Scott LeBrun "Indiana Jones" style late 80s adaptation of Alistair MacLeans' book is a watchable adventure that should have been more fun, as it has some irresistible ingredients. (Like veteran actor Robert Vaughn playing a demented Nazi scientist.) But the execution just doesn't have enough "oomph" going for it. Its action scenes are fine, and the story is a fairly enjoyable one, despite its characters not being terribly interesting, for the most part.American ninja Michael Dudikoff stars as John Hamilton, a jungle guide in the late 1960s who takes a doctor (Victor Melleney) and his sexy daughter (Sarah Maur Thorp) through the Amazonian wilderness to a fabled "lost city". When he alone escapes the clutches of hostile native tribes, he feels just guilty enough to want to go back. And there are a variety of parties who want to make the return trek with him, like German "businessman" Heinrich Spaatz (Donald Pleasence) and his associate Maria (Cynthia Erland), each with their own agenda in mind.While it's commendable to see Dudikoff step outside his personal comfort zone and try something different, he just isn't enough of an actor to make his character all that compelling. (One can hardly fail to notice that his narrator voice is somehow more gravelly than his speaking voice in the rest of the movie.) Fortunately, heavy hitters like Vaughn, Pleasence (who absurdly sports a wig part of the time), Herbert Lom (as a grumpy and officious police officer), and L.Q. Jones (coming off well in the most colorful role of the picture) do their part in keeping the story alive. Lovely Erland is passable in the most tragic role.Striking scenery (this was actually filmed in South Africa) and photography do help to a degree, as well as a fine music score by Sasha Matson. Undemanding viewers may be amused.Six out of 10.

Maziun 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.

Comeuppance Reviews At the end of World War II in 1945, Heinrich Spaatz (Pleasence) vows revenge on evil Nazi doctor Wolfgang Manteuffel (Vaughn). Twenty years later, in 1965, we're introduced to "adventurer" John Hamilton (Dudikoff), a guy who knows the Amazon river like the back of his hand and gives tours through the dangerous jungles. In his latest tour group are people that want to find out the origins of a mysterious disease that's been ravaging the local population, as well as some Nazi hunters that believe Manteuffel is hiding out in the area. All want to find the legendary "Lost City" which should hold the key to pretty much everything. But along the way, they're going to have to face many pitfalls and challenges - everything from "river pirates" to the unknown jungle disease. Will they succeed? I guess Firewalker (1986) wasn't enough of an overlong jungle slog for Cannon, so they decided to make another one a few years later. Why they thought audiences had such an appetite for jungle slogs is unknown, but here's another one. Take the aforementioned Firewalker, add some Golden Needles (1974), and maybe some Skeleton Coast (1988), and you have a plot you've seen many times before. If you really want to see a quest for the lost city, see Quest For The Lost City (1990). Sure, River of Death might be based on a story by the acclaimed Alistair MacLean, but it lacks a Zap Rowsdower. Or even a Mike Pipper. So can it really compete? Dudikoff is as cool as ever, and his gruff narration adds...something...but honestly this isn't really an action movie, it's more of an old-fashioned "adventure" movie. Why the filmmakers thought that would be better, we don't know. It seems like a bit of a cop-out. Dudikoff doesn't even do any Martial Arts. Due to the length of the movie, and the quality cast, we presume Cannon was going for some very mainstream material. What they came out with is pretty boring, because there isn't really any character development, so you don't really care what goes on, and even what little bit of gunplay and explosions there happen to be don't help things.Robert Vaughn - yes, Control 5 himself! - is on hand as a Nazi. We always love seeing him, and he clearly is enjoying himself here, probably because he doesn't get too many Nazi roles. Maybe there's a reason for that? Perhaps the good lawyers at Mark E. Salomone and Morelli liked what they saw and decided to give the poor guy a break. We kid Vaughn because we love. We're also big fans of Donald Pleasence, and he gets to do a lot more here than, say, in the entertaining (but largely Pleasence-less) American Tiger (1990). Herbert Lom is also onboard with the cast of older gentlemen, which adds to the Skeleton Coast vibe. Too bad they couldn't get Borgnine.The bottom line here is that this movie should have been snappier, with a more vibrant pace and about a half an hour chopped out of the running time. We see what the filmmakers were trying to do, but it's all so bloated. Director Steve Carver, who only a year previously directed the fun Bulletproof (1988), should have taken a page out of his own handbook and livened things up a bit like he did with that Gary Busey vehicle. He truly shouldn't have been such a "Butthorn".We've seen a lot worse, and this movie is fine for Dudikoff completists or even Pleasence fans, but casual viewers will probably be turned off by River of Death's sluggish ways.

ma-cortes This thrilling picture deals with an adventurer named Hamilton (Michael Dudikiff) who decides to go in search of the lost city in the Amazon jungle , entering the dangerous world of a forgotten tribe . A motley crew of other people (Donald Pleasence , Herbert Lom , L.Q. Jones) in search of wealth , tripping over Neo-Nazi scientific and war criminals . But to their terror they find out that they have bit off more than they can think . As a Nazi doctor (Rovert Vaughn) , Joseph Mengele-alike , still doing his experiments on people in the same place and endeavouring to reconstitute the Nazi movement from his Amazonian sanctuary by creating an army and a deadly weapon .This absurd and mindless adventure/thriller deals with a misfit crew who travels Amazons , being led by star Michael Dudikoff along with other people with reasons of their own decide to join him for the wealth of the lost city . The picture contains frenetic action , thrills , intrigue , shootouts with no much sense and a silly finale . The story is a crossover between Indiana Jones adventures , ¨Boys from Brazil¨ and films about tribes of Amazons . But it results to be too complex to be harmlessly agreeable . The acting of the little interesting characters is unbelievable and unconvincing . Good support cast , though widely wasted , including notorious secondaries such as Robert Vaughn as Wolfgang Manteuffel , Donald Pleasence as Heinrich Spaatz ,Herbert Lom as Colonel Ricardo Diaz and special mention to L.Q. Jones or Justus McQueen who still today playing . Based on an Alistair MacLean's novel , a best-selling author , whose stories have been much better rendered in other occasions . Alistair employed the pseudonym Ian Stuart several times in order to prove that his books were best-sellers due to their content and not solely because his name appeared on the cover. This is one of the several adaptations based on his novels and most of them set in WW2 , such as the successful ¨Where the eagles dare¨ and ¨Guns of Navarone¨ . Furthermore, ¨Ice Station Cebra¨ that is the first of two movies based on an Alistair MacLean novel set in rugged icy and snowy terrain , the second would be ¨Bear Island¨ . ¨Ice Station Zebra¨ is one of two filmed Alistair MacLean adaptations directed by John Sturges , the other was ¨The Satan Bug¨ made and released about three years earlier . ¨River of Death¨ produced in low budget by Avi Lerner and British Harry Alan Towers was middlingly directed by Steve Carver . He's an expert on action/thriller genre such as ¨Capone¨, ¨Big Bad Mama¨, ¨Steel¨, Drum¨ and directed two successful hits for Chuck Norris as ¨Lone McQuade¨ and ¨An eye for eye¨. His last films have been failed as ¨The wolves¨, ¨Dead center¨ and this ¨River of death¨ . Rating : below average . Too ridiculous for the complexity to be worth watching .