The Worst Film Ever

One of my all time favorites.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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.

Although Charlton Heston does a fine job directing and starring in a project that his son Fraser created I think that this was a film Robert Mitchum should have done. With Mitchum's superb ear for accents and mimicry of same I'm sure the crazy Scotsman that Heston played would have really been special. I'm sure Heston had to work hard to get the right inflection.Nick Mancuso and Kim Bassinger are a pair of 20 somethings who go to some wild rural country in northern British Columbia looking for a geologist friend who went missing. Mancuso of course is also thinking of the gold he was looking for, in fact he's hoping to discover a legendary Mother Lode. Bassinger ain't immune to gold fever either.When the rickety plane the two are in makes a forced landing, they meet both a kindly John Marley and later Charlton Heston, a crazed Scotsman prospector who will do whatever it takes to keep outsiders out and if they get in, see they don't get out. Heston who is usually gaunt and serious playing historical figures gets a real good chance to bug out like crazy playing one of two villains in his career that I've noted.Director Heston really took the brakes off on this one. I've never seen Charlton Heston chew scenery before. But here he feasts on it like a steak dinner at Peter Luger's.For a different Heston, his fans might want to see Mother Lode.

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.

I'm particularly a fan of the Pacific Northwest, including the Yukon and British Columbia territories of Canada, and also a fan of old airplanes and bush pilots, so maybe I would have liked this movie even if it didn't have a good plot or acting. However, I think the plot and acting are good as well!