As a young lad I can remember watching a Western on the television but I cannot remember its name. What I do remember is that the plot involved searching for some gold or similar buried treasure. The protagonists were trying to locate the treasure with either a map or a series of clues and eventually found it. They worked out its whereabouts by the sun shining through a hole in a large rock formation at a particular time of day. It probably wasn't a classic Western but I would be pleased if someone remembers it and can tell me what it was called.
I agree with you - Mackenna's Gold - Wikipedia - featuring Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif The next morning everyone is up and mounted before sunrise. When the first beam of sunlight shines down, it sets off an optical reaction that startles the horses. Then the shadow of the pinnacle of "Shaking Rock" starts to move. Watching this, MacKenna for the first time believes in the legend. The shadow eventually ends at a hidden passageway cutting into a mountainside. They ride through it and emerge on the other side. They see below them a large vein of pure gold
I am really not sure about Mackenna's Gold as it was a shaft of light through an unusual shaped rock hat highlighted a particular spot that I remember, I do not recall a hidden passageway. As to the film being in Black & White, we only had a B&W telly so I could only have seen ii in B&W even if it was in glorious technicolor. I think that the only way to know is to watch both films to see if either match rings a bell. Many thanks for all your helpful suggestions.
I have just read the blurb regarding Mackenna;s Gold and as it was released in 1969, I very much doubt that it was shown on T.V. so soon after it was released.
Don't be too sure about that. I saw MacKenna's Gold on an airplane fairly soon after it was released. The picture was not a hit and movies like that tend to migrate from the theaters to other venues fairly quickly. It wasn't a good picture, despite the presence of many good people in the cast (Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Eli Wallach, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Julie Newmar, Eduardo Ciannelli of Gunga Din fame, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Quayle, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massey, the great Edward G. Robinson, etc). Even Peck said the film was "wretched."
The film was Lust for Gold, I bought the DVD on Ebay and I have just watched it. It wasn't a bad film but I have no idea why it had made such an impression on me as a 10 year old. Strange what we remember.
Oh, bad movies can make a good or at least lasting impression on us when we are kids. Our critical sense certainly isn't highly developed then. Is Paris Burning? made a very strong impression on me when I first saw it as a kid. It's not a good movie, really, but even today I think it has some excellent things here and there.
I think in the case of Lust for Gold, it was the solving of the clues that led to the finding of the lost mine, in particular the shaft of light that shone through the hole in the rock at a certain time that was so intriguing. I had also read the money pit mystery around the same time and I think that the prospect of finding hidden treasure is quite appealing to a 10 year old. Oak Island mystery - Wikipedia
On a similar request, as a kid I watched a western which ended with the protagonist, who was clad in black and seemed to be the "bad guy", at one end of a town beckoning the townsfolk to approach him one by one, and shooting them when they did. It was a colour film and this ending really confused me at the time. Any ideas, anyone?
May be one of the spaghetti westerns. Have a memory of Lee Van Cleef dressed in black as the baddie. As ever Clint Eastwood saved the day ! Spaghetti Western - Wikipedia
I don't remember that scene from any of the films they were both in (I think just 2: For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) but I think Van Cleef was in numerous westerns... Emphasis on think and remember because I'm not saying I'm sure
My memory is mainly of Lee Van Cleef in black, can't comment on the towns folk being killed in the way described, and its not the usual way a Clint Eastwood film would end.
Thanks everyone for the replies, but I suspect that I'll only find this one by chance. It reminds me of how it took me 10 years to connect a particular bass intro I liked to "For The Love of Money" by The O'Jays.
It might have been Hang 'Em High. A bunch of rancher's think Clint is a cattle thief and hang him but some cowboy arrives and cuts him down before he strangles.. Needless to say, he is highly annoyed and hunts them down one by one. Great movie.
