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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful: The most adapted adaptation, 28 May 2004 Author: Werrf (Werrf@yahoo.co.uk) from Sussex
Seeing as how a large part of the plot of the book of Sharpe's Gold - in reality the second one in the series - was taken and used in Sharpe's Rifles, the first film, this was always going to be the most Adapted adaptation.About the only thing kept in the adaptation was the presence of the Provosts - other than that, this is an entirely original Sharpe adventure.It's a good one, for all that - it's fun, though it's hard to take seriously. The serious parts are rather too far-fetched to take seriously, but Sharpe's 'apology' more than makes up for that.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Excellent like all the other Sharpe's adventures!, 2 July 2006 Author: azcowboysingr from United States
I have to disagree with onysia's comments. I enjoyed this one as much as I did all the rest of the Sharpe's episodes. I do agree with his/her comment about the "Yanks & Combs" Star Trek one though...it was truly awful...lol. So far, I have yet to see one of the Sharpe's adventures that I didn't enjoy thoroughly. The only thing I found unbelievable about Sharpe's Gold is that the renegades didn't strip the girl for the sacrifice scene...I would've...she was hot! lol. I am so glad that we discovered the Sharpe's series on BBC America...it really makes our Saturday evenings more fun. Until we saw Lord of the Rings, we didn't know who Sean Bean was, now we are confirmed fans of his...what a fine actor!
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: sharpe goes indiana jones, 21 October 2006 Author: brucev13 from Netherlands
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
As part of a series this episode is an odd one! But I must say I did enjoy it a lot for the most part! Compared to Sharpe's honour it contained even more action! The plot was more of an indiana jones adventure! The acting was great again! I do understand why Sharpe fans were a bit disappointed! Because this episode wasn't about a mission to stop Boni (Napoleon). Instead it was about Sharpe rescuing two women who get caught by a Partizan (rebellion) who thinks he is a descendant of the Aztec! So it doesn't really connect even if Sharpe does fight the french! Also it was nice to see that Sharpe didn't get in trouble himself,meaning that he could maintain his rank without being stripped for some reason! I do have some problems with the use of the title. It is called Sharpe's gold! Only in the end you see the gold,but it is never really clear if Sharpe and his men took some gold! They blew the mine,as to let us think they buried the cursed gold and the crazy sect of Partizans together! A little bit of the treasure is given to Lord Wellington with the message that there wasn't more of it! And with this I have a problem! I mean even if the Chosen men are noble and not criminal how come they were not tempted to take some gold with them! They couldn't be blamed for it! The chosen men were poor and with some of the gold they at least had enough income to provide for themselves in the future! At the end you see Sharpe smiling as if he knows more about the gold! Maybe they did took some of the gold! We only can speculate about that! This episode was entertaining,but as part of a series this one can easily be missed because it doesn't contain any crucial parts for Sharpe's story!
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Sharpe is not at his best, 5 July 2004 Author: unbend_5440 from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Sharpe's Gold begins with a group of soldiers deserting during a battle. Wellington is short on men, so he agrees to make an exchange for captured deserters. The exchange is weapons for deserters. Sharpe is given the task of making the exchange. The mission is complicated when a relative of Wellington's, Mrs. Nugent, tags along with her daughter to find her missing husband.I should start by saying that Sharpe's Gold is the biggest departure from any of the novels. In fact, it has very little to do with the novel. Sharpe's Gold is not very well liked among fans of the books. I have never read the book for Gold, so my opinion was open when I saw it. What I've come to realize is that the die-hard Sharpe fans don't dislike this movie because of changes made from the book, but more likely because it's flawed and not a terribly captivating story. There were a couple of movies later on that were original screenplays, not based on any books, but they were received a lot better. My opinion is that Tom Clegg and the producers just weren't ready to create a Sharpe story on their own yet. It was not just some dumb idea to ditch the book, there were legal issues dating back a few years that kept them from adapting the book properly. So I guess there's an excuse for some of the flaws.When the movie started I was enjoying it. The plot is decent enough. The problem comes when they don't move the story forward. It starts with an interesting idea about an exchange for prisoners and a missing husband, but that's all that it ever amounts to, an interesting idea. There are very few twists. What was quite disappointing was the portrayal of Richard Sharpe. In the first 5 movies, we were given a slow progression of Sharpe's character. He changed from movie to movie. There is no character development at all for Sharpe here. Sean Bean of course is always great, but I felt like this was a flat portrayal of his character. By the time Ellie was kidnapped and taken into the caves to be sacrificed, I didn't really care anymore. That whole sacrifice scene was just cheesy. There was one powerful scene. SPOILER AHEAD...... DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT IT SPOILED............ The death scene of Mrs. Nugent. It was directed with class and it brought some much needed tragic emotion to a somewhat cheesy story. So while I do view this movie as being one small mistake in the series, there were still many elements that I enjoyed. It could have been a lot better, but it could have been a lot worse. After this movie, the series really gains momentum again.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Disappointing By Sharpe's Standards, 7 February 2006 Author: no-skyline from Rochester, England
