River of Death (1989)

★ 4.9 1h 47m 40 votes IMDb

Action Adventure

An adventurer (Hamilton) decides to go in search of the Lost City in the Amazon jungle. A motley crew of other people decide to join him for the wealth of the city, for reasons of their own. But to their horror they find out that they have bitten off more than they can chew, what with a Nazi doctor still using the place for his human experiments.

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Cast

Michael Dudikoff as John Hamilton Age 71 · Redondo Beach, California, USA Michael Joseph Dudikoff II (born October 8, 1954) is an American actor who has been in numerous films, including the American Ninja series (1985-1990), Tron (1982), Bachelor Party (1984), Platoon Lead...

Robert Vaughn as Wolfgang Manteuffel Died 2016 · New York City, New York, USA Robert Francis Vaughn, Ph.D. (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. He was, perhaps, best known as suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960...

Donald Pleasence as Heinrich Spaatz Died 1995 · Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, UK Donald Henry Pleasence OBE (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was an English actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades. Often typecast as villaino...

Herbert Lom as Colonel Ricardo Diaz Died 2012 · Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary Herbert Lom (born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru; 11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012) was a Czech-born British film and television actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 193...

L.Q. Jones as Hiller Died 2022 · Beaumont, Texas, USA L. Q. Jones (born August 19, 1927, died July 9th 2022) was an American character actor and film director, known for his work in the films of Sam Peckinpah. Jones was born in Beaumont in southeastern...

Director Steve Carver

Cast Michael Dudikoff, Robert Vaughn, Donald Pleasence, Herbert Lom, L.Q. Jones, Sarah Maur Thorp, Cynthia Erland, Foziah Davidson, Victor Melleney, Rufus Swart

Wuchak 6/10 Aug 14, 2022

_**High adventure in the Amazon (actually South Africa), albeit comic booky**_

After an intriguing prologue in Germany at the end of WW2, the events switch to the Amazon Basin twenty years later and a challenging expedition to a lost city in the deep jungle, led by a tough adventurer (Michael Dudikoff). The impressive cast includes Donald Pleasence, Robert Vaughn, Herbert Lom and L.Q. Jones.

Based on the Alistair MacLean novel, "River of Death" (1989) is an adventure/thriller in the mold of “Firewalker” (1986) made by the director of “Lone Wolf McQuade” (1983) and starring the actor of “Platoon Leader” (1988). Like “King Solomon’s Mines” (1985) and “Allan Quartermain the Lost City of Gold” (1986), it’s an Indiana Jones knock-off, just more serious.

Being a comic booky ‘B’ flick, don’t expect the high budget of some other productions based on MacLean’s works, such as “Where Eagles Dare” (1968) and “Bear Island” (1979). Nevertheless, it’s a colorful jungle journey if you’re in the mood for high adventure, like “King Kong,” just without the colossal creatures and huge budget.

While the locations are great, it’s obvious that it wasn’t filmed in the Amazon jungle (which would be too expensive). I pegged it as South African, which is where Dudikoff’s previous flick was shot, “Platoon Leader,” particularly since there are quite a few black people in the jungle town and, especially, black tribespeople aren’t found in the Amazon (although some of the earlier natives LOOKED like they were from Latin America).

Dudikoff is reminiscent of 80’s Mel Gibson, just a little taller. Meanwhile Cynthia Erland stands out on the female front as Maria, but there are a couple others.

Don’t expect a strict interpretation of MacLean’s book. For instance, there are no river pirates in the novel. With just a little tweaking this could’ve been more effective, like the aforementioned “King Solomon’s Mines” or even “Firewalker.” But working the kinks out of scripts takes time and time is money in the movie business.

The film runs 1 hour, 41 minutes, and was shot on the Wild Coast of South Africa, e.g. Port St. Johns.

GRADE: B-/C+