Best Westerns Series: ‘Gold’ (2013)

The Gold Rushes of he 19th Century were fodder for countless Westerns, from The Treasure at the Sierra Madre (1948) to McKenna’s Gold (1969) to this German made film from 2013 currently available for viewing at Starz Westerns.

Gold (2013)

Director: Thomas Arslen

Cast: Nina Hoss, Marko Mandic

A hearty band of German immigrants seek their fortune in Northwest Canada during the Klondike Gold Rush from 1896–1899 in the Yukon. Their goal is to reach Dawson City, a forbidding 400-mile trek by land. They’re constantly warned to turn back.

Emily Meyer (Hoss) from Chicago joins the group which includes just one other woman. Emily grows close to hired hand Carl Boehmer (Mandic), a fugitive from the U.S. who killed a man and is being trailed by bounty hunters. At first she has no interest in his easy-going advances, but as the group thins down (several do retreat, another steps on a bear trap), they start to share a tent and show affection for one another.

Filmed in the Cariboo wilderness near Clinton, BC, some of the scenes are shot on a glacier. Though much of the action (or lack there of ) is ordinary, with lots of slow walks through wooded areas, some of the landscapes captured by Patrick Orth are breathtaking.

“Nina Hoss shines in…