Wet Gold is a 1984 television movie

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 starring actress-model Brooke Shields

Brooke Shields

Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....

. Directed by Dick Lowry

Dick Lowry

Dick Lowry is an American director and film producer.-Productions:*1980: Kenny Rogers as The Gambler *1983: Kenny Rogers as The Gambler: The Adventure Continues *1983: Smokey and the Bandit Part 3...

, the film originally aired on October 28, 1984 on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

.

Main cast

• Brooke Shields
  Brooke Shields
  Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
  
   - Laura
• Burgess Meredith
  Burgess Meredith
  Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
  
   - Sampson
• Thomas Byrd - Chris Barnes
• Brian Kerwin
  Brian Kerwin
  Brian Kerwin is an American actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kerwin won the Theatre World Award in 1988 for the off-Broadway play Emily. His Broadway theatre credits include the 1997 revival of The Little Foxes and the Elaine May comedy After the Night and the Music in 2005...
  
   - Ben Keating

Plot summary

Wet Gold is the story of Laura, 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.

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

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's holiday special Bob Hope's Bagful Of Christmas Cheer, on which Hope's co-stars included Wet Gold star Brooke Shields.