River of Death (1989)

_**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+