River of Death main backdrop
River of Death main poster

River of Death

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4.9/10 • 38

1989-09-291h 47m

AdventureAction

The last chance to stop the rebirth of the Master Race.

An adventurer (Hamilton) decides to go in search of the Lost City in the Amazon jungle. A motley crew of other people decide to join him for the wealth of the city, for reasons of their own. But to their horror they find out that they have bitten off more than they can chew, what with a Nazi doctor still using the place for his human experiments.

Directors
Steve Carver
Editors
Ken Bornstein

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Michael Dudikoff

    Michael Dudikoff

    John Hamilton

  2. Robert Vaughn

    Robert Vaughn

    Wolfgang Manteuffel

  3. Donald Pleasence

    Donald Pleasence

    Heinrich Spaatz

  4. Herbert Lom

    Herbert Lom

    Colonel Ricardo Diaz

  5. L.Q. Jones

    L.Q. Jones

    Hiller

  6. Sarah Maur Thorp

    Sarah Maur Thorp

    Anna Blakesley

  7. Cynthia Erland

    Cynthia Erland

    Maria

  8. Foziah Davidson

    Foziah Davidson

    Dalia

  9. Victor Melleney

    Victor Melleney

    Blakesley

Reviews1

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Wuchak Avatar

Wuchak

Aug 14, 2022

6/10

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+

Media

  • River of Death poster
  • River of Death poster
  • River of Death poster
  • River of Death poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
experimentnazijunglesouth america