User Reviews

This entry is one of the better episodes of the season, fun and fast-paced, with a solid through line and killer finish. It keeps the usual slapstick to a minimum and centers smartly around the very reliable Mr. Howell.

Gilligan serves as the billionaire's caddy in the cold open. While searching the rough for a wayward golf ball, he tumbles down into a cavernous pit, with Mr. Howell soon falling in after him. The pair discover the walls of the pit are lined with 'yellow stuff.' Mr. Howell identifies it correctly as gold.

Good-hearted Gilligan wants to share his wonderful find, but gold-hearted Mr. Howell wants to keep it a secret. They must protect the others from the scourge of 'gold fever,' he warns Gilligan, an affliction he knows a little too well.

Meantime, the Skipper helps the girls reel in the Minnow's inflatable life raft. With just a little elbow grease, the raft can be salvaged and the castaways can set sail for Hawaii. Gilligan's elbow, as usual, is tapped to patch up the raft, with an atypical assist from the Professor.

Mr. Howell, however, isn't as keen about rescue. He is more interested in mining the gold. So he has Gilligan burn the candle at both ends, working in the cave at night and on the raft by day. His extreme fatigue and Mr. Howell's continued reluctance to leave get the others suspicious. In a sneaky good scene, they wait for the pair to head out on that night's trip and follow them down to the cave, where they are stunned by what they find.

As Mr. Howell predicted, all of the castaways soon come down with gold fever. They all want to stake a claim, but the island's Simon LeGree is immovable. He is outsmarted, however, in a series of scenes that are funny and very clever for GI. They charge him exorbitant fees for tools, meals, and other provided services, which he angrily agrees to, and soon everyone on the island has their very own bag of gold.

On the day of the launch, the castaways can't quite let go of their gold fever. In a funny and fitting ending, they are so enthralled with being rich that they stow heavy bags of 'mementoes' from the island on the raft, and laughingly sink their latest chance of rescue.

COCONOTES:

Major plot hole: So how exactly did Gilligan and Mr. Howell get out of the gold pit the first time they fell in?

Excellent episode for Jim Backus. He dominates the first act with the greediness of Mr. Howell oozing out of every pore. He shows why he is the Wizard of Wall Street; he is conniving, ruthless, cold, and stubborn to a fault.

Enjoy the musical cue every time a castaway is affected by gold fever.

The Skipper's not the least bit suspicious every bag stowed on the raft is the same size and weight.

The epilogue is pure gold. This smart, mischievous Jerry Lewis version of Gilligan is severely underused on the show.

Simply by accident, Gilligan finds a gold mine while caddying for Mr. Howell, and of course call claims it as his own. It's their secret until somehow it spills out, and eventually the rest of the Castaways decide to teach me a lesson by charging him for each of the supplies that he needs to get more gold out of the Mind. In the meantime, the Skipper has found the Minnow's life raft, and in their efforts to get off the island, greed once again stops them, especially when Howell starts paying them off in gold.

This is ironic and funny even if it doesn't create lots of laughs other than the pratfalls, just smiles out of the situation they get into because as it turns out, they are all greedy in their desire to get off the island and have a little extra money to get settled back in civilization. For the youngsters who watched this episode, it was a great lesson to learn what grade is and what the results of it can be. It's ironic to see the agent Natalie Schafer soaking wet coming out of the lagoon, doing her own stunts. Also for once, Gilligan isn't the one responsible for their inability to leave the island which makes this one of the most memorable episodes.

In this very well executed episode, Gilligan and Mr. Howell stumble across a gold mine. At the same time, Mary Ann, Ginger and the Skipper haul in the SS Minnow's life raft which needs to be repaired before they can set sail for civilization. The Howells however do not want to leave without mining the gold first, so they keep the mine a secret as Gilligan begins working by day on the raft and at night digging for gold. Soon, the rest of the castaways discover the gold mine and all out "greed" sets in.

An excellent episode that makes great use of all the castaways, it is full of laughs and great lines, particularly from Mr. Howell (a never-better Jim Backus) who fends off the rest of the group from sharing the gold, only to be duped into making outrageous purchases of tools, food and candles from the others. A really nice touch is that the realization of the gold by each castaway is accompanied by a particular piece of music, revealing the instant greed that sets in.

The comeuppance of all the castaways at the climax of the episode is well executed and very funny. Even the final scene has a real "jewel" of an ending with Gilligan actually coming out on top.

Upon review, it's actually amazing that they got such a complicated plot to neatly fit inside 25 minutes. There are gags all about in the episode from falling into the cave to a great visual bit with Gilligan under the raft. Perhaps the best single scene is Mr. Howell going over his greedy plan of what to do with the gold as the rest of the castaways sneak out from the hut.

This episode is a true gem and is easily my favorite from the season.

• It appears that Jim Backus, Bob Denver and Alan Hale all performed their own stunt of falling into the cave, which is a nice touch.

• While the visual gag with Gilligan under the raft is well executed (especially when Gilligan winds up tying the Professor's shoe), it actually makes very little sense to work on the raft in the manner that they did.

• One "logical" question is where exactly did Gilligan and the Skipper get the mining tools from. It's not like a miner's pick ax is standard equipment aboard a charter vessel.

• It behooves me to mention the bikini Mary Ann wears at the beginning of the episode is certainly very appealing. You can even briefly see her bellybutton which was a no-no during those days of censorship on TV. She is also quite mindful of her dress as she exits the lagoon, making sure that the camera does not get a peak down to see her...well...you can probably guess.