Black Water Gold

Considering that "Black Water Gold" is about lost gold from the era of the Spanish galleons, you'd think it would be a lot more exciting than it turned out to be. Poor dialog and a poor print ultimately made this film tedious...and perhaps if you can find a copy NOT on YouTube, your viewing experience might be a bit better.

The story begins with a guy sneaking into an off limits area to do some poaching for fish. However, while he's scuba diving, he sees some men murdered and dumped into the water! Among the dead guys' possessions are a couple small bags....and inside them are some artifacts from a Spanish galleon. He knows that there's something really exciting here and soon he finds some folks to go on a diving adventure with him in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, some rich jerk (Bradford Dillman) is also after the same shipwreck and he'll stop at nothing to get it.

I have been diving throughout the Florida Keys as well as the Bahamas. It's positively gorgeous. But so much of this is lost on this badly degraded print. It's a shame, as this is the star of the film....and without that you are stuck with generally forgettable and unlikable characters, poorly written dialog and a plot that is far more tedious than you'd expect.

Out doing a little illegal sample gathering, scuba diver Ray Sandage (Aron Kincaid) witnesses two men murdered in the water just above. Returning to shore, he's delighted and shocked to find a gold coin among the items he collected. Sandage recruits some help to discover the resting place of a Spanish galleon. Sandage's group is in a race to find the treasure with a team that has already proved it will commit murder.

While the lure of Black Water Gold might be the promise of a treasure hunt. the thing that I found the most entertaining was Bradford Dillman. Dillman was a fairly competent, but ultimately bland, actor who showed-up in just about every TV program or made- for-TV movie produced in the 70s. He's just always there, but not often the standout. His character, Lyle Fawcett, adds a lot to Black Water Gold. He's a spoiled, rich Mama's boy who is accustomed to getting what he wants. And if he wants the treasure, he'll kill to get it. I loved the scene where he speaks with his mother on the phone. It says volumes about the character. Really good stuff. Beyond Dillman, Black Water Gold benefits from snappy direction, nice underwater intrigue, and a surprisingly strong cast, including the great Ricardo Montalban, France Nuyen, and the stunningly beautiful Lana Wood. It's not the kind of movie that will knock your socks off, but it is an decent way to spend just over an hour.

Fast-paced treasure hunt finds self-proclaimed scuba "bum" (Kincaid) framed for murder after local king-pin's (Dillman) thug overdoes the standover routine on two divers searching for antiquities of a sunken Spanish galleon. When Kincaid discovers the ill-fated pair recovered part of the long-lost bounty, he enlists the aid of marine archaeologist (Dullea) and local treasure-hunter (Montalban) to raise the wreck before Dillman can cash-in.

Very modest time-filler at best, and sorry to disappoint, but little to no shark (or any other) action mention. Dillman is offbeat as he minces about in flamboyance, whilst the beautiful France Nuyen hangs from his arm foretelling destinies with a perpetual cocktail and Black Magic motifs. Montalban is perhaps the most watchable, both he and Dullea have some sort of back-story on which to develop their characters, unlike poor Aron Kincaid despite being essentially the central protagonist, has little to do but look annoyed and complain. Nevermind, there's a glimmer of hope suggested before the credits roll.

Good cast, some sunny-looking Caribbean exteriors and plenty of underwater faunalogue, but ultimately, there's very few shocks or thrills in this 72-minute TV quickie to recommend.

I have always liked Treasure Hunting movies shot on location. Here several groups of divers are in Nassau, Bahamas where fun and sun are usually the order of the day. They even state in the movie that "very little happens around here" Amidst the usual eating and drinking it becomes known that a Sunken Spanish Galion, "The Huldalgo" has been found. It seems like everyone knew about it but just didn't know exactly where it was located. Well, one of the adventures did find it and the other groups want to steal it. They battle underwater and some die. Aaron Kincaid, who originally discovered it ends up with 5 million dollars and an offer from Lana Wood to help spend it. The fool turns her down.

Enjoyed viewing this film which had a cast of some great film stars who went on to great careers in the film industry. Keir Dullea,(Christofer Perdeger),"Brain Waves",'83, discovered very valuable golden treasure by accident while a murder is being committed almost on top of him. Christofer seeks the assistance of Richardo Montalban,(Alejandro Zayas),"Conquest of the Planet of the Apes",'72, who was for many years searching for this very treasure that Perdeger just found and knows where this sunken treasure can be located. Lana Wood, "Santan's Mistress",'82 gave plenty of beautiful charm to her role. There is plenty of action underwater with plenty of hungry sharks and a great film for the 1970's. In present day life, Lana Wood is struggling with an illness and my thoughts are with her family and I wish her the very best.