Indio (1989) User Reviews

Adequate action film was a big direct to video hit in the early 90's

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 5 January 2010]

Francesco Quinn stars as a half Indian soldier who returns to the jungles of South America to find that bad guy Brian Dennehy has brought up the land of his native village and driven his people into the jungle so that he can build an industrial plant to rape the environment and natural resources.

Good mindless action film was notable for the appearance of Marvelous Marvin Hagler during the height of his popularity. (Hagler would take the lead in the sequel which didn't have Quinn in it). It's the sort of film that's kind of hard to really say much about other than its an adequate action film that does what it does and then gets off. It was perennial renter in when the film came out on video tape at the store I worked at because it was a film that had the reputation for being entertaining and not too taxing. It's a small scale exploitation film and on that level its gangbusters. It's the sort of a film that is perfect for a rainy Saturday night when you just want to sit on the couch and just chill with a bowl of popcorn.

Great B-movie

[Elbow · 14 November 2001]

Fun action B-film in the Grand 1980's one man army tradition. It's great to see Marvin Hagler as an "actor". The story itself is pretty typical. A lone-warrior "Shane" type deal, but it's in a fun setting, and the action is hot. See this movie and reminisce about what B-action movies used to be like.

No thanks

[Lupercali · 2/10 · 24 July 2002]

For me the most entertaining things about this movie were counting the number of times Brian D. and his cronies said "Goddamit!" and "Sonofabitch!"

A laudable concept for a movie, but in execution nearly everything goes wrong. Most of the acting is woeful (Dennehey is decent, but he isn't given much to work with), and the lack of build-up forces the main character to go ballistic far too early.

It wasn't thoroughly wretched: the cinematography was ok. All the same I could only give this one 3/10.

Rambo ripoff

[keith81 · 1/10 · 28 November 2005]

Former green beret is at first hunted down by Brian Dennehy in a forest, then fights back. I know I've seen this movie before...

This film's nothing but a cheap, Italian, Rambo rip-off from the get-go. The entire budget went into explosives and Dennehy's pockets. The green beret is named Daniel Morel after David Morrell, author of First Blood. This is supposed to be an homage, but when you're stealing so much, you ain't fooling nobody.

The sequel is a tad better and stars Charles Napier as the villain, who incidentally (not) played the villain in the Rambo sequel as well. Another "homage", right?

Indio is one of the better jungle films we've seen to date.

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 9 July 2013]

Somewhere deep in the jungles of South America (the film was shot in Argentina, Borneo, Brazil and the Philippines) a businessman named Whytaker (Dennehy) is disrupting the local indigenous population and bulldozing their huts attempting to get to a mine. When it spirals out of control and people start dying, Daniel Morell (Quinn) gets involved. Morell is the son of an "Indio" chief and an American woman. Just how that odd couple got together is never explained. Morell just happens to be a highly-trained Marine, and when he goes into "fight" mode, he whips off his shirt, dons some war paint and feathers, and begins making life miserable for Whytaker and his team. So Whytaker brings Morell's old Marine instructor, Jake (Marvelous) (he legally changed his name to Marvelous) to the remote location in the hopes that he can stop Morell. That's really just the beginning of the showdown in the jungle. What will happen? Indio is one of the better jungle films we've seen to date. We won't call it a Jungle Slog, because there's really nothing sloggy about it. Of course it's Italian-made and directed by the great Antonio Margheriti, and by '89 the Italian obsession with jungle-set movies had led them to make more mainstream jungle fare, having gotten the gore and weirdness out of their system with items like Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and Jungle Holocaust (1977). So it was back to the jungle again, but this time a wider audience can appreciate the not at all First Blood (1982)-like stylings of Indio. The presence of Brian Dennehy in First Blood and Indio is surely a coincidence...

Of course, as soon as the movie started we were on Marvelous Marvin Hagler watch, and he doesn't appear until 44 minutes into the film. But once he appears, things improve. And they weren't even bad to begin with. As Jake, the Vietnam vet who is adept at playing the pan flute like an angrier, tougher Zamfir, Marvelous steals the show. Of course, it's hard to match Brian Dennehy, who always delivers. He even says the classic line "We got company!" in the first five minutes. Just why Whytaker's company is out in the middle of the jungle, and why a local Indio can join the U.S. Marines, may seem confusing at first, but eventually everything falls into place. The plot, the structure, and the fact that everyone is always calling Morell "Half-breed" will remind viewers of the Fabrizio De Angelis-directed Thunder trilogy.

Morell (played by Olivier Gruner lookalike Quinn) pretty much does what MacGyver would do if he were trapped on Gilligan's Island: he makes bombs from coconuts and other weapons out of jungle items. He's also handy with a blow gun, and thanks to one of our favorite things, repeated footage, we get to see him aim his bamboo stick at us, the audience, more than once. There's also repeated footage of bulldozers taking down huts. None really explode, but there are some other things that blow up, including a helicopter. There are also the classic waterfall shots, shirtless natives, and machine gun shooting we all know and love. But Margheriti and the cast make it all work on a level that improves upon all the jungle flicks that came before it.

While it could have used a song, that's really our only minor quibble with Indio, which remains one of the best jungle outings we've seen to date. No wonder there's a sequel.

Well-done Italian actioner

[lor_ · 22 May 2023]

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the film on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

This better-than-average Italian actioner has a social message: save the rainforests. A personable debut as leading actor by boxing champ Marvin Hagler helps pull this video release ahead of the pack.

Though Hagler understandably gets top billing, Anthony Quinn's son Francesco actually is the lead player, cast as a half-breed U. S. Marine who visits his home village on the Amazon to witness a massacre. Brian Denney is supervising a construction project there and takes drastic measures when the natives protest.

Unable to get the authorities to take action, Quinn goes native and starts a one-man war against the Yankee despoilers. Dennehy cleverly calls in Hagler, who was Quinn's original instructor, to kill Quinn. Nice plot twist has Hagfler recovering his scruples and siding with the youngster against the evil powers.

Buttressed by excellent explosions and action footage, "Indio" manages to integrate an important ecological message by film's end. Location filming in the Philippines, Borneo, Argentina and Brazil is convincing.

Quinn carries the picture, with Hagler a good foil. Dennehy is cast undoubtedly because of his similar adversarial status in "First Blood" and is competent without trying.