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Is it paradise—or a deadly trap—on the Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women, a.k.a Island of Sister Theresa. An all-male crew makes an emergency landing on an uncharted island and finds itself at the mercy of fierce women who will defend their homes (and their shrine to the mystical “Sister”) to the death. Meanwhile, both sexes are menaced by the malicious warriors known as the “Headchoppers.” Written by Gary Sherman (Death Line) and Sandor Stern (The Amityville Horror), this savagely entertaining made-for-TV adventure was the final film from acclaimed director Joseph Pevney (Female on the Beach). The wonderful, sun-soaked cast includes Steven Keats (Death Wish), Jaime Lyn Bauer (Young Doctors in Love), Jayne Kennedy (Body and Soul), Rosalind Chao (The Joy Luck Club), Deborah Shelton (Body Double), Peter Lawford (Salt and Pepper) and screen and television legend Clint Walker (Killdozer).

Description

Set in a mining town in the 1880s, Thousand Pieces of Gold tells the real-life story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao, The Laundromat, The Joy Luck Club), a young Chinese woman whose desperately poor parents sell her into slavery. She is trafficked to a nefarious saloonkeeper in Idaho’s gold country. Eventually Charlie, a man of a different ilk, played by Chris Cooper (Adaptation, American Beauty), wins her in a poker game and slowly gains her trust. Way ahead of its time, the film resonates even more powerfully in the #MeToo era. But director Nancy Kelly became a victim of prejudice against women directors within the American film industry and was never offered another movie to direct in spite of extraordinary reviews, some of which compared her talent to that of John Ford. Based on the classic novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, and written for the screen by awardwinning filmmaker Anne Makepeace (Tribal Justice), Thousand Pieces of Gold is a breathtaking feminist Western just waiting to be rediscovered, and is presented here in a new 4K restoration. Special Features: Radio interview with director Nancy Kelly (courtesy of Chinamerica Radio) | Audio commentary with Nancy Kelly and producer Kenji Yamamoto | Booklet essay by screenwriter and filmmaker Anne Makepeace | Trailer