This is the stuff I live for, truly do! Despite negative reviews and low ratings, I secretly had very high hopes for "River of Death", and the actual film still surpassed them. As far as yours truly is concerned, it's a fast-paced and exhilarating trash gem with phenomenal stars (Donald Pleasance, Robert Vaughn, Herbert Lom, LQ Jones...) in deviant roles, evil Nazis, savage Amazon jungle-tribes, nasty river pirates, fiendish medical experiments, Lost Cities and exploding helicopters! The poster proudly features the name of prominent writer Alistair MacLean, but the demented tale might as well have sprouted from the mind of over-enthusiast Italian scriptwriters who also penned down the delicious Indiana Jones clones, like "Ark of the Sun God" or "Hunters of the Golden Cobra".
Regardless of the fact WWII is coming to an end and Germany is defeated, megalomaniacal Nazi Doctor Wolfgang Manteuffel (Vaughn) doesn't consider his work finished, and he closes a pact with the unscrupulous General Heinrich Spaatz (Pleasance) to flee to South America and continue his experiments. 20 years later, the adventurous mercenary Hamilton (Michael Dudikoff) reluctantly accepts an assignment to trace down the mysterious Lost City, which is reputedly hidden deep in the Amazon jungle, surrounded by hostile native tribes. None of the expedition members is to be trusted, and most of them have a vengeful score to settle. This is just a very brief and general description of the plot, mind you, since "River of Death" is the type of film full of plot twists and sub stories; and each crazier than the next.
I'm really baffled by the harshness of some of the other reviews around here. Don't know what these people were expecting to see, but "River of Death" is quite the opposite of "dull" and "boring". Of course, the film has several flaws. Dudikoff's wannabe Humphrey Bogart style of narrating is quite irritating and the entire climax is kind of disappointing, but overall seen "River of Death" ensures a tremendous good time!
