Oro fino (1989) Reviews

• NOT ENOUGH TALENT PRESENT TO MATCH THE SCENERY.

  rsoonsa2004-03-27

  Made for cable television, this work is filmed in Spain featuring Ted Wass as Andre, son of a Spanish grandee (Lloyd Bochner) who disowns him after Andre is (wrongfully) accused of stealing money from the safe of his employer and neighbour (Stewart Granger) with the two families concerned being prominent vintners, and the plot relates of the attempt by Andre to reclaim his honour as well as his lover Julia (Jane Badler) who, upon learning of his disgrace, severs their relationship. Andre restores his good reputation through canny and aggressive real estate transactions involving vineyards and becomes inordinately wealthy whereupon he returns to his home, scene of his humiliation, and ventures to regain his family status and true love, while during the course of the picture we are treated to splendid vistas within the wine growing districts of Jerez, Burgos, and Rioja as Andre endeavours to capture the essence of Oro Fino, fine gold, the impeccable sherry. Unfortunately, most of what we experience is not the captivating Spanish countryside, but a tasteless mishmash of subplots wherein none of the principal players is even vaguely Iberian, although Granger and Bochner give their all as feuding patriarchs, offsetting to an inadequate extent weak performances by Andrew Stevens and Ray Walston and wretched ones by Badler and Tia Carrere, although it should be recognized that the script and direction lack fuel for inspiration.

• Awful Euro potboiler

  FrankiePaddo2004-08-22

  Called "Fine Gold" in English. This is really awful stuff - filmed in Spain its a Spanish/US co- production. A cross between "Falcons Crest" and "Dallas" with all the highlights cut down to an hour an a half this looks like a would be TV pilot. In fact every twist and turn crammed into a couple of seasons of Mega soaps like "Dallas" are condensed into this not convincing and badly scripted ( read horribly clichéd) film. The story is about two wine growing families (dynasties) in Spain and the search for the perfect sherry(?) called Oro Fino (Fine Gold). The acting is bearable. I watched it because I love Stewart Granger - but he didn't have much to do. Andrew Stevens was awful as was Jane Badler and Tia Carrere ( who took off her clothes .... surprise surprise ... but it's still pretty tame). Ray Walston plays a strange little wine expert character called "Corkscrew" and it seems his character was written in because he was around the set..... although I supposes he is the conscience character and the voice of reason.... Corkscrew the voice of reason ??? Pretty bad on any level.