I remember stumbling across Nicolas Roeg’s film Eureka (1983) one late night on television and being blown away by the listed cast and the amazing first act documenting a prospector Jack McCann (Gene Hackman) searching for gold in the snowy mountains. I think I had to go to bed and missed out on the rest of the film. It always intrigued me, particularly Hackman continually shouting, “I’ve never earned a nickel on another man’s sweat!” as if it was some kind of a mantra, and the dizzingly flourishes in editing, music and special effects that make Jack’s trials a cosmic journey that climaxes with a surreal explosion of gold liquid. The rest of the narrative, based on a novel (and real life murder case) called Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?, is set on a Carribean Island during 1945 with Jack, an old man and an extremely wealthy man, bouncing between depressed ennui (the dawning realisation that the search for gold was his happiest time and now having everything has no purpose) and jealous anger over his daughter Tracy (Theresa Russell) and her marriage to French playboy Claude (Rutger Hauer). All the while Jewish gangster Mayakofsky (Joe Pesci) wants to make a deal with Jack to build a casino on the island and sends his associate D’Amato (Mickey Rourke) to make the arrangements with Jack’s associate (Ed Lauter) in debt to them. The second act is compelling as you are waiting for all this criminal and lustful tension to boil over, and Roeg’s trademark elliptical editing and interest in sexuality keep things engaging. However, without spoiling anything, the third act takes an odd turn, and I found the ending to be a strange, uncertain experience with Russell stuck with some very unfortunate monologues. I believe the film’s release was delayed and it was generally unsuccessful (Roeg would follow it up with Insignificance, which I think is very good). It’s great to see Hackman in this strange arty drama, and the first act just has a weird, wild power that the rest can’t match (I am falling in line with the majority opinion here). For those who have an interest in Roeg’s career (Don’t Look Now, Bad Timing) and overall aesthetic, it is still worth seeking out, as much as it is a mixed bag. Streamed on SBS On Demand. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 