Tracy Winters Stinkin' Incan tripe starring everybody's favorite bad actor, Chuckleton Messton.Messton is a cocky Peruvian guide who caters to people with names like Morris who have lots of money while concomitantly dissing people with names like Morgan who are considered crud in this cruddy flick. Not much happens for eons until another burro wanders into a scene to up-stage the actors... again. It's a rather bad film when the jackasses are more interesting than the characters in the story.Add this movie to your list of stuff to watch after you've run out of Sominex.... you really have to make sure you're stocked up on those sleeping pills so viewing garbage like this won't be necessary.

jahlman2 It has been a long time since I've seen this film, but I will share what I remember the most. This is a great flick of the 50's that is a bit of adventure, culture,and the beautiful scenery of Peru. Their are many familiar faces you will see:the brash character of Charlton Heston's Harry Steele can intimidate or turn off anyone, just as it can be a "turn on" to others. He has a charisma that is appealing to both sexes. The rough exterior that which many a male wishes he could portray. That rough exterior is attractive to a woman who likes to soften that rough exterior and solve the mystery in her man. The actress Nicole Maurey, with whom I am not familiar, her hair color is quite a contrast to the lush green background of Peru's mountains. Robert Young is a bit out of character compared to his familiar "Father Knows Best" super dad role. This is a role that may not have been his favorite, however, you have to give him credit for trying. Then, there is the infamous Thomas Mitchell...always a superb character actor. His character is nothing like Mr. O'Hara (Scarlett's daddy) or the forgettable Uncle Billy in "It's A Wonderful Life". And, of course, the Peruvian natives add a lot of color and humor to the movie. You can just see Steven Spielberg sitting in the theater, in his youth, watching this movie, a Harry Steele wannabe...thus, the birth of Indiana Jones! Another movie that should be on DVD.I would like to see it on TV, again. Afterall, "The Naked Jungle" made it. Why not this one?

Robert J. Maxwell In the 50s, between historical epics, Chuck made a few pretty good exotic adventure flicks. Two of them were located in South America -- the one in which he is a plantation owner fighting both a horde of army ants and Eleanor Parker's sexual experience, and this one, in which his career consists apparently of nothing more than acting as a guide in Peru, swindling rich tourists, and seducing their bored wives. Both have some snippy dialog. The censors must have been asleep at the switch.I can't remember the plot too well. I saw it on its release as a kid, and only more recently once on TV, when some of the lines and some of the scenes sent me into ictal spasms.A lot of traveling up and down rivers, to tricky places. Thomas Mitchell as a grubby, greedy American after Incan treasures. (And they were THERE too, the ones that Pizarro didn't make off with. Cripes, the royal family wore garments made of gold, and after they were worn once the garments were thrown away!) Mitchell's most memorable line. He's wringing his hands with glee, practically drooling, as he fantasizes about how they're going to rip off some priceless treasure that night. "Ahh, nobody ever made a buck in the daytime!" Later, Mitchell makes a grab for a golden statue or something and falls off the mountain some thirty-thousand feet. Later someone asks Heston what killed Mitchell. "Gravity," he replies.But the most hilarious exchange, the one I could hardly believe on second viewing, takes place between Glenda Farrell, the middle-aged bored wife of a dull bulb of an American zillionaire. She's eyeing him as he slinks around the room polishing his rifle or something and she asks if he likes his job. It goes something like, "It's a living." She: "How do you approach your work?" He: "I take it slow and easy." She: "That's just the way I like it. Are you good at it?" He: "I've never had any complaints." It goes on, but I can't.It's a lively movie, completely unbelievable, as is the voice of Yma Sumac, a woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to the mother of the school girl I was dating at the time. The natives are laughable. Oh, they existed, just as the Inca did (though the name "Inca" was used only in reference to the incestuous royal family), but they didn't look anything like these Hollywood head shrinkers from Central Casting. I hope I'm not getting this mixed up with Heston's other South American adventure!Robert Young is stuck with the role of the nice guy -- again. It must have been an easy morph into Marcus Welby, MD.In its own quiet way this is a classic of its kind, if pure schlock can be considered a kind. Quite enjoyable.

MARIO GAUCI Despite the intriguing title, this is a tedious potboiler with very little to commend it save the evocative Peruvian locations. A stiff, pre-stardom Charlton Heston is an arrogant opportunist whose dress code might well have inspired Indiana Jones but his adventures, unfortunately for the viewer, are nowhere near as exciting. Robert Young (unconvinging as a belatedly introduced archaeologist), Thomas Mitchell (as Heston's double-crossing partner) and Michael Pate (ridiculously decked out in a Rumpelstiltskin hat as the Inca High Priest or something) are on hand to lend the film some much needed support but the female cast is very weak: Nicole Maurey tries too hard as the damsel-in-distress heroine, Glenda Farrell is wasted as an American tourist with an eye on Heston, and Peruvian singer Yma Sumac almost sinks the film with her embarrassing over-the-top chanting!