King Solomon's Treasure

While hunting for game in Africa, a man by the name of "Allan Quatermain" (John Colicos) kills a man in self-defense who is clad in leopard skins and wearing a strange medallion around his neck. Puzzled by the strange inscriptions on it, he then consults with a colleague of his named "Sir Henry Curtis" (David McCallum) and, together with a former Royal Navy officer by the name of "Captain John Good" (Patrick MacNee), the three set off to find a treasure hidden in an unchartered part of Africa by the famous King Solomon. Now, having seen two similar movies under the title of "King Solomon's Mines" produced in 1937 and then again in 1950, I must say that this low-budget film pales in comparison to both of them. Not only was the script in need of serious improvement but the acting of David McCallum was particularly bad as well. That being said, if a person is looking for an adventure movie of this sort, I strongly recommend either of the two previously mentioned films as this one isn't really worth one's time.

This won't be everybody's cup of tea, however it is a much better version than even the Richard Chamberlain versions are. Chamberlain did a fine Quatermain, MacNee does it very, very well though. As does Ken Gampu playing Umpslopogas as he did with Richard Chamberlain's version playing Umbopo.

From the beginning to the end, this is not a highly polished or high dollar production, but it is very well done for the era it was made in. As a bonus for the guys, somehow they even slipped in quite a few "native" girls jiggling their jigglers in a dance scene.

The plot was done with the standard formula of: Old gentleman telling the story of Lost Treasure, the travel to the Dark Continent, the river with alligators. Then jiggers jiggling, the bad guys (native priests in this case, again) haughty queen, lost treasure, and tragedy while the last three finally walk off into the setting sun.

Don't enter with high expectations of lavish sets and multitudes of extras being killed, used, or dying and this can be a good viewing.

First I want to point out that I'm a really big fan of David McCallum and I like Patrick MacNee very much. But why did those Sixties-TV-Series-Idols do this movie? Couldn't have been the money (obvious if you consider tricks and settings). I hardly find words to describe this mess of a film. Every "Godzilla"- or "Harryhausen"-movie looks more real than this. It's O.K. for a black & white movie from the 50s, but this one is from 77 (and in colour)!!! The story is always the same. Treasure-hunt, lost civilization, a lovely princess and the unavoidable catastrophe in the end (volcano in this case). If you like bad movies (I mean real bad) please watch it. Otherwise forget about it. It is so bad you can't even laugh about it. Now I know why it is hard to get. I wonder why this isn't made by Alan Smithee...

I love adventure novels, and am a huge fan of H. Rider Haggard, so when I saw the vhs copy of this film at a yardsale I just had to pick it up. Was it worth it? Yes, I will say it is. Do not listen to the haters, this film is not that bad. It still has its problems though. The production wasnt great so the sound gets kind of low and warbly during some segments. Also the effects are lackluster, but I can forgive that for this being a LOW-BUDGET film from the 1970'S, also for the fact that the director was a TV director, and this film was the only cinema released film he did along with one other film which I have not seen. So i can forgive that issue at least. But the film has some fast paced action scenes and actual tension placed neatly. If you are a fan of old style adventure films, and treasure hunts for that matter, this would be your kind of film. 6 out of 10.

Dinosaurs, monsters that never existed, a stuttering coward Sir Henry, a womanizing pool sharp Captain Good and video so dark and blurred it hard to see anything. The best thing about the movie was it's ending, no, not how it ended but that the torturous movie finally ended.

I didn't want to give it a one star but that was the lowest I could go.