. The musical score has that generic "straight-to-video" quality. Brooke Shields, Tom Byrd, and Brian Kerwin spend so much time in bathing suits that the movie seems to have been filmed in Speedo-Vision. In terms of "beefcake," Byrd -- whose frontal nude scene has been cut from most prints of "Out Cold" -- checks in as young, dark, and hairy -- his chest will remind you of Sam Elliott or Jeff Osterhage -- whereas Kerwin qualifies as not so young, blond, and not so hairy. Poor Brooke! Every young woman should have this kind of "meat parade" from which to choose!

If you are looking up for this forgotten TV movie and reading its reviews, you must be a Brooke fan, so there is no need to beat around the bush: 1) She is very good-looking in this one as well, as she was in all her teenage movies -and she is on-screen most of the time in swimming suits here. 2) Her acting performance is unfortunately lame, but you cannot really tell if it is her own fault or the fault of the script with its unconvincing lines.

The plot is about a search for some sunken gold. As an adventure flick, you'd probably want to fast-forward it most of the time, if not stop and eject the disc all together, if she wasn't the star and non-fans of Brooke would probably do that, but, as I said above, only her fans would track this movie down anyway and it is unlikely that non-fans would be aware of its existence. Speaking of the disc, the visual quality of the American DVD (from Image Entertainment) is below average for DVD standards and looks like a transfer from a VHS source. The movie, originally made for US TV, was theatrically released in some European countries such as in Germany in 1986 and in Spain in 1987 (where it flopped with less than 50 thousand tickets sold) and I wish I could see it in big screen.

This limp,damp remake of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre could be left to its undead existence on weekday afternoon television schedules but for two factors.First(and least important)Burgess Meredith shows what an underused and underrated actor he was, even in the hackneyed role he has here(alcoholic old seadog who ultimately has better survival instincts than the younger beautiful landlubbers).Secondly The gorgeousness that is Ms.BROOKE SHIELDS! one of the most beautiful women ever to walk the planet and don't the filmmakers know it.She is in virtually every scene in ravishing closeup most of the time and her basic attire consists of daisyduke shorts,figure-hugging scuba diving gear and and a wonderful variety of tight-fitting swimwear. The hilarious thing is that she is supposed to be an impoverished waitress,but she has more beachwear than a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. This film could,therefore, be a major historical document as it will show future generations why she was such a major figure in 70's/80's popular culture though only if you play it with the sound turned down.

Brooke Shields wants to go places and see things. Leaving drunk Burgess Meredith for dead in a pee-smelling alleyway is a good start.

Chris Guest and Bri Kerwin are two other complete losers who both want Brooke in their beds but all they get is a crook in their heads. After stealing a yacht, this motley gathering of dumbbells goes treasure-hunting. At first, they're less than successful, but soon their salvage efforts prove rewarding. Now if only Meredith didn't blab about it to every derelict in the local cantina.

Brooke in bathing suits. This movie is boring, but not when Brookie is showing off her flowing long linear body.

Having seen "Wet Gold" in a movie theater in the Netherlands as a child, I can attest to the fact that this wasn't originally a "made for tv" production. For Brooke Shields to star in a tv movie at the height of her career wouldn't make much sense. This lushly filmed, old school adventure movie, looked absolutely stunning on the big screen, with it's deep blue color compositions and the capable widescreen photography, couldn't look less like a tv movie. Also stunning is Shields, who at age 20, looked more beautiful in this film than in anything she did previously, probably due to the natural makeup and settings. She plays "Laura," a put upon waitress, who is distressed with a life of all work and no money. She plays the part in her usual breathy, air-headed style, which is actually quite endearing here. Playing opposite to Shields is the always wonderful Burgess Meredith, as local drunk "Samson," who dazzles Brooke's character with stories of a shipwreck that he survived, decades before...a shipwreck that left millions of dollars worth of gold bars on the ocean's floor. Rounding up her boyfriend, ( a sexy, hairy chested Thomas Byrd, who appears in a full-frontal nude scene which seems to have been cut for video release) and hiring a pro diver, (the seemingly unsavory Brian Kerwin, who has more on his mind than making a few bucks on this expedition,) the crew head out to sea to find their fortune. And is as usual in this case, the promise of unimaginable wealth begins to change each member of the crew, sometimes in dark and sinister ways. "Wet Gold" is a technically very well-made movie, featuring glorious cinematography, including some stunning underwater photography. The pacing is brisk, with new plot developments happening at every turn, and the character development is good enough to make the audience think they know each member of the boating party, only to be surprised at who turns out to be the good guys and who becomes the most corrupted by the gold. Of course this is apparently an updating of an earlier film, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," but the target audience in 1985 would not typically know, or care about a film from 1948. Much like another Brooke Shields vehicle, "Sahara," "Wet Gold" is a movie created in the old fashioned style of films from a more innocent time, when movies provided a sense of escapist fantasy out of fantastic, larger than life adventure stories, while dazzling the audience with beautiful people and exotic settings. This is exactly what "Wet Gold" is. It even makes the classic, time worn statement about the evils of greed and what it can do to otherwise decent people. The cult status this flick has is understandable and well deserved. A Bluray restoration would be welcomed, and compared to the current low quality prints available, seeing this gorgeous film in high definition widescreen format, would be a revelation.