Gold: Before Woodstock, Beyond Reality

Director(s) - Bill Desloge and Bob Levis
Starring - Del Close (Beware! The Blob, The Blob 88), Garry Goodrow (The Prey, Once Bitten), and Dan Hicks (Class Action)
Release Date - 1972
Genre - Comedy
Tagline(s) - "The Revolution Has Begun - Clothing Optional" "A turned-on tale of the new American Dream." and "Before Woodstock, the revolution had already begun."
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      I recall reading a review for a comedy where the reviewer wrote something along the lines that watching a comedy is the best way to see the styles and trends of that particular era.  I really wanted to find that review so I could quote it because it was one that I often think about when I watch a comedy.  The more I think about it the more I take away from it.  Most comedies are straight forward and often take place in the time they were filmed.  A comedy can be a period piece but it rarely happens.  This is different than their horror, action, and sci-fi counterparts.  This also goes to show that some people just like comedies from certain decades better than others.  Personally, I really enjoy comedies from the 80s until today while others enjoy other decades.  That brings me to the lost 1972 flick Gold: Before Woodstock, Beyond Reality released by those fine folks over at Wild Eye Releasing.  From the looks of it I could tell this would be a wild ride into hippiedom but I had not idea what I was about to get myself into for the sake of my reviews.
     The film follows police captain Harold Jinks (Goodrow) who is sick of the local free spirits and their public nudity.  Jinks goes on a political campaign to stop the public nudity and he kills if he needs to to stop it.  He rounds up all the hippies and places them in fenced enclosures but things don't go the way he had planned.  Menace to society (and himself) Hawk (Close) and his sidekick set out to foil Jinks plan.  The two lay various traps and fight the good fight to stop Jinks from taking total control and ruining their care-free good time.
 
     Some movies try to take on more than they can handle.  Some try to transcend genres and deliver something truly original while others just try to give the viewer something they are not used to...pure anarchy.  That is the best way to describe Gold.    Gold, for the most part, makes no sense but it is damn near impossible to take your eyes off of it.  The acting in this one is over the top and completely exaggerated.  It can easily be compared to The Three Stooges and Abbot and Costello.  I could not imagine the characters being portrayed in any other way.  The story is something that was happening all over America at this time but not to this extreme.  Politics and religious figures were everywhere boycotting everyone involved in this sexual revolution and this film is a satire of the entire ordeal.  Personally, I find both sides of this pop-culture phenomenon to be completely ridiculous.  Finally, the humor in this one varies.  The film has some very off the wall moments where the humor is so vulgar and filthy that you would swear Seth Rogan wrote it and then it goes to the same gags and goofs one comes to expect from Abbot and Costello or The Three Stooges.  The humor does hit or miss but you can not deny that this film has some laughs.  Overall, Gold is a drug induced trip into chaos that is hard to follow but easy to laugh at.  The film does not have any playback value but it does deserve at least one viewing.