River of Death (1989)

Memorable, crazy movie

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

A different way of telling a story

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This movie was made and released about eight years after its source novel of the same name by Alistair MacLean was first published in 1981. "River of death" was MacLean's twenty-fourth novel and this movie was the fifteenth film adaptation of one of MacLean's stories. It's the first filmed adaptation of an Alistair MacLean to be made and released after the author had passed way. First and only made for cinema filmed adaptation of an Alistair MacLean story to be made and released during the 80s. Final to date made for cinema adaptation of an Alistair MacLean story. I haven't read the book , but I 've heard that it's one of MacLean's poorest books. So it's really no wonder that the movie sucks too. Michael Dudikoff is John Hamilton , a mercenary who leads the expedition into the heart of the Amazon in search of Nazi scientist. It turns out that they all have various motives for searching for a Nazi scientist in a lost city, but none of the revelations are very convincing. Most of the characters turn out to be someone other than who we thought they were. It might sound interesting , but believe me it isn't.The characters are VERY one dimensional , the twists are unconvincing and the plot is paper thin. The movie is TERRIBLY directed. It's strange , because director Steve Carver made some decent Chuck Norris movies before ("An eye for eye" and "Lone wolf McQuade"). Here the pacing is sluggish , the action is lame and there is too much talking.Dudikoff is capable B class actor , but he is lost here. Good actors like Donald Pleasance and Robert Vaughn are wasted. Even the Amazon scenery seems underused. There is no pretty scenery or good photography. It's dull, dull ,dull. It's a cure for insomnia. It's the worst kind of B movie making. It's not even "so bad it's good" type of B class movie. I give it 1/10.

Michael Dudikoff plays a freelance guide Hamilton, an expert in jungle expedition. While guiding a doctor and his daughter into the deep dangerous jungles of the Amazon, the doctor is killed and the daughter captured by indigenous primitive tribe of the mythical Lost City. Barely escaping death, Hamilton manages to return to the outpost of the Amazon basin and report the incident to the chief police. The chief police warns him not to return to the jungle but Hamilton adamantly tries to find other ways to return and rescue the kidnapped doctor's daughter.As fate would have it, he looks for his associate, an ex-WW II pilot who then introduces him to a wealthy businessman and his friends who want Hamilton to lead their journey into the Lost City. Hamilton accepts their offer after striking a lucrative deal. With an addition of several vested interests tagging along, Hamilton heads back into the perilous Amazon jungles to search for the Lost City and rescue his dead client's daughter. Based on Alistair MacLean's novel, this adventure film fails to keep audience interested much less thrilled. Regardless of the time you watch it, you will doze off halfway through the film or keep wanting to check the remaining run time on the screen. This is worth watching only for Dudikoff's die-hard fans. Try watching River of Death in one sitting if you are experiencing sleepless nights. It may be an effective method of sleep therapy.

I'm sure that the original novel by Alistair McLean was a whole lot better than this film would indicate. It would almost have to be. This is a style of film making not seen since the pleasant days of Republic and Monogram Pictures were active. It's almost like a bad serial without as many chapter breaks.A Mengele like scientist played with relish by Robert Vaughn as the Allied armies are closing in on both sides of Nazi Germany has to flee. Those concentration camp inmates, wonderful subjects for experimentation are going to become unavailable shortly and he wants to continue his research. He kills a Swiss investigator and his SS backer Donald Pleasance he merely wounds in a rather stupid double cross.Fast forward twenty years to the Sixties and two fisted adventurer Michael Dudikoff is looking for a lost Inca city in the Amazon head waters where all kinds of strange things have been happening to the natives. All sorts of other people want to get to the city as well for varying motives. They team up with the intrepid Dudikoff leading the motley expedition.River Of Death is a throwback to those old action adventure films that used to be churned out of those B studios by the bucket load. That's not necessarily a good thing. It might have been better had this been a satire of same, but River Of Death is as serious as a crutch.What a serial this could have been, river pirates, corrupt police, lost city, Nazi scientists, what more could you want?

"Michael Dudikoff as Indianna Jones!", This is a watchable Dudikoff yarn, with fine performances, however the uneven pacing sinks it quite a bit. All the characters are pretty cool, and the story while uneven was not too bad, plus Michael Dudikoff and Donald Pleasence are simply amazing in this!. It never truly bored me and kept me watching, however, it could have been a lot more then just a decent rental!, plus the ending was quite unsatisfying. The opening was really cool, and quite unsettling, and i thought Robert Vaughn was great as the main villain, plus while the ending was unsatisfying it did have a cool little twist in it!. it's no Idianna Jones and far from Dudikoff's best that's for damn sure, however it's still a decent time waster, and Dudikoff is wonderful as the main lead, plus the movie was quite violent at times!. The scenery isn't bad, and it had a cool shootout, plus the dialog amused me. This is a watchable Dudikoff yarn, with fine performances, however the uneven pacing sinks it quite a bit!, worth the watch. The Direction is Not bad. Steve Carver does a decent job here with good camera work, and keeping the film watchable throughout nothing special, but he got the job done. The Acting is very good. Michael Dudikoff is AMAZING as always, and is amazing here, he is very likable, relaxed on top of things, carried the film, had a great presence, had some cool lines, was fantastic in the acting department, and while he is no Harrison Ford he still did an amazing job!, in my opinion. (Dudikoff Rules!!). Robert Vaughn is great as the main villain, he had a blast hamming it up, and was very interesting to watch, and added class. Donald Pleasence is AMAZING as always, and is amazing here, he was extremely interesting to watch as always, was especially good in the finale, added a lot of class, and i loved every moment he was on screen!. (Pleasence Rules!). Herbert Lom is great in his role, he was evil as usual and did a great job. L.Q. Jones does okay but is kinda wasted here. Cynthia Erland is hot and did fine with what she had to do. Rest of the cast do okay. Overall worth the watch. **1/2 out of 5