Review of Chains of Gold

Introduction

Things I least look forward to… doctor`s appointments, tax bills, visits from overbearing relatives, and Movies Of The Week. Movies of the week invariably follow a social topic, something that rings true to the times in which we live, crime, drugs, sex, heartbreak, and misery. There is always a right and a wrong, and there is a moral for the audience to glean, two if we`re lucky. It`s melodrama of the most mediocre kind, and there is only one thing that could make it worse, if preceding the film pops up a caption stating, `Based On True Events`. Guess what Chains Of Gold, starring John Travolta during his `fallow` period is…

Scott Barnes is a social worker with a tragic past, an ex-alcoholic who lost his family because of drink, but who is trying to make up by helping those in need. His unconventional methods and his tendency to get personally involved with his cases naturally cause friction at work. One of his pet projects is Tommy, a smart street-kid who comes from a background of poverty. Tommy tries to support his family, but in doing so gets involved with the Youth Incentive Programme, a powerful gang that recruits children to sell drugs. The Y.I.P is a led by Carlos, a youthful drug baron, a latter day Fagin who profits from what is effectively child slavery. When Tommy tries to leave, he incurs the wrath of his employers and is kidnapped. When Scott tries looking for him, he finds he`s obstructed by the social services that just want to wash their hands of the problem, and hindered by the police that think he`s interfering in their business. It falls to him to find Tommy on his own, and to that end he has to go undercover to infiltrate the Y.I.P. It`s an even greater shock when he learns that an ex-girlfriend is now working for the drug dealers.

Video

It`s MGM back catalogue time, and once again I plumb the depths of my thesaurus in search of new ways of saying `average`. Curiously, the IMDB has Chains of Gold listed as a TV movie, with an appropriate TV ratio. The ratio on this disc however is a 1.85:1 anamorphic one, and there is no evidence of cropping, in fact the prevalence of casual profanity in the film firmly takes it out of the realm of television. The image itself is clear enough, it`s a little grainy, a little soft, and print damage is noticeable. As I said, it`s a typical back catalogue disc.

Audio

Plenty of languages for a European market on this disc, DD 2.0 Surround English, French, German and Italian, as well as a DD 2.0 Spanish track. There is a DD 2.0 Polish voiceover that is spoken over the original English dialogue and there are no end of subtitles. The dialogue is clear and audible throughout.

Features

There`s nothing here, so you may as well avail yourselves of the opportunity and get a cup of tea.

Conclusion

I`ve spent a fair amount of time racking my brain for something positive to say about Chains Of Gold, and I finally got something, it`s better than Battlefield Earth. It`s not much of a bright side I know, but I try to be fair and balanced about these things. Chains Of Gold is most definitely one of those Movies Of The Week that I dread, and it fits all the criteria almost perfectly. It`s got the socially relevant message, the hero going up against the establishment, and the heartfelt performances from all that induce a vague nausea in me.

Travolta in particular really nails the heartfelt thing perfectly as Scott Barnes, a do-gooder who`ll stop to help an ant cross the road, all the while with a look of beatific agony on his face. Naturally Scott Barnes has a past, he`s lost his son as a result of his drinking, and his wife left him after blaming him for their son`s death. He`s a man who has to save the downtrodden to fill the emptiness in his own life. A young Joey Lawrence as Tommy is thoroughly abused and battered by vicious drug dealers. It`s enough to tug at the most resistant of heartstrings. Hector Elizondo and Bernie Casey have piecemeal roles as bad cop and good cop respectively, and Marilu Henner plays Jackie, Scott`s ex who has got herself caught up with the drug dealers as their lawyer. The moment her character is introduced, and she and Scott pick up where they left off, you know there is only one way that the relationship will go. It`s all your standard movie of the week casting so far, except for Benjamin Bratt who plays Carlos the evil drug dealer profiting from the blood, sweat and tears of the little `uns. Only he tries to play Carlos as a Tony Montana type and comes across more like Tony the Tiger.

The film follows a tried and trusted route, utterly predictable and with some painfully bad dialogue. That said, there are moments where it does sneak above mediocrity and threaten to be vaguely interesting. It doesn`t stay there for long, and by the time that the admittedly exciting denouement did come around, my attention had wandered. Although I am most certainly curious as to how an advertising executive turned social worker knows how to aim and shoot a gun.

Chains Of Gold is strictly by the numbers melodrama that sets out to do very little, and fails to accomplish even that. One to miss I`m afraid.