Das Geheimnis des blauen Diamanten

Gratuitous nudity, violence, gore, "action," over the hill stars looking of a payday and unintentional comedy. With that said it's at least 20 minutes longer than it needed to be which will test your feelings of it's so good it's bad to just bad. Luckily it saves the best for last with a third act filled with crosses and double crosses.

There are those who would compare The Treasure of the Amazon to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). They would be wrong. OK, This could have been an excellent movie, but it is not. The cast is great and at times actually demonstrates it, but the plot is so thin and ridiculous that it is extremely difficult to get into it at all.

Stuart Whitman stars as your typical aging adventurer who leads a group of misfits into the Amazon to find lost WW2 treasure. Most of the group is killed in various horrible and ridiculous ways. The only way I would recommend this film is if you are interested in seeing some top notch actors doing their best to make something of nothing.

The cast includes Whitman, star of such wonderful films as Rio Conchos and The Comancheros as the bull headed leader. Bradford Dillman, who starred opposite Robert Redford in The Way We Were, makes an appearance. Donald Pleasence, star of many classic films such as The Great Escape and The Eagle Has Landed, plays an evil Nazi. Rounding out the cast are John Ireland(Gunfight at the OK Corral 1957),Pedro Armendariez Jr.(License To kill 1989)and none other than Harold(Odd Job)Sakata.

Not an easy puppy to come across, but this "Treasure of the Amazon" surely is warmly recommended viewing for every fan of trash, pulp or the glorious exploitation cinema. I was lucky enough to catch it on a national TV channel, during a cult-themed night. This is a Mexican take on the extremely popular jungle adventures of the early 80's, complete with sleaze, gratuitous violence and a once-famous Hollywood cast. We witness how three separate groups of Westerners sift out the dangerous Amazon jungle looking for gold. All three groups encounter wild animals and a savage tribe of head-hunters but eventually it's the typical human greed that is the biggest threat. "Treasure…" is action-packed (not one dull moment) and extremely rich on gore sequences. Highlight of this is a semi-disgusting scene in which a gold-digger is torn apart by ravenous crabs! This particular scene is bit by bit copied from Lucio Fulci's "The Beyond", by the way. Director Cardona Jr. simply replaced the tarantulas with crabs. Much footage comes straight from other (more budgeted) films or nature channel documentaries but that only increases the terrific cult value of this production. The cast performances go from lovely OTT acting (former miss world Ann Sidney) to completely-not-interested acting (John Ireland as the priest). Donald Pleasance is utterly cool as the uncanny Nazi wandering through the jungle to refund the resurrection of his Third Reich. Stuart Whitman shines for the first time again since "The Mark" as the tough jungle rat Gringo.

Thilling and moving film concerning an unstoppable chase to find a valuable treasure , while battling for survival with threes groups besieged by head-cutters Indians , greedy gunrunners , including gore and blood . Exciting adventure and exploitation movie with three groups of adventurers all vying to find a treasure in the jungle where they clash against each other , take off the relentless natives , as well as the perilous wildlife . The best scenes are the immense efforts of the mean groups have to carry out for their purports , forced to do anything and everything they could to stay alive . Their Greed & Lust for Diamonds Was More Deadly Than the Perils of the Jungle. They survived the impossible...by doing the unthinkable. It's "Man against Man" and "Man against Nature" - Which One Will Prove More Deadlly ?

In the film there are noisy adventures , action pace , impressive struggles , beautiful landscapes and lots of blood and gore . An adventure movie relying heavily on sensationalistic aspects , eerie images full of gore , nudism and exploitation , such as physical violence , tortures , merciless natives executing decapitation and many other things . Regarding corrupt and ambitious people who will have to confront lots of risks until find a treasure and all of them will take on villains , savage Jibaro tribes and fighting each other . From start to finish the action-packed is non-stop and gory paranoia reaches a fevered pitch that culminates in a final savage action . The flick features many strong scenes , among them beheading , astonishing slaughter , cannibalism , a gloomy spectacle to watch . It's fast moving and that's why it is neither tiring, not boring , but bemusing . Special effects are passable , but other parts of the movie are never fully realized . The movie pushes too hard and too far , and no apt for squeamish . It strives for being some inspirational but falls well short of being really inspired and marred by some extreme exploitation scenes . In spite of it , the movie is entertaining , though shot in fits and starts and in Mexico obtained success enough . It was shot on location in Chiapas, Mexico and studios : Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico , and Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico . Being a Mexican/American co-production , here appear notorious American actors as Stuart Whitman , Donald Pleasence , Bradford Dillman, John Ireland and Mexicans as Emilio Fernández , Sonia Infante , Pedro Armendáriz Jr. , Jorge Luke , Hugo Stiglitz , all of them giving ordinary performances , but they were so fun and amusing that kept entertainment in the film.

This horrific retelling of the treasure hunt throughout Amazon jungle was regularly written/produced/directed by Rene Cardona Jr who developed a long career as national as international . He was a Mexican director and writer, expert on all kinds of genres with a penchant for Terror , adventure and exploitation ; being especially known for The Treasure of the Amazon (1985) , The Bermudas Triangle (1978) , ¡Tintorera! (1977) , Cycone , Fantastic Balloon Voyage , Under Siege , The Night of a Thousand Cats , Survivors of Andes , Beaks , Carlos the terrorist and Guayana, El Crimen del Siglo (1979) . Rating : 5/10 , average but passable and acceptable.

A pretty decent adventure film from 1985 offers us several small groups of characters, each going into the wilds of the Amazon seeking different kinds of treasure. The movie is downright imaginative in the unpredictable kinds of trouble they encounter seeking out gold, diamonds or oil.

The good thing about the movie is how it depends on characterization although the visuals are great too. It's much better than most of the clueless action movies of 2007. For one thing the camera holds steady instead of shaking all over creation trying to fake suspense. Most of the 2007 era cheap tricks --- such as the vim vim vim vim sound tracks weren't invented yet.

Expect a disparate bunch of characters, mostly bad, a couple of girls with legs, and more fearful jungle creatures than you ever guessed existed.

After the movie, buzz down to Manaus, Brazil and spend a few days seeing things first hand.