Treasure of the Amazon

A pretty decent adventure film from 1985 offers us several small groups of characters, each going into the wilds of the Amazon seeking different kinds of treasure. The movie is downright imaginative in the unpredictable kinds of trouble they encounter seeking out gold, diamonds or oil.

The good thing about the movie is how it depends on characterization although the visuals are great too. It's much better than most of the clueless action movies of 2007. For one thing the camera holds steady instead of shaking all over creation trying to fake suspense. Most of the 2007 era cheap tricks --- such as the vim vim vim vim sound tracks weren't invented yet.

Expect a disparate bunch of characters, mostly bad, a couple of girls with legs, and more fearful jungle creatures than you ever guessed existed.

After the movie, buzz down to Manaus, Brazil and spend a few days seeing things first hand.

Not an easy puppy to come across, but this "Treasure of the Amazon" surely is warmly recommended viewing for every fan of trash, pulp or the glorious exploitation cinema. I was lucky enough to catch it on a national TV channel, during a cult-themed night. This is a Mexican take on the extremely popular jungle adventures of the early 80's, complete with sleaze, gratuitous violence and a once-famous Hollywood cast. We witness how three separate groups of Westerners sift out the dangerous Amazon jungle looking for gold. All three groups encounter wild animals and a savage tribe of head-hunters but eventually it's the typical human greed that is the biggest threat. "Treasure…" is action-packed (not one dull moment) and extremely rich on gore sequences. Highlight of this is a semi-disgusting scene in which a gold-digger is torn apart by ravenous crabs! This particular scene is bit by bit copied from Lucio Fulci's "The Beyond", by the way. Director Cardona Jr. simply replaced the tarantulas with crabs. Much footage comes straight from other (more budgeted) films or nature channel documentaries but that only increases the terrific cult value of this production. The cast performances go from lovely OTT acting (former miss world Ann Sidney) to completely-not-interested acting (John Ireland as the priest). Donald Pleasance is utterly cool as the uncanny Nazi wandering through the jungle to refund the resurrection of his Third Reich. Stuart Whitman shines for the first time again since "The Mark" as the tough jungle rat Gringo.

Gratuitous nudity, violence, gore, "action," over the hill stars looking of a payday and unintentional comedy. With that said it's at least 20 minutes longer than it needed to be which will test your feelings of it's so good it's bad to just bad. Luckily it saves the best for last with a third act filled with crosses and double crosses.

This Mexican gorefest is probably the funniest and most entertaining adventure movie ever made. In the 1950s, different people are looking for the treasure of the Amazon. For example a dubious woman, an elder man who knows the jungle (Whitman) and an old Nazi from Germany (great as ever: Pleasence). Not only are they trying to outwit each other, but they also have to fight blood thirsty crabs, crocodiles and other animals, and not to forget a vicious tribe of Indios who like to behead their victims as soon as they capture them.

Rene Cardona jr. surely didn't have that a big budget for this film, but he certainly does the best with it. Concerning gory effects, that is. In the most outrageous scene, a hapless adventurer gets his eyeballs ripped out by the vicious crabs, a scene which has to be inspired by Lucio Fulci's notorious spider-scene in "L'Aldilà - The Beyond".

This film is very trashy, but it's better entertainment than any other adventure film I know (the "Indiana Jones"-trilogy included), and it boosts a great role for horror veteran Donald Pleasence (as a really unpleasant guy) and enough nasty bloodshed to please every gorehound who wants to see something else for once.

That's what I call good, mindless fun!

The treasure part of this movie is stupid, because diamonds don't emerge naturally from ground level. There is some gold finding, too - that separate escapade is done by a Nazi and a topless native woman (who is actually Latino instead of Amazonian). But I have to admit that that woman looked good. The Nazi (Pleasance) is okay, and I found myself on his side while searching for treasure in order to build a better world - (what the hell) - Though opponents to that have their way. There is a need to mention that there is a goof who is searching for oil; and he is, by far, one of the worst actors in history. The goof's girlfriend isn't too bad looking though; but miss goody two-shoes eventually shows her devious side. The main characters are the diamond getters: performed by Whitman and his two nagging companions, who travel through the jungle yelling and pointing guns at each other. Fortunately they are given the greater majority of film time, making the story passable: with the scenery and Whitman making the highlights.