Mother Lode

A great movie, my wife and I's favorite since we first saw it in 1982. We liked the name and the character Ian MacGee so much that we named our first son Ian, who is now 19. Of course, I am of Scottish decent, so I loved the character's accent, and the bagpipes. This movie could have easily have had a sequel, such as going back for the gold through a mountain crevasse. One of Mr Heston's finest performances. My first introduction to Kim Bassinger, and she remains as my favorite blonde bombshell actress. We are also biting at the bit to get it on DVD. Hey, Mr. Heston, if you ever read this, please get this movie on a DVD, it will sell like crazy!!! Love it, love it, love it.

Decent wilderness adventure with the legendary Charlton Heston directing himself in a tale of two young people, Jean (Nick Mancuso) and Andrea (Kim Basinger) flying to Northern British Columbia. They do it ostensibly to look for a colleague / friend who'd come there and disappeared, but the lure of a potential windfall in gold proves too strong to resist. Unfortunately for them, already residing in the area is grizzled old Scottish miner Silas McGee (Heston), who's not as friendly as he initially seems to be. Heston, directing from a screenplay by his son Fraser (Fraser was also the producer), does a capable job of drawing us into this story with good acting and well orchestrated thrills; the second unit direction was the work of Joe Canutt, son of another legend, Yakima Canutt, so there are two second generation filmmakers filling out important roles here. The film is well shot (by Richard Leiterman) in claustrophobic settings and paced well. Mainly, it's worth seeing for Heston's fine performance (there's a major twist regarding his character, but you won't hear it from me) as he completely immerses himself in the character and does a good job with the accent to boot. Basinger looks great as usual and she and Mancuso are both quite capable. John Marley is Elijha, the forest dweller who lends some much needed assistance and he's just a delight. This is quite well made technically, with some breathtaking aerial photography and lots of gorgeous rural scenery. Ken Wannbergs' music likewise adds to the overall enjoyment. It's too bad that this little film is not that well known nowadays, but it is on DVD now so more people can discover it for themselves. Not that it's anything truly *great*, necessarily, but it's tense and gripping stuff and entertaining all the way. Seven out of 10.

A couple named Sean (Nick Mancuso) and Andrea (Kim Basinger) travel into of British Columbia looking for their friend George. Then their aircraft crashes and they are helped by a fisherman (John Marley). Later on, they find a Scottish miner named McGee (Charlton Heston)who is searching a mother lode , a chamber full of gold .

The film is packed with suspense intensified by greed, thrills, good performances and marvelous landscapes. It is a bit slow-moving and a little boring because is mostly set into caverns and only a trio of characters . Tour-de-force playing by Charlton Heston as a dual role as twin brothers who live in isolation during decades searching the lost gold and emerging a violent conflict among them. The picture is a familiar venture with Charlton Heston as starring, his son Frazer Clarke Heston as screenwriter and even his daughter Lydia Clarke Heston as still photographer. It is filmed entirely on ___location in British Columbia with nice cinematography by Richard Leiterman, though is urgent a remastering. The movie is produced by Peter Snell, Charlton Heston's usual producer who financed the three films he directed as ¨ A man for all seasons¨ and ¨Marco Antonio y Cleopatra. Furthermore, he produced him the motion pictures who directed his son, Frazer Clarke Heston and starred Heston as ¨ Island of treasure¨and ¨The crucifix of blood¨. Nevertheless, ¨Mother lode¨is the worst film directed by Heston. Rating : average but entertaining. See this flick if only to enjoy the lush backdrop of British Columbia. It is only for Charlton Heston Heston fans.

Charlton Heston's Mother Lode is one of those neat flicks that not only is filmed in my hometown of Vancouver (like every movie ever) and the surrounding British Columbia region, but is also set there as well. It's an entertaining, if slight little adventure story that's perfect to put on for a rainy afternoon on the iPad. Heston, in addition to both writing and directing, plays two roles here, but it's a bit of a sly trick saying that because he mostly appears as one, and only briefly as the other, but no matter, the old pro works his butt off to steal every scene. He plays loner mountain man Silas McGee, an eccentric prospector whose stairs don't quite reach the attic, living alone in the wilderness looking for that perfect gold strike. The excellent Nick Mancuso, in a role originally meant for James Brolin, is Jean Dupre, a cocky bush pilot who heads McGee's way with his high strung girlfriend (Kim Basinger), looking for a fellow pilot who got lost and a little of the gold stuff for himself while he's at it. As soon as they run into McGee it's clear the old dog is crazy as shit and not to be trusted, creating a nice atmosphere of isolated paranoia and mystery as the man's true intentions come to dark light. Mancuso is always terrifically intense and so great at subtle comic moments, this is one of his great early roles and not to be missed for any fan. Poor Basinger suffered a miscarriage while production was underway and as such seems understandably distracted, but she's a trooper and carries her end well. Heston either does a brilliant Scottish accent, a slipshod one or a bit of both, it's hard to tell with his rapid fire banter and eloquent, robust verbosity. He's electric though, and freaky as all hell as the type of dodgy fellow you better pray you don't run into out there. The action is pretty run of the mill and the film loses the tautness a thriller like this should have in parts, but it's solid enough to not change the channel. For B.C. residents it's an absolute treat though, especially as Mancuso's rickety float plane arcs up over the Vancouver harbour towards the Cassiar mountains and we get to see what our city looked like back in the 80's. Cool stuff.

I remember seeing this movie when it first came out. The opening scene scared the heck out of me. Seeing it so many years later, it still holds my attention.

As is stated already, the cinematography was well done and the acting (particularly by Heston) is first-rate. I thought the director did a very good job of creating an atmosphere that scares as well as intrigues. The story is a good one, the sort that you hear around the camp fire.

And yes, I agree that this should be on DVD. I'd buy it in a second.

A well made movie that stands the test of time.