Just kidding. This really isn’t part of my finance primer at all. Rather, it’s about this terrific film I saw on TCM the other night called "Lust for Gold." It was such a remarkable story that the actual events that the film was based on may be the subject of one of my future screenplays. This is a film that is screaming to be remade. This is a blockbuster in the making.
"Lust for Gold" is a little B-movie Western made in 1948 starring Ida Lupino, Glenn Ford, and William Prince based on an actual event that happened in Arizona in 1940 and which was documented in a non-fiction book by Barry Storm in 1945. And what a story!
It begins in 1840 when gold prospector Pedro Peralta discovers a gold mine on Superstition Mountain in Arizona valued in 1840 dollars at $20 million. He has unfortunately chosen a sacred Apache burial ground for digging the mine so the Apache kill him. Peralta’s find and the mystery of the gold becomes a legend for the next several decades until 1880 when another fortune hunter, Jacob Walz (Glenn Ford), overhears a stranger call himself Ramon Peralta. Remembering the legend, Walz trails Peralta back to Superstition Mountain. Indeed, Ramon is Pedro’s brother and unwittingly leads Walz to the mine where he observes Ramon watching the moon cast a spot of light through a rock overhang directly over the mine’s hidden entrance. Walz now knows the secret to the mine and guns Peralta down.
Walz returns to Phoenix with a few sample and quite impressive nuggets and gets the whole town buzzing. Local baker Julia Thomas (Ida Lupino) is determined to find the gold and leave her criminal husband Pete. One night when Walz gets drunk, she nurses his hangover and gets him to reveal a map he’s drawn of the mine’s location. She and Pete take off for the mine but Walz is close behind. When they reach the mine, Walz takes them prisoner and tortures them. In a desperate attempt to save herself, Julia convinces Walz that she’ll marry him. To prove the point, she kills Pete. Shortly thereafter an earthquake strikes causing massive rock slides that kill her and bury the mine for good. Walz just barely makes it out.
ACT TWO:
Flash forward: 1940.
An article in the Arizona Gazette is published about Floyd Buckley, a famous adventurer, who claims to have discovered the secret of the legendary lost gold mine. The young Barry Storm (William Prince), grandson of Jacob Walz, travels to Arizona to interview Buckley, claiming rights to the mine since his grandfather had legal ownership of it. Buckley, of course, is not interested in sharing the secret so Storm is forced to stalk him on a journey up Superstition Mountain. Buckley is just about to reveal the entrance to the mine when he is gunned down by an unseen assailant. Storm examines Buckley’s body and finds the map that Walz had made sixty years before. He goes to the sheriff and shares the news of the map and Buckley’s murder. The sheriff then informs him that Buckley is the 21st victim to be murdered in recent years, all trying to find the mine. He then fills Storm in on much of the background from Act I. Storm goes on a journalistic frenzy interviewing people all over Arizona who have any connection to the mine and what he finds provides solid confirmation of all the facts he has gathered concerning the "legend." Now that he has the map, he is convinced that the both the mine and the gold really do exist and heads up to Superstition Mountain once again to claim it.
The map clearly describes the rock formations overlooking the mine and when he finds the spot, he is certain that he has found the mine. No sooner does he make this discovery than the deputy sheriff shows up to gun him down. But before the deputy does so, the lawman spills the beans. He’s been looking for this mine for 20 years and has killed everyone who has come near it, only to find out after he’s killed them that he’s still missing the final clue. But now he’s got the final clue - the map, which he takes from Storm and then prepares to shoot him. But Storm strikes out and a struggle ensues. Even though the lanky lad is no match for the burly deputy, they fight valiantly. The deputy is about to throw Storm off the cliff when a rattlesnake surprises the deputy and bites him, sending instead the lawman over the cliff and to his death.
Moments later the sheriff shows up. For years he has suspected that his deputy was the killer but had no proof, so he had trailed Storm to the mountain hoping the deputy would follow. He was only sorry he didn’t get there fast enough to protect Storm. But it was over now. Storm still had the map and stated his intention to wait until nightfall to find the gold and claim his inheritance. The sheriff cheerfully recognized the young man’s legal rights to the gold and offered to stay and help.
The map has clear instructions. Under a full moon, a shaft of light will shine through the rocks directly onto the exact opening of the mine. Night comes and with it the cherished full moon and the shaft of light that would open the door to his millions. Storm begins digging furiously, but finds nothing. The moon goes behind the rocks and emerges several minutes later. But what’s this? The shaft of light has changed position now! It’s now 20 feet away from where it was before. Storm once again attacks with his pick and shovel at the exact spot revealed by the shaft of light. The sheriff lets him flail away for a few more moments before, with a fatherly smile, he takes the pick away and explains to Storm the error of the map’s logic.
Astronomy 101: The Earth and moon are constantly moving. That means the shaft of light will be in a different place every night. In fact, the shaft of light will be in a different place every hour of every night. In order to really know the location of the mine, it was necessary to know the exact night of the year and the exact time of night in which Pedro Peralta discovered the mine. Pedro knew this and so did Ramon. Unfortunately, when Storm’s grandfather killed Ramon, that information was lost forever. They were very clever to keep this little detail to themselves. And Walz never understood that the exact date and time were the truly essential keys to finding the mine if it ever got lost again.
Then the sheriff put the final nail in the coffin. None of that matters anyway because the earthquake that struck in 1880 changed the mountain forever. Even with the exact date and time now, the shaft of light will no longer be in the right place anymore. They’d have to tear up the whole mountain and probably still not find the gold. Sorry, kid, I’m afraid it’s lost forever.
Storm agreed. The sheriff’s logic was correct. The gold was lost forever. They both give up the search and the film ends with them coming back down the mountain for the last time.
Tell me, is that a story or is that a story! It is not only saturated with intrigue but is also a remarkable morality tale of greed, lust and murder. This has all the mystery and gyrations of "National Treasure," only it can be done on a low budget. Plus it boasts one gigantic element of appeal that NT didn’t: it’s a true story! Superstition Mountain really exists, that mine really exists, that gold is still up there somethere. This could be a blockbuster movie! If the gold was worth $20 million in 1840, it’s easily worth hundreds of times that now. This movie could start another phenomenon going.
I was so impressed that I went right online and ordered the DVD from Amazon. But I’m not really interested in doing a remake. I would really rather do a completely new original screenplay based on Barry Storm’s book, "Thunder God’s Gold," on which the movie was based. This would be far more compelling. So I’ve also ordered the original 1945 book. To my astonishment, most of the used copies on Amazon went from $50 to $100. Fortunately, I found one copy for $15 and snatched it up.
Paul is so intrigued by this that he wants to see the DVD as soon as I get it. (As is often the case, it was a one-time showing on TCM.) In fact, he’s already told me he won’t be reading this posting because he doesn’t want to know the big surprise ending. But I’m waiting for the book. I’m really anxious to see how the actual facts mesh with the dramatization done by Columbia Pictures in 1948.
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