The only commonal element among the films of director Nicolas Roeg is that there are no
common elements. Roeg graduated from being one of the industry's most
respected and innovative cinematographers to becoming an esteemed
filmmaker in his own right. Among his disparate productions: the London
crime film "Performance", the bizarre David Bowie starrer "The Man Who
Fell to Earth", the cult favorite "Bad Timing" and his most accomplished
film, the adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's supernatural novel "Don't
Look Now", which ranks as one of the most atmospheric and terrifying
movies ever made. By the early 1990s, however, Roeg's penchant for
making avant garde films with limited boxoffice appeal- combined with
his insistence on not compromising his artistic visions in the name of
commerce- put him at odds with studio executives. His movies were
largely appreciated by the art house cinema crowd but that didn't endear
him to the studio bosses in the corner offices. One of Roeg's most
bizarre, ambitious and expensive films was the little-seen and even
less-remembered "Eureka", a 1983 production that was bedeviled by bad
luck. First the basics: Roeg initially approached screenwriter Paul
Mayersberg to adapt a book titled "Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?" by
Marshall Houts. Sir Harry Oakes may have faded into historical obscurity
but in 1943 he was certainly one of the most famous men in the world-
and had been for two decades. It all began when Oakes, an American by
birth, went north into the wilds of Canada in his quest to prospect for
gold. He doggedly pursued this ambition for fifteen years before
stumbling upon what became the greatest discovery and claim for gold in
North American history. Overnight Oakes became one of the richest men on
earth. He later moved to the Bahamas where he lived comfortably on a
large estate with his wife and daughter. Enamored by the British gentry
he interacted with, Oakes changed his citizenship and became a subject
of England. Big money buys impressive friends and Oakes was quite chummy
with the Duke of Windsor, who had made a wee bit of a splash himself a
few years earlier when he was known as King Edward VIII- yes, that King
Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in order to marry the love of his
life. Edward was by then relegated to being the Governor-General of the
Bahamas, some theorized to get him off the front pages. Between his
scandalous marriage and the fact that he was deemed an appeaser to
Hitler in the lead up to the war with Germany, which was now raging, the
Duke was not "Flavor of the Month" in his native England. Still, he and
Harry Oakes hit it off rather well and before long Harry was knighted,
ostensibly because of his sizable contributions to charity, but some
theorized the Duke had pulled some strings on his behalf. Sir Harry's
bliss was short-lived. In 1943, he was brutally murdered in his own bed.
How brutal was the crime? Well, he was bludgeoned, tarred and
feathered, burned alive and beheaded. As you might imagine, the cause
of death was not listed as suicide. Clearly, at least one person in his
orbit was not very enamored of him and it was decided that the person
who liked him least was his son-in-law, who Harry had virtually
disowned. A sensational trial took place that resulted in breathless
international coverage but the suspect was found to be not guilty on the
basis of flimsy evidence. The sensational case remains technically
unsolved to this day, though amateur sleuths still debate who the real
culprit was and what his motive might have been.
Nicolas Roeg was understandably intrigued by this story and was
delighted when screenwriter Paul Mayersberg had also read the book that
Roeg wanted him adapt for the screen. He, too, had longed to make a film
of it. With the two men in synch, they set out to make a linear
retelling of the remarkable characters and events pertaining to Sir
Harry's life. However, they realized that since several of the major
players in his life were still alive, the production could be plagued by
lawsuits. Thus, they decided to give fictitious names to the
characters. This also liberated them in terms of using artistic license
when desirable, as they were no longer attempting to present a purely
factual study of Sir Harry's life and death. It also liberated Roeg by
allowing him to bring more esoteric elements into the production. The
central character was now named Jack McCann (Gene Hackman) and our first
view of him is indeed striking: he in embroiled in a violent struggle
with another man in the midst of a raging blizzard in the Canadian
wilderness. An unidentified woman, presumably the other man's wife,
pleads for the men to stop fighting and we learn that Jack, who has been
enraged by something that is never explained, is splitting up his
prospecting partnership with the other man. He eventually storms off
into the intimidating landscape to continue to pursue his goal of
finding a major strike. Ultimately he does just that by literally
falling into a fortune when he slips through a crevice and finds himself
in an underground cave that is literally raining gold dust. He rejoices
in his triumph but his happiness is short-lived. He returns to the
bordello where the love of his life, a local hooker and oracle (Helena
Kallianiotes) is literally on her death bed and she dies in his arms.
