Adventure

Action

River of Death

The Cannon Group

Breton Film Productions

United States of America

English

Michael Dudikoff

Robert Vaughn

Donald Pleasence

Herbert Lom

L.Q. Jones

Sarah Maur Thorp

Cynthia Erland

Foziah Davidson

Victor Melleney

Rufus Swart

Gordon Mulholland

Lindsay Reardon

Ian Yule

Crispin De Nuys

Erica Rogers

Norman Anstey

Elzabé Zietsman

Alain D. Woolf

Goliath Davids

Jockey Rigney

Isaac Mavimbela

Gail McQuillan

James White

Edward Simpson

Andrew Deutsch

Steve Carver

Alistair MacLean

Diane Peterson

Avi Lerner

Ken Bornstein

Avraham Karpick

Joachim H. Hansch

Gerry Lotter

Sasha Matson

Robyn Williams

Avraham Leibman

Harry Alan Towers

Kini Kay

Dankert Guillaume

Stuart Wentzel

Richard Burton

Juli Lotter

Debbie Christiane

John Rosewarne

Thierry J. Couturier

Luke Cornell

Wenden K. Baldwin

Justin Rosewarne

Breck Warwick

Angel Castignani

Michael Alden

Bill Van Daalen

Pini Ben Yishay

Don Pike

Nick Bischoff

Michael Spatola

Tony Garber

Leonard T. Geschke

Godfrey Marks

Laura Behary

Alain Jakubowicz

Bill Olmsted

Nick Forshager

Susan M. Ritter

John Bergman

Tina Canny

Patrick Cyccone Jr.

Nico Sachse

Joe Quinlivan

Vaughan Peacock

Tony Pascuzzo

Jacob Bukman

Monica Zelder

Carsten Rasch

David Murat

Donald Newman

Clive Lawrie

Kyle Seidenbaum

Mike Freeman

Jo Jo Bergman

David Cunningham

Albert Gasser

Frank A. Montaño

Bill Black

Asher Yates

C.P. Wessels

_**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+

River of Death (1989) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

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River of Death

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Cast

Michael Dudikoff

Robert Vaughn

Donald Pleasence

Herbert Lom

L.Q. Jones

Sarah Maur Thorp

Cynthia Erland

Foziah Davidson

Victor Melleney

Rufus Swart

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