Eureka (1983)

Eureka is a 1983 epic psychological drama thriller film directed by Nicolas Roeg, and starring Gene Hackman, Rutger Hauer, Theresa Russell, Mickey Rourke, and Joe Pesci. It follows the life of a gold prospector who becomes one of the world's wealthiest men after striking gold in 1925, but, 20 years on, fears that he is being preyed upon by his daughter and her social-climbing husband, as well as a mobster attempting to usurp the Caribbean island he owns. The screenplay is loosely based on the unsolved murder of Sir Harry Oakes in the Bahamas in 1943, and partly adapted from the nonfiction book Who Killed Harry Oakes? by Marshall Houts. The film's title is derived from the 1894 essay of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe.

Roeg and screenwriter Paul Mayersberg developed the film over a two-year period, with an extensive screenplay that at one point ran 1,800 pages. Roeg originally intended to use the real names of the individuals involved, but instead opted to use pseudonyms to avoid potential legal action. An international co-production between the United Kingdom and United States, the film marked Roeg's first major studio project, produced under United Artists. Principal photography began in late 1981 in Barkerville, British Columbia, with additional location shooting taking place in Miami and Jamaica in early 1982. Interiors were filmed in England in the spring of 1982 at EMI-Elstree Studios and Twickenham Film Studios.

Eureka first received a theatrical release in London on 5 May 1983. United Artists temporarily shelved the film from release in the United States, as they were unsure how to properly market it to the public. Furthermore, it was granted an X rating in the United States for its graphic violence. The film was eventually given a limited release in the United States beginning in Los Angeles in October 1984 through the studio's subsidiary MGM/UA Classics. Eureka was box-office bomb, grossing only $123,572 against its $11 million budget. It received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising Hackman and Russell's performances as well as the film's enigmatic and surreal imagery, while others felt that its narrative was negatively obscured by its visual elements.

Eureka is widely regarded as one of Roeg's most ambitious films, as well as one of his most significant commercial failures, though it has gone on to develop a cult following.