GOLD DUST is a very silly, ultra-low-budget movie where the writer, director, and one of the two main characters are all the same person: David Wall. One of the more interesting characteristics of David Wall is that he looks very much like Robert Redford's somewhat younger, middle-aged brother. Unsurprisingly, he styles his hair very carefully like Redford's to encourage the effect.
Also interestingly, about half the cast all have "Wall" as their last name. So GOLD DUST is clearly a family affair. "Hey! Let's all make a movie and we can be all the actors!"
Although everything is fairly amateurish, most of the primary characters are actually pretty good actors and there's nothing about the production values that screams "made for a dollar". About the only really badly designed and acted character is the hitman who just gets tiresome nearly instantly.
One of the tells for the budget, but which contributes positively to the movie, is the almost exclusive use of well-known classical music for the sound track. "In the Hall of the Mountain King", as an example, makes great background music for a fight scene, no doubt about it. And CHEAP royalty for quality music, too.
So, carefully keeping in mind the origins and realities of this movie, it's not half bad. Personally, I really liked it. If you can be a little forgiving, I'd encourage you to watch it.
But do keep in mind that my rating of 9/10 is more a function of my relativistic rating system than some kind of statement that it competes with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or something. Given the circumstances, it was exactly the movie it tried to be and is pretty much as good a movie as it COULD have been given the circumstances. In other words, it's a really GREAT movie for the type of movie that it is. Keep that in mind.
The only real downside is the vast number of fake reviews here on Internet Movie Db. But of course, that's mostly Internet Movie Db's fault and isn't really a knock against the movie. It just clearly underscores what a miserable website Internet Movie Db is and how badly curated and how much the operators of the site don't give a... Well, YOU know.
