Customer Reviews

Jules Verne's 800 Leagues Down the Amazon [VHS]

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Considering the wonderful masterpieces Jules Verne gave us, it's hard to believe that this dull and lifeless movie is based on a novel he wrote. At any rate, 800 LEAGUES DOWN THE AMAZON is so poorly scripted, edited, acted and directed, I'm sure the actors involved don't include this on their resumes! Barry Bostwick plays a wealthy plantation owner who has a deep dark secret which bounty hunter Adam Baldwin stumbles upon. Bostwick also has a daughter (Daphne Zuniga in a horrible Hayley Mills impersonation) who has just accepted a marriage proposal from kindly doctor Tom Verica (American Dreams). Only problem is he wants to be married further down the Amazon because his mother is sick and wouldn't be able to come to the plantation for the wedding. So Bostwick builds this incredibly overwrought boat replete with piano, tables, etc, and they head down the Amazon. Of course, nasty Baldwin worms his way on board and blackmails Bostwick wanting not only money but his daughter's hand in marriage. They encounter arrow wielding natives, who look like they're all of 10 years old; piranhas that look amazingly like goldfish, and alligators with horrible overbites. The movie is laconic to say the least, culminating in a totally preposterous last minute ending. Stick to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island or Journey to the Center of the Earth for good movies from Mr. Verne. This one is not a jewel at all.

loose script, lousy directing, horrible acting, the female actress is perhaps one of worst ones like that matrix guy who could never act but with a pretty face. the whole movie is just like going-nowhere purposeless drive to an dead end. i threw it away to the garbage can after cursed it to the finish. wasted money bought this junk. three stars? give me a break.

The new film version of Jules Verne's La Jangada, entitled 800 LEAGUES DOWN THE AMAZON, can best be described in one word--cheap. It is apparently the result of a new trend in production, movies made directly for release in the video market. Such pictures can be made for as little as a million dollars, and lack the budget of features intended for showing in theaters, or even made-for-television movies. In fact, although the original running time is 88 minutes, 800 LEAGUES DOWN THE AMAZON has been released for video in a considerably shortened version, 75 minutes long.
There is no feeling at all for the locale or time in such basics as costumes, decor, or setting, and no introduction or intertitle is provided to establish the year or country. In one embarrassing scene, Torres places his foot on a table, to reveal that he is wearing a boot with a modern sole. Another sign of the quick production schedule is the fact that the key scene in which Torres reveals his purpose to Garral has both men's faces in shadow, concealing their emotions and reactions. Lighting and photography is passable at best, failing to fully exploit the story's pictorial possibilities.
Despite this fact, the picture has an unusually good cast for such a budget. Barry Bostwick adds a touch of class as a dignified, understated Joam Garral. (The picture suffers accordingly once he is jailed and largely off-screen.) Daphne Zuniga is a fairly credible Minha, transformed into a courageous heroine and modern-style woman. A devotee of horse-back riding, she easily outshines her rather impractical fiance, Manoel, played by Tom Verica. The plot is changed so that it is Minha, not Manoel, who pursues and kills Torres. However, Adam Baldwin as the villianous Torres overacts deplorably throughout.
The adaptation and screenplay is by Laura Schiff and Jackson Barr. The simplistic dialogue is poor, and could be followed by even the most distracted audience, indicating it was perhaps originally adapted with television (and its interruptions for commercial breaks) in mind. The story has been pared down to its essentials and the five principal inndividuals, eliminating such characters as Lina, Benito, and Yaquita. Fragoso (E.E. Ross) is still present, providing comic relief. The raft design roughly follows the Verne concept, although vaguely resembling a converted boat (as was also true of the 1960 Mexican version of La Jangada). However, the trip is portrayed as an almost semi-annual, prosaic event rather than a unique tour of the Amazon. The picture's best portion is the middle third, during the trip down the Amazon, after a dynamic fight with alligators. The first portion of 800 LEAGUES DOWN THE AMAZON is marred by re-arranging the chronology of the narrative, so that Torres learns the secret of Joam Garral after an accidental visit to his plantation. Torres joins the trip later while it is in progress, in a manner that would have made anyone suspicious.
Other changes are also harmful. There is some distasteful violence from showing Torres as a bounty hunter who brings in the severed heads of his victims. There is emphasis on the dangerous attacks by ferocious natives, both in the opening scene pursuing Torres, and later when they attack the raft. The Judges lose all the humane traits Verne had given them. The deciphering of the confession is not done in a credible manner. The code has not even been read before Minha's proclamation of her evidence is believed and Garral saved at the gallows.

On the back cover of the video of `Jules Verne's 800 Leagues Down the Amazon,' you can read the following tagline - `From the Creator of the Fantasty (sic) classics, "Around the World in 80 Days" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"; the fact is, it is from the king of B-movie Roger Corman (as executive producer), and Luis Llosa, director of much better `Anaconda.' The difference is that this cheaply made film has no Vincent Price or man-eating CGI creatures, and this boring tale based on one of Jules Verne's books is not even campy.

Barry Bostwick is Garral, rich and respected plantation owner in Brazil. When his daughter Minha (Daphne Zuniga) got engaged to a clean and nice doctor Manoel (Tom Verica), Garral, wrongly accused and outlawed, decides to go down the river with them in order to attend their wedding ceremony, after building a huge, house-like raft floating on the Amazon, on which they can travel to the city of Manaos. But a wily bounty hunter Koja (Adam Baldwin) keeps the secret of Garral, and waits patiently for a chance to use it.

From the beginning the film suffers from the clueless direction and low budget. In other words, the film always looks cheap. The alligators in the water (obviously provoked by someone standing out of the range of the camera) are not fearful or terrifying, and their attacks are at best growling and biting the wood. But all the characters somehow keep crying and screaming all the time when a bullet in the head can settle it. Oh, and piranhas? Well, I saw them twice, for about ten seconds.

The dialogues are so banal and insipid that they are sleep-inducing, and there is no acting from the actors. But they should not be blamed. What can you expect from the director of `The Specialist,' in which showy pyrotechnic is more impressive than two highly-paid stars?

The film proudly calls itself `Jules Verne's' but it hardly deserves the name of the writer. You need better ideas than the hostile `natives' running around half naked, a Chinese servant played by a Japanese actor, or a secret code that can be solved by pointing a gun at someone's head. Avoid it.

There is a Mexican film `La Jangada' (1959) based on the same novel (but I haven't seen it).

Satisfactory adventure film. There are enough tense moments to make the film interesting. The story moves along quickly. The film and actors will win no awards but I found the movie enjoyable enough.