Michael Dudikoff plays a freelance guide Hamilton, an expert in jungle expedition. While guiding a doctor and his daughter into the deep dangerous jungles of the Amazon, the doctor is killed and the daughter captured by indigenous primitive tribe of the mythical Lost City. Barely escaping death, Hamilton manages to return to the outpost of the Amazon basin and report the incident to the chief police. The chief police warns him not to return to the jungle but Hamilton adamantly tries to find other ways to return and rescue the kidnapped doctor's daughter.As fate would have it, he looks for his associate, an ex-WW II pilot who then introduces him to a wealthy businessman and his friends who want Hamilton to lead their journey into the Lost City. Hamilton accepts their offer after striking a lucrative deal. With an addition of several vested interests tagging along, Hamilton heads back into the perilous Amazon jungles to search for the Lost City and rescue his dead client's daughter. Based on Alistair MacLean's novel, this adventure film fails to keep audience interested much less thrilled. Regardless of the time you watch it, you will doze off halfway through the film or keep wanting to check the remaining run time on the screen. This is worth watching only for Dudikoff's die-hard fans. Try watching River of Death in one sitting if you are experiencing sleepless nights. It may be an effective method of sleep therapy.

Seen when I was 14, a pretty kid, this Dudikoff adventure flick seemed wildly responsive to my desires from an adventure outing. The result was that I began considering Dudikoff an impressive cult—actor, an impressive action—star, something I've never really felt about, say, Lamas. I passed this conviction on to my family as well—such that a movie like that one (In Her Defense ) where Dudikoff loves Mrs. Marlee Matlin was quite respected. I can say I imposed Dudikoff as an essential movie star in my family.I thought RIVER was ideally crafted. Generally, I delighted in such formula movies—the more they conformed to a pattern, the more I liked them—Nazis hidden in South America—how thought—provoking is this? I liked Dudikoff's adolescent, charming air, a strong and handsome lad.

Michael Dudikoff stars as John Hamilton a mercenary who fights off deadly tribes and a sadistic Nazi who is still continuing his work in the jungle in this deathly dull affair. Dudikoff is just woeful here while the rest of the cast that include Donald Pleasance and Robert Vaughn are wasted in their roles. Boredom is all that floats in this river.

One of Alistair MacLean's poorest books becomes one of the poorest films based on one of his books in this jungle dud. Michael Dudikoff leads the expedition into the heart of the Amazon, culminating in some silly revelatory scenes in which most of the characters turn out to be someone other than who we thought they were. It transpires that they all have various motives for searching for a Nazi scientist in a lost city, but none of the revelations are very convincing. The actors have done better work, some of them have been in great movies (Donald Pleasance, Robert Vaughn) but none of them would be proud of this. It's purely a case of them taking the money and running. Even the jungle backdrop is under-used. You'd think that a film set in the jungle would at least have pretty scenery and some spectacular photography....but oh no, not this one!