# Eureka (1983 film)
**Eureka** is a 1983 British-American drama film directed by [Nicolas Roeg](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicolas-roeg), starring [Gene Hackman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gene-hackman) as Jack McCann, an Arctic gold prospector who strikes it rich in 1925 and, two decades later, lives in paranoid luxury on a Caribbean island that gangsters want.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083906) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984) The screenplay by Paul Mayersberg loosely fictionalizes the life and murder of the tycoon Sir Harry Oakes, and the film was produced by Jeremy Thomas for Recorded Picture Company.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/eureka/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984/cast-and-crew) Financed by [United Artists](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-artists) but shelved for two years after a poor test screening, it received only a minor, abbreviated theatrical release and earned about $100,000 at the box office, though it has since been reissued on Blu-ray and reappraised by some critics.[5](https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?%2Farchives%2F12008-STREAMING-REVIEW-EUREKA-1983-STARRING-GENE-HACKMAN%2C-THERESA-RUSSELL-AND-RUTGER-HAUER-SCREENPIX.html=) • [6](https://venetianvase.co.uk/2020/09/27/eureka-flashback-to-a-forgotten-film/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Nicolas Roeg; screenplay by Paul Mayersberg, from Marshall Houts's book *Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?*[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984/cast-and-crew) • [3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/eureka/) |
| Cast | Gene Hackman (Jack McCann), Theresa Russell (Tracy), Rutger Hauer (Claude Maillot Van Horn), Jane Lapotaire (Helen McCann), Mickey Rourke (Aurelio D'Amato), Joe Pesci (Mayakofsky)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984/cast-and-crew) |
| Runtime / rating | About 130 minutes; rated R[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/eureka) |
| Production | Recorded Picture Company and J F Productions; producer Jeremy Thomas; music Stanley Myers; cinematography Alex Thomson; editing Tony Lawson[8](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/84812--eureka/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984/cast-and-crew) |
| Release | 1983; United States release 5 October 1984, after roughly two years on the shelf at United Artists[9](https://www.25thframe.co.uk/movies/eureka/cast-and-crew) • [5](https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?%2Farchives%2F12008-STREAMING-REVIEW-EUREKA-1983-STARRING-GENE-HACKMAN%2C-THERESA-RUSSELL-AND-RUTGER-HAUER-SCREENPIX.html=) |
| Reception | 33% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (6 reviews) and 49% on the Popcornmeter; 5.9/10 on IMDb from about 4,400 users[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083906) |
| Box office | About $100,000 following what one retrospective called a rotten distribution and publicity campaign[6](https://venetianvase.co.uk/2020/09/27/eureka-flashback-to-a-forgotten-film/) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film opens in the frozen goldfields of the 1920s Yukon, where the lone, obsessed prospector Jack McCann finally strikes a mountain of gold and becomes one of the richest men alive.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/eureka/) • [10](https://fantasticmoviemusings.com/2020/05/19/eureka-1983/) The story then leaps twenty years to McCann's private Caribbean island, where wealth has curdled into paranoia: his daughter Tracy becomes engaged to a man he strongly dislikes, and gangsters want the island he possesses.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083906) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984) The final act centers on a tabloid-worthy murder trial.[11](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71041)
The plot turns episodes of Harry Oakes's life into fiction: an unconventional tycoon who made his fortune in the [Klondike Gold Rush](https://www.edgepedia.org/klondike-gold-rush) and relocated to the Caribbean in the 1930s; Paul Mayersberg receives screenplay credit, adapting Marshall Houts's book *Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?*, and verse drawn from "The Spell of the Yukon" earns Robert W. Service a credit as well.[11](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71041) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083906/fullcredits/) One retrospective plot summary also notes references to *Alice in Wonderland* and to the Utopian novel *[Erewhon](https://www.edgepedia.org/erewhon)*, along with occult touches and a voodoo ceremony.[10](https://fantasticmoviemusings.com/2020/05/19/eureka-1983/)
## Production and release troubles
**A shelved orphan project.** The film was financed and was to be distributed by United Artists, but during production the management of the long-troubled studio changed, and *Eureka* was treated as an orphan project green-lit by the previous regime.[5](https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?%2Farchives%2F12008-STREAMING-REVIEW-EUREKA-1983-STARRING-GENE-HACKMAN%2C-THERESA-RUSSELL-AND-RUTGER-HAUER-SCREENPIX.html=) A test screening proved very discouraging, with the audience overwhelmingly rejecting the quirky film; UA sat on it for two years before giving it a very minor and abbreviated release, after which it fell into obscurity.[5](https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?%2Farchives%2F12008-STREAMING-REVIEW-EUREKA-1983-STARRING-GENE-HACKMAN%2C-THERESA-RUSSELL-AND-RUTGER-HAUER-SCREENPIX.html=) The 1983 release reached only a few cities in the UK and the US, and the film was little seen thereafter.[13](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2016/03/eureka-1983/) A contemporary account of Roeg's career notes that the film's intricacies proved too much for distributors, who were reluctant to release it.[14](https://psi329.cankaya.edu.tr/uploads/files/Shail%2C%20British-Film-Directors-A-Critical-Guide.pdf)
The United States release followed on 5 October 1984, with later openings in Sweden (29 January 1985) and Portugal (28 February 1985).[9](https://www.25thframe.co.uk/movies/eureka/cast-and-crew)
## Critical reception
Contemporary and later critics split over whether the film's style serves its story.
Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times*, took a more favorable view, calling *Eureka* "a strange, perverse film about passion and greed" that leads through a labyrinthine story to the message that money can't buy you love; he praised Hackman's intensity and called [Theresa Russell](https://www.edgepedia.org/theresa-russell), then in her mid-twenties, brilliant, adding that if the film is sometimes silly and confusing, "at least it is never boring".[15](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/eureka-1981) Later assessments have been similarly divided: the Cinefile site called it the beginning of Roeg's decline, with a visually ravishing first reel giving way to melodrama, while Mark Cousins has described the film as a masterpiece and the Venetian Vase retrospective called it dazzling and beguiling despite being overwrought and pretentious.[16](https://www.cinefileonline.co.uk/ea-ez/p/eureka-1983) • [6](https://venetianvase.co.uk/2020/09/27/eureka-flashback-to-a-forgotten-film/) On aggregate measures the film sits low: 33% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from six reviews, and 5.9/10 on IMDb from about 4,400 users.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083906)
## Home video and afterlife
The film returned to circulation through specialty labels. Twilight Time released it as a special edition Blu-ray limited to 3,000 units in 2016, and Eureka Entertainment later issued a Blu-ray with a high-definition transfer, an audio recording of Roeg's question-and-answer session at the world premiere at the National Film Theatre, new interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas, writer Paul Mayersberg, and editor Tony Lawson, and a booklet including Robert W. Service's poem "The Spell of the Yukon".[5](https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?%2Farchives%2F12008-STREAMING-REVIEW-EUREKA-1983-STARRING-GENE-HACKMAN%2C-THERESA-RUSSELL-AND-RUTGER-HAUER-SCREENPIX.html=) • [13](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2016/03/eureka-1983/) It has since been available on streaming services in the United States, including MGM+ and fuboTV.[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/eureka)
## References
1. [Eureka (1983), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083906)
2. [Eureka, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984)
3. [Eureka, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/eureka/)
4. [Eureka: Full Cast & Crew, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eureka_1984/cast-and-crew)
5. [Streaming Review: Eureka (1983), Cinema Retro](https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?%2Farchives%2F12008-STREAMING-REVIEW-EUREKA-1983-STARRING-GENE-HACKMAN%2C-THERESA-RUSSELL-AND-RUTGER-HAUER-SCREENPIX.html=)
6. [Eureka: Flashback to a Forgotten Film, The Venetian Vase](https://venetianvase.co.uk/2020/09/27/eureka-flashback-to-a-forgotten-film/)
7. [Eureka streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/eureka)
8. [Eureka, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/84812--eureka/)
9. [Eureka (1983) cast and crew, release dates, 25th Frame](https://www.25thframe.co.uk/movies/eureka/cast-and-crew)
10. [Eureka (1983), Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings](https://fantasticmoviemusings.com/2020/05/19/eureka-1983/)
11. [Eureka (1983) Blu-ray review, DVD Talk](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/71041)
12. [Eureka (1983) full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083906/fullcredits/)
13. [Eureka [1983], Horror Cult Films](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2016/03/eureka-1983/)
14. [Andrew Shail, British Film Directors: A Critical Guide (excerpt)](https://psi329.cankaya.edu.tr/uploads/files/Shail%2C%20British-Film-Directors-A-Critical-Guide.pdf)
15. [Eureka movie review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/eureka-1981)
16. [Eureka (1983), Cinefile](https://www.cinefileonline.co.uk/ea-ez/p/eureka-1983)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1980s films*
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