The Seventh Coin

I commented on this movie nearly a year ago. I would like to add to my last comment. This movie is about 2 teens who run away from a bad guy and his 2 men who are chasing the kids for a coin. The main bad guys thinks he was a king in a past life. I would give this movie 6 out of 10. It's too bad it's not on dvd.

On the face of it, THE SEVENTH COIN is an Indiana Jones-style adventure that tells of the hunt for a fabled magic coin that once belonged to King Herod. There's no magical or supernatural stuff here, but the movie was shot in Israel so there's plenty of authentic value in the old walled city locations of Jerusalem.

The adventure stuff is kept to a minimum, despite the extensive presence of Peter O'Toole, playing a perfectly mannered British villain, you know, the type the Americans love so much. O'Toole will do anything to get his hands on this fabled coin, and the only thing standing in his way are a couple of kids in actual possession of the artifact: one of them's an American tourist, the other a Palestinian kid.

Most of the running time is made up of a star-crossed romance between these kids, a romance that takes the form of a sweet and sentimental friendship that gradually develops into something more. There's something controversial about this cross-cultural relationship and it's no surprise that the ending is a real cop-out, but it doesn't really provide much in the way of entertainment value. Watch out for John Rhys-Davies playing a gruff cop. Okay, when is he anything else but gruff?

Found this film for sale for only one dollar on DVD and enjoyed every minute of the story which involved two young girls who were tourists and wound up getting caught in a sort of triangle. Peter O'Toole,(Emil Saber),"Romeo & Me",'06 was a coin collector and was seeking another coin to increase the value of his collection. Emil was a sort of nut, who would do anything to obtain another coin. Alexandria Powers(Ronnie),"Zigs",'01 was a young boy who went around stealing items from the tourists in order to feed and care for his elderly grandfather. Ally Walker, (Lisa) "Happy Texas",'99 and Jill Novick,(Brenda) are young ladies who get deeply involved with Ronnie and the nut case, Emil. There are quite a few funny scenes where nudity is shown, especially when men go into a woman's public bath and vice versa. All the actors gave an outstanding performance and it was quite an entertaining film to view and enjoy.

The acting, directing, editing and script are excellent. Cinematography is brilliant. A good treatment of greed, young love (without the obligatory sex scenes), class and cultural differences, the film's chase sequences are a brilliant kaleidescope of Old Jerusalem. It is difficult to believe that a visit there could be as visually rich as watching this film.

It is a relief to see a romantic young couple not grabbing for sex but rather more interested in each other's personalities and cultural differences. Their youth and innocence contrast strongly with the cadaverous presence of Peter O'Toole, whom greed has transformed into a caricature of human form, unalive to the vitality and beauty around him.

Cool movie. I liked it when the two teenagers developed a friendly relationship with each other. Peter O'Toole stars as the bad guy who will do anything to achieve the seventh coin. I would recommend this movie for teenagers from 13 to 19 years of age.