Nella tana del serpente

My review was written in November 1992 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

Earnest with a capital E, "Chains of Gold" is a failed attempt to deal with the ongoing drug/crime wave entrapping today's youth. This 1989 MCEG production was shown on Showtime last year and is now a Christmas video release.

Opening title card indicates the film was based on actual events, but the screenplay by star John Travolta and three other writers is corny melodrama.

Travolta portrays a do-gooder social worker in Miami with major guilt over the death of his son when he was too drunk to help. He's now taken under his wing a surrogate son, Joey Lawrence, who's deeply involved in local drug dealing.

When Lawrence disappears, Travolta becomes obsessed with finding the boy and saving him. Losing his job after a fight with a superior, Travolta decides to infiltrate the drug ring, led by evil Benjamin Bratt. To this end, he enlists the aid of an old flame, Marilu Henner, who's now working as Bratt's corrupt lawyer.

The film becomes utterly unconvincing when Bratt admits Travolta to his inner circle while having his henchman closely monitor the outsider. Of course Travolta bulls his way through to a violent, offing-the-baddies conclusion, but it plays as false.

Keeping his 1970s superstar charisma and physical abilities under wraps, Travolta is tiresome in this stolid, goody two-shoes role. Pairing with Henner strikes no sparks either. Film's best performance comes from Bratt, as the brash. 21-year-old fabulously wealthy drug kingpin.

Rod Holcomb's direction varies from overly low-key in the middle reels to egregiously hokey melodrama for the finale.

I'm assuming that John Travolta decided to take things in his own hands at the time of making this movie, seeing that his career was in a slump at the time. I assume that because Travolta is credited as being one of the four screenwriters of this movie. It must have hurt when the finished product was shelved for some time before being dumped directly to cable TV, though I'm pretty confident that the movie wouldn't have done well if it had been released to theaters. It's pretty apparent this was a low budget movie, with such attributes as poor photography and dimly lit sequences. In fact, despite all the swearing, violence, and drug scenes, the movie feels like it was made for TV. The screenplay contains some howlers like interracial gangs, but it's a mostly dull and slow-moving affair. Bernie Casey and Hector Elizondo are good, but there's only so much they can do in their limited roles. As for Travolta, while he's been good in other movies, you wouldn't know it from his performance here. His swearing, getting uppity and saying such things as "How dare you?", crying, and bulging eyes suggest a director who was reluctant to reign him in for some unknown reason. The only reason to see this is to try and figure out how this got re-released (on DVD) a few years ago.

John Travolta is social worker Scott Barnes, a person adamant about keeping the kids of some innercity area of California from giving into the rampant drug circles that work the street. He's been working the job for so long, he knows the dealers by name, and they know him.

The job gets personal when a close friend of his, a 13 year old boy named Tommy (Joey Lawrence), starts dealing. Unfortunately, Tommy has already become much more involved in the "Youth Incentive Program," which is the name for the dangerous clan of cocaine dealers that run the area. Travolta figures that he owes it to Tommy to help him, seeing this as an opportunity to redeem himself after having accidentally killed his only son in an accident where Scott was drunk.

Scott, the bold idealist that he is, goes undercover in one of the most dangerous drug rings (which reminds me a lot of Shredder's underground gang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie), hoping that he can rescue Tommy from their grips before it's too late.

Though the message is good, considering it is a powerful statement especially where kids are messing up their lives in being hooked on this stuff (they run like rats in the daylights to protect their stash) because they're sold on the false philosophy that they'll become filthy rich. Likewise, it illustrates the failures of the system as Scott tries so hard for other government agencies to help him out and put an end to the mess that he's witnessed for so long. But, it does in part seem a little too unrealistic, detracting from the importance of this message somewhat, as Scott, by himself, tries to disguise himself and his motives from a very ruthless leader (Benjamin Bratt) and his even more ruthless gang of drug dealing thugs. When the stakes are high, these guys will do whatever it takes to protect their product and their money. But is Scott able to do much more to protect Tommy?

If you see this movie on the video shelf at a video store, rent it. It is definitely worth seeing.

I actually really liked this film not just because i like joey Lawrence but because its about real issues. Joey Lawrence and John Travolta give really good performances, i was never really a fan of Travolta before i saw this film but now i see him as a really talented actor! Also Joey Lawrence gives an excellent performance as the troubled teenager tommy,everyone who still just see's him as that kid from Blossom should see this film, so they can see that there is more to him than his looks and his funny role as Joey Russo!!!Despite the bad reviews this film has had i give this film 8/10 and if you have the chance to see this film take the opportunity!