Adventurers' Guild

Lore & Background

In the nightmarish last days of the Third Reich, a psychotic Nazi scientist named Wolfgang Manteuffel (Robert Vaughn) escapes to the impenetrable jungles of the Amazon. Years later, a mysterious incurable disease breaks out among the natives, and adventurer John Hamilton (Michael Dudikoff) is hired to lead investigators on a search for the cause. Hamilton guides a group of explorers up the deadly Rio del Morte, facing bloodthirsty river pirates, hostile native tribes and headhunting cannibals, to the fabulous lost Inca city. The film was shot in South Africa's Port St. Johns, which director Steve Carver described as "dangerous as all hell" — "We were lucky no one got killed." Carver worked with actors Herbert Lom, Robert Vaughn and Donald Pleasence, calling them "professionals" who "would carry the equipment up the mountainside with the crew." River of Death was shot during the cultural boycott, resulting in Carver being fined by the Directors Guild of America. Carver remained unapologetic in 2020: "I had ignored the apartheid, because I am not political. I couldn't give a damn about their apartheid at that time."

Did You Know?

• The film was originally to be shot in Brazil, but that turned out too expensive, so South Africa's Port St. Johns was chosen instead.
• The Los Angeles Times review stated the film's strategy was to squeeze MacLean's story through the send-up style of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and concluded 'It doesn't work.'