It's the first in a string of unfortunate incidents that will plague
Jack's life. The scene then abruptly switches to twenty years later
when we find Jack comfortably residing in his Bahamian estate named,
appropriately enough, Eureka. He's a hot-tempered man prone to violent
outbursts. The only calming influence in his life is his twenty year-old
beautiful daughter Tracy (Theresa Russell), who he clearly adores but
who also brings him consternation because of her strong, independent
ways. Tracy has married Claude Malliot Van Horn (Rutger Hauer), a
handsome, charismatic European gigolo. Jack can immediately see through
Claude's motives and calls him out for being an opportunist who is using
Tracy to get access to the McCann fortune. The rift results in Tracy
becoming estranged from Jack and her mother, Helen (Jane Lapotaire), a
weak-willed woman who Jack treats as he would the hired help. A parallel
subplot finds Jack being pressured by his friend and business associate
Charles Perkins (Ed Lauter) to sell his beloved estate to a group of
American gangsters headed by a man named Mayaofsky (Joe Pesci) and his
second-in-command Aurello D'Amato (Mickey Rourke). Seems they want to
expand their operations to the island Jack resides on and consider his
land crucial to their plans. Typically, Jack not only rejects their
offer but insults them in the process, leading to the gangsters deciding
to take strong-arm tactics against him. In the film's most disturbing
scene (and there are several), Jack is murdered in his bed by being
bludgeoned, tortured with a blowtorch and (we learn later) beheaded.
It's an incredibly gruesome sight to behold, as Roeg holds nothing back
from the viewer except the decapitation. (We should be thankful for
small favors). The balance of the film concerns the resulting murder
trial, which mirrors the real life case in that Jack's son-in-law was
arrested and charged with the crime. He had motive and opportunity- but
so did many of his enemies including the gangsters.
"Eureka" may have been an ambitious undertaking but it's also a
highly unsatisfying one. The script provides us with a dearth of
sympathetic characters. With the exception of Tracy (who is superbly
played by Roeg's then-wife Theresa Russell, who made numerous other
films with him), there isn't a single other character with any admirable
traits. Hackman delivers a powerful performance as McCann but the
character is sketchy. We all know money doesn't always buy happiness but
we never get to the root cause of his dissatisfaction with life and
everyone around him. The supporting cast is equally excellent with
Rutger Hauer giving one of the best performances of his career as the
vain, almost effeminate pretty boy whose charm makes Tracy blind to his
vulgarities. These are demonstrated in a very haunting sequence in which
Claude and two female companions secretly attend a voodoo ritual that
becomes a pagan-like orgy which leaves everyone involved disgraced and
emotionally scarred. Joe Pesci and Mickey Rourke are impressive as the
gangsters, with Pesci uncharacteristically underplaying his role, while
Ed Lauter does the same as Jack's wimpy friend Charlie. The main problem
with "Eureka" is that Roeg values style over substance. The entire
first section of the film involving Jack's quest for gold is compromised
by Roeg dropping in metaphysical and supernatural aspects, implying
that his seer girlfriend is somehow sending him psychic signals to find
the gold even though this will inexplicably cost her her own life. Even
when the story gets on more traditional footing in Jack's later years,
Roeg still toys with the viewer by inserting artistic touches that are
visually striking but which distract the audience and make things quite
confusing to follow. At times it's hard to figure out who is who and what everyone's relationships and motivations are.Roeg
also can't resist making numerous analogies between the characters of
Jack McCann and Charles Foster Kane, though the comparisons seem a bit
obvious and heavy handed. Having said that, the movie looks beautiful
and Alex Thomson's cinematography is top-notch, as is the lush musical
score by Stanley Myers.
If Jack McCann's fate seemed cursed, so did "Eureka" as a major film
production. The movie was financed and was to be distributed by United
Artists. However, during production the management team of the
long-troubled studio changed and "Eureka" was treated as an orphan
project that had been green lit by the previous regime. Not helping
matters was the fact that a test screening proved to be very
discouraging, with the audience overwhelmingly giving the quirky film a
"thumbs down" verdict. UA sat on the movie for two years before giving
it a very minor and abbreviated release, after which it fell into
obscurity. Twilight Time has released the film as a special edition
Blu-ray, limited to only 3,000 units- and kudos for them for doing so.
Although the film is a misguided and unsatisfying enterprise, it still
has enough impressive aspects to merit a look by any serious movie
scholar.
"Eureka" is an artistic failure in this writer's opinion but at least
it's a fascinating one and certainly worth a look in order to draw your
own conclusions.
The film is currently streaming on Screenpix, which is available through Amazon Prime, Roku, YouTube and Apple TV for $2.99 per month.