This is probably the weakest instalment of the TV series of Sharpe, thats not to say that it's a bad show Sharpe's Gold is a solid 2 hours of TV entertainment it's just that it's not up there with the rest of the series.The plot just doesn't work Aztec worshippers hiding in the mountains of Spain just seems to far fetched. While the characters are as strong as ever they all seem to be wandering about not doing much. It's still got that fun sense of adventure that all Sharpe shows have but take away the historical grounding in fact and real life and something is lost, the Aztecs just don't have the reality of the usual Sharpe foes.A good piece of TV but not up to Sharpes best, if you've never seen Sharpe before see Sharpes Eagle or Sharpes Company first and save this one for when the rest of the episodes run out. 6/10
5 out of 8 people found the following review useful: The low point of a great series, 19 September 2006 Author: nkendall-3 from United States
I haven't watched any the Sharpe series in about ten years, but I picked two up from the library at random because I remembered them being so good. Unfortunately we watched this one first. Wow, that was pretty bad. The cheesy-ness factor was off the charts, and both the plot and some of the character reactions were way off base. My husband and I both called movie fouls on this one at several points. I seriously thought maybe I had remembered wrong and they were all this bad. Thankfully the other episode I borrowed was Sharpe's Eagle and my movie-addicted hubby convinced me to watch it. And so there was a happy ending and my faith in the overall goodness of BBC miniseries was restored.But this one can be skipped with no loss.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Sharpe gets the Midas Touch, 24 November 2008 Author: Scaramouche2004 from Coventry, England
Sean Bean reprises his role as Napoleonic hero Major Richard Sharpe and in this adventure he is ordered by the Duke of Wellington to deliver a consignment of guns to El Casco, a local guerrilla leader, known for his brutality and inhumanity, in exchange for a handful of British deserters.Also in tow on this mission are Bess Nugent and her daughter Ellie, relatives of the Iron Duke who have come to Spain to find their missing husband/father. They have practically stowed away after Wellington refuses official aid to their mission, and Sharpe in order to ensure their protection has no choice but to take them along.It is inevitable therefore that a romance starts to blossom between the lonely and windowed Sharpe and the beautiful and vivacious Ellie.However El Casco proves himself every bit the madman he is reputed to be by capturing, and torturing to death a contingent of French troops, killing poor Bess and kidnapping Ellie and holding her captive in a cave full of golden Aztec treasure.However El Casco's plans for Ellie are far from romantic as he plans to sacrifice her to the ancient Aztec Gods from which he believes himself to be directly descended. Can Sharpe, Harper and the rest of the Chosen Men find Ellie before it's too late and just what will become of all that Aztec gold.Daragh O' Malley and Hugh Fraser reprise their roles as Harper and Wellington respectively and Jayne Ashbourne makes a more than appealing appearance as Ellie in the sixth Sharpe adventure, which although lacks the heat, smoke and blood of a major battle scene is still as exciting and as thrilling as it's predecessors.
0 out of 1 people found the following review useful: A history of the Napoleon wars " TOPCLASS", 19 October 2004 Author: Egon Dahl (dahl50@hotmail.com) from Roenne, Denmark
I have seen Sharpe's Gold and all the others titles in the series and they are great and I mean everybody should see them. the series contain a lot of history facts from the Napoleon wars, a lot of action and fun, also the plot is good, just like the acting, but remember too see all the films in numeral order too get the hole story, in fact I only have one problem, I can't find no. 15 "Sharpe The Legend", but I hope it appears soon because a story like this needs a proper ending. In all of the films there are a lot of combat, horses, soldiers in funny uniforms with great old weapons, silly English officers and little love stories, some good singing in Irish.
1 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Solid enough addition to the series, 20 February 2003 Author: (c.o-sullivan@uea.ac.uk) from Norwich, England
This is good, vintage Sharpe, cocking his considerable snook at the usual authorities, hauled over the coals by Wellington, carrying all before him as the maverick officer risen from the ranks of the Duke's army. In this instalment Sharpe comes up against a ferocious partisan and a local legend of Aztec gold. Irish actor Daragh O'Malley is joined by the wonderful Rosaleen Linehan and Jayne Ashbourne as her comely daughter in a performance marred by a really terrible leprechaun accent and not helped by her slightly cringe-making, hard-riding, sharp-shooting character. The music by the wonderfully talented John Tams is as always one of the high points of the show.
5 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Azetcs in the woodpile, 1 August 2005 Author: onysia from West Coast
Every excellent series falters. Seems like it is fate when a series accomplishes the brilliant the fairies take their revenge. Well this is the one. The embarrassment. This one sinks. I can only imagine they kept the cast in the dark at the full extent of how bad it was by handing the lines to them page by page and locking them out of the daily rushes.The cast struggles to make the stupid believable but even by force of arms this is not one that can be saved. If ever you have to throw one of your Sharpe's set of DVD's on to the fire this is the one to sacrifice. Posterity will thank you. The only thing I can remember being as bad was the "Yanks and Combs" episode of Star Trek.....need I say more?
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