Wet Gold Explained

Genre:Adventure
Drama
Director:Dick Lowry
Starring:Brooke Shields
Burgess Meredith
Thomas Byrd
Brian Kerwin
Music:Sylvester Levay
Country:United States
Language:English
Executive Producer:Frank Konigsberg
Larry Sanitsky
Producer:Bill Coker
Location:Bahamas
Editor:Artie Mandelberg
Cinematography:James Pergola
Runtime:91 minutes
Company:Konigsberg/Sanitsky Company
Telepictures Corporation
Network:ABC

Wet Gold is a 1984 American made-for-television adventure film directed by Dick Lowry and starring actress-model Brooke Shields. The film originally aired on October 28, 1984, on ABC.

Plot summary

Laura is a young café waitress dreaming of owning a piano. Laura stumbles across Sampson, a drunk elderly man who fills her with exciting stories of a boat that sank with millions of dollars in gold. Although Chris Barnes, Laura's boyfriend, keeps telling her that Sampson's stories are all false, Sampson makes her believe that they are indeed true. Laura takes Sampson to a library, where she finds on old a newspaper article that matches up the events he described.

After becoming a true believer, Laura convinces Barnes, Sampson and Ben Keating, an experienced sea diver, to search for the treasure. Together they set off from Key West in the baker's boat that Barnes is supposed to be looking after. Keating shows a liking for Laura, and because of this, Barnes begins to feel uncomfortable with him. After spending some time in the water, their dreams become reality, but the discovery of gold begins to change their personalities. Tensions fill the air as passions rise in the wake of greed and jealousy for both the fortune and Laura.

Main cast

Ratings

Upon its premiere, the movie was the highest rated network TV program in its 9-11PM time slot. But when it repeated on Sunday December 21, 1986, it was the lowest rated network TV program of the evening. The highest rated one was NBC's holiday special Bob Hope's Bagful of Christmas Cheer, on which Hope's co-stars included Wet Gold star Brooke Shields.