Il fiume della morte

Why does this film have such a low rating? It's a perfectly decent adventure film. It's handled really well by director Steve Carver. The ensemble performances are fine. The photography is decent. It does really well on a low budget. I enjoyed this movie more the second time around, and I'll watch it again.

Cheesy, Low-Budget, but Colorful Action/Adventure with Scary looking and Color Coordinated Amazonian Tribesmen, South American Nazis Circa 1965, Big Haired Babes, and Non-Actor and Fan Favorite Michael Dudikoff.

Along for the Fun is Robert Vaughn and Donald Pleasance Playing Dueling Old Fogie Nazis. The Pacing is too Slow and the Action Lackluster and looking Staged, the Film has Complications like Biological Scourges, and a Hidden Jungle City that Go virtually Nowhere.

The Movie may Take Itself Too Seriously to be much Fun, but it Ends Up being a little Entertaining if You can Get into It. Whether it's Worth the Try will be a Matter of Tolerance and Taste.

Overall, Average for this Type of Pre-CGI, Direct to Video Stuff. It's a Canon Production and the Hacks there Did and Do Have a Fan Base for this Type of Glossy Trash.

Michael Dudikoff goes Indiana Jones in this jungle adventure yarn about former Nazi scientists operating in the depths of the Amazon. Okay, so Dudikoff is no Harrison Ford (who is?), but he comes off well as the same kind of hero, even if he doesn't get to do as much adventuring as Indy does. He just sort of walks through the jungle for most of the film, leading a group of people through treacherous territory and avoiding killer river pirates. I've only seen this one a couple times (despite having it on video), but I could never really tell what the point of whole thing was. I guess I need to watch it more closely next time. All I know is former Nazi commander Donald Pleasance (great as always) wants something to do with former Nazi scientist Robert Vaughn, and I know the girl who's part of the team wants revenge on Vaughn for killing a relative of her's during World World II. Veteran character actor L.Q. Jones lends his always-welcome presence in a small role. Based on a novel by Alistair McLean, RIVER OF DEATH is no RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. In fact, I would say that it's probably my least-favorite jungle adventure movie without a whole lot going for it, other than Dudikoff playing a different type of character, some okay scenes, and some nice location shoots. Even jungle adventure movie fans might be disappointed.

This movie kept my attention for the entire time I had it on. I consider this a small achievement on the part of River of Death considering what an incompetent film it is from start to finish. But is it horrible? Nope. Just pretty bad. This is like one of those movies on a Mill Creek dvd set you would find in a Walmart bargain bin. The set would probably be titled something insipid like "Jungle Fever" and River of Death would no doubt be the best movie out of the 7 or 8 random titles in the pack. Cannibals and Nazis should both be in more movies together I think, but even they couldn't save this misguided adventure yarn that felt like it was held together by silly string. One scene seems to begin and end in the middle of the next leaving the viewer going "What the heck? I thought he was flying the helicopter?" I'm not sure if the movie could have benefited from extensive storyboarding but it seems to me like there was no planning at all. Some scenes of people walking through the jungle were filmed with helicopter shots inserted from time to time and then there would be a shot of birds trying to fly out of frame to escape this stink bomb. And the writing was just bad...complimented by worse acting including a really hammy performance from Donald Pleasance. His character is shacked up with a girl that is about 5 decades younger than him and every scene with these two that called for physical affection made me cringe and laugh at the same time. Despite the movies near countless flaws, I still really enjoyed it. Would I recommend it? No...but fans of trashy jungle flicks may want to give it a go.

One of Alistair MacLean's poorest books becomes one of the poorest films based on one of his books in this jungle dud. Michael Dudikoff leads the expedition into the heart of the Amazon, culminating in some silly revelatory scenes in which most of the characters turn out to be someone other than who we thought they were. It transpires that they all have various motives for searching for a Nazi scientist in a lost city, but none of the revelations are very convincing. The actors have done better work, some of them have been in great movies (Donald Pleasance, Robert Vaughn) but none of them would be proud of this. It's purely a case of them taking the money and running. Even the jungle backdrop is under-used. You'd think that a film set in the jungle would at least have pretty scenery and some spectacular photography....but oh no, not this one!