TERROR IN THE JUNGLE (1967)

This film went through three directors, the first two of whom quit in disgust as the producer had no clue, no taste, and no money. The cast was composed entirely of non-SAG actors, each of whom paid to be in the film. You can imagine their performances.

The plot concerns Henry, a little boy whose father puts him (alone) on a flight to Rio de Janeiro to visit his estranged mother. When the plane inexplicably loses fuel, it crash-lands in the Amazon River, killing half the passengers on impact. The flight crew tosses the other passengers into the river, where they're promptly eaten by crocodiles. The flight crew themselves buy the farm when the plane, for unexplained reasons, catches fire and explodes.

Only little Henry survives; the stewardess had set him adrift in a coffin belonging to a dead nun who was being flown home for burial. Eventually, he's abducted by native Jivaros, who are convinced that Henry is the son of their god, Inti, because his blond hair matches the sun--hence a ridiculous halo effect that turns up not once but twice. One native is unconvinced, though, and wants the boy killed.
Another tribe invades their village, kills most of its people, and burns their huts down. (Again, the film provides no reason for this.) But Henry escapes, as does the bad guy. Just as he is about to kill Henry, the boy's stuffed leopard transforms into a real one and rips the bad guy apart with its teeth. (I'm not making this up!) His dying words are, "Inti, forgive me for hating your son."

I could write a book on what's wrong with this film, but instead will touch on its most repugnant features:

-  We spend the first 25 minutes getting to know the passangers on the plane, only to see them all killed off at virtually the same time. That leaves Henry to carry the film. To put it nicely, he's not up to the task.

- Henry spends nearly the whole film either crying or calling for his daddy. That's understandable as he's going through a truma, but goddammit if his non-stop simpering doesn't grate on the nerves.

- The portrayal of Peruvians here is, to put it mildly, condescending. From seeing this film, one might think the people of Peru do nothing all day but engage in elaborate rituals.

- The jungle men wear cheesy loincloths and Moe Howard-style wigs. The women wear dresses that resemble something out of a Tarzan-themed senior prom. And I'd swear the village elder has khaki shorts on.

- We're treated to not one, but three, separate close-ups of fatal stabbings. The effect is not handled competently.

- Once the leopard kills the bad guy, we get a full body shot of the animal. It's visibly chained to a tree.