MOTHER LODE is an all but forgotten tale of survival in the wilderness and the hunt for a golden treasure. I'd never heard of it before I saw it was on TV so I thought I'd give it a go; I quite like Charlton Heston when he's at his most bombastic so I thought I'd see what he was like here.
The good news is that Heston is the best thing in the film and his larger than life portrayal of a mountain man is hugely entertaining. It's a shame that the rest of the film can't match, really, as MOTHER LODE is saddled with a slow-moving plot and some rather unlikeable protagonists. Nick Mancuso and Kim Basinger play characters who seem self-centred and indeed rather selfish and I couldn't warm to them despite their various misadventures. Basinger's screaming soon becomes annoying, too.
What MOTHER LODE does have going for it is some stunning outdoor location photography of the British Columbian wilds. A lot of the aerial shots are simply breathtaking and truly bring to life this rather neglected part of the world (at least neglected when it comes to cinema). It's certainly an amiable enough watch overall, containing a little of that early '80s spirit of adventure that infused the likes of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, although this is much darker and more realistic, and not as entertaining. But it'll do.
The good news is that Heston is the best thing in the film and his larger than life portrayal of a mountain man is hugely entertaining. It's a shame that the rest of the film can't match, really, as MOTHER LODE is saddled with a slow-moving plot and some rather unlikeable protagonists. Nick Mancuso and Kim Basinger play characters who seem self-centred and indeed rather selfish and I couldn't warm to them despite their various misadventures. Basinger's screaming soon becomes annoying, too.
What MOTHER LODE does have going for it is some stunning outdoor location photography of the British Columbian wilds. A lot of the aerial shots are simply breathtaking and truly bring to life this rather neglected part of the world (at least neglected when it comes to cinema). It's certainly an amiable enough watch overall, containing a little of that early '80s spirit of adventure that infused the likes of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, although this is much darker and more realistic, and not as entertaining. But it'll do.
