ma-cortes
Based upon the true story of Jim Jones , as it traces the steps of this peculiar Reverend , a highly charismatic, but profoundly paranoid clergyman , a self-proclaimed prophet of an independent church in the South American country Guyana . In the 1960s , he began as an idealist helping minorities and working against racism . After years of evangelism and good deeds , begins his own church in the mid-western United States . Later on , he increased his power and attention , and Jim Jones became focused on his belief in nuclear holocaust . When Jim Jones (Stuart Whitman) becomes increasingly obsessed with the belief that the CIA is "a wicked enemy" who is out to get him, he emigrates with his congregation to Guyana , where he plans to create an utopia . He had a loyal following of about 1000 people, who had donated their entire life savings to him to join his commune . Being accompanied by a team of advocates (Joseph Cotten , John Ireland) and fanatic supporters (Yvonne De Carlo , Bradford Dillman , Jennifer Ashley , Robert DoQui) . But Jim Jones' utopia consists of a society where he demands his followers turn their minds , bodies and possessions over to him one that is rife with torture of children , sexual relations between kiddies and adults , and other awful happenings . When possible illegal activities came to the attention of the authorities , Congressmen (Gene Barry) and reporters (Juan Luis Galiardo , Armando Calvo ,Hugo Stiglitz , Carlos East) , they started to investigate . Rather that faces the charges , Jim Jones committed suicide , and convinced virtually all of his followers to do the same . But not all of them follow him blindly and begin to think on their own.This film titled Guyana: Crime of the Century" or "Guyana: Cult of the Damned" results to be a below average version about the real story of the Peoples Temple cult led by Rev. Jim Jones and the events involving its move to Guyana and its eventual mass suicide . It is a lack luster drama that explores the nasty activities carried out by Jim Jones , relying heavily on sensationalistic aspects , eerie images full of nudism and exploitation such as physical violence, orgies , mental torture , sexual abuse of children and many other things . Ultimately , Jim Jones' paranoia reaches a fevered pitch that culminates in him taking savage action against his own congregation . The dialogue used in the mass suicide/murder scene near the end of the film was taken almost word-for-word from an audio-cassette found in a portable tape recorder under Jim Jones' chair ; the tape recorder had weak batteries and was running at a much slower than normal speed, allowing the entire event to be recorded . The flick features many strong scenes , among them the preaching masses of Jones , a gloomy spectacle to watch when Jim Jones/Stuart Whitman is quite commanding in those last moments when the astonishing slaughter happens . Nice acting by Stuart Whitman as the priest who orders his followers to commit suicide , he gives an acceptable acting and captures the sinister evil that was Jim Jones . Support cast is pretty well , plenty of old Hollywood familiar faces such as Gene Barry , John Ireland , Joseph Cotten , Bradford Dillman , Yvonne De Carlo and Spanish actors such as Juan Luis Galiardo , Eduardo Bea , Armando Calvo , Nadiuska , among others . This horrific retelling of the Guyana tragedy was regularly directed by Rene Cardona Jr . He was a Mexican director and writer, expert on all kinds of genres with a penchant for Terror , adventure and exploitation ; being especially known for The Treasure of the Amazon (1985) , The Bermudas Triangle (1978) , ¡Tintorera! (1977) , Cycone , Fantastic Balloon Voyage , Under Siege , The Night of a Thousand Cats , Survivors of Andes , Beaks , Carlos the terrorist and this : Guayana, El Crimen del Siglo (1979) . It was followed by another American rendition titled ¨Guyana Tragedy : The Story of Jim Jones¨ (TV , 1980) by William A Graham with Powers Boothe as Rev. Jim Jones , Ned Beatty, Diane Ladd , Diane Scarwid , Ron O'Neal , Irene Cara , Veronica Cartwright , Rosalind Cash , Brad Dourif and Meg Foster .
Chase_Witherspoon
Rene Cardona Jnr's attempt to re-create the, at the time, topical Jim Jones cult that resulted in the mass suicide of almost a thousand followers. Stuart Whitman plays the megalomaniacal cult leader, deviant, zealot and polygamist with an open licence and while he probably looks more like Roy Orbison than Jim Jones, it's not a bad imitation based on what I know of the Jones persona.Bradford Dillman plays Jones' doctor-in-staff who administers (reluctantly) the fatal dose, Gene Barry is the doomed American diplomat trying to disassemble the oppressive community and a host of former Hollywood heavyweights (Cotten, DeCarlo, Ireland) fill out the ranks. Good to see Cardona's preferred local talent Hugo Stiglitz on board along with beauties Jennifer Ashley and Erika Carlsson (the trio reunited from "Tintorera"). While not to trivialise the subject, you know you're watching an exploitation movie when those guys are in the cast.Fatally overlong, the long-awaited climax doesn't prove to be worth the wait (knowing the conclusion doesn't help, but there's no attempt at suspense) and while the cast is appealing, the film doesn't do the subject matter justice. Obviously this is made for a particular audience so if you want to see the more deferential treatment, then the "Guyana Tragedy" (1980) is probably your picture. I'm faithful to the Rene Cardona Jnr factory, and while this is perhaps his least-impressive 'western' work, it still contains some of his trademark excess.
Stefan Kangas
I have to admit that ever since I first heard about this cult I've been terribly interested in knowing just what the tag line of the movie implies that this movie tells you: The Truth Behind the most shocking crime of the century. This movie did everything but fulfill its' promise.We get introduced to the cult in an opening scene with Reverend James Johnson, the leader of the cult, preaching in a church. He explains that they have gotten a piece of land by the "friendly socialists" in Guyana where they will establish a religious community. This is a key sentence, because the connection between Johnson and socialism becomes established over and over again. For example, in the "Johnsontown agricultural project", they listen to a woman that is trying to teach them Russian while they are working. Later in the movie, the U.S. Ambassador calls Johnson a socialist.I think that the movie was made too soon after the incident to have any perspective. I was bewildered by the ignorance of the director that actually believed he could get any real insight in the event when not even a year had passed since! He tried and failed miserably, as far as I'm concerned. This movie is not even trying to tell the truth. The director is making almost desperate efforts to draw parallels between "suicide cults" and "socialists" using the infamous "guilt by association" method. I think that this is a very interesting movie if you watch it from that perspective - and bear in mind the echoes of the cold war. If you're trying to get to know what happened - look elsewhere.
virek213
From the Mexican film crew that gave us the infamous 1976 exploitation flick SURVIVE! comes the equally disgusting GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED, loosely (and I do mean LOOSELY) based on the events leading up to the Rev. Jim Jones leading more than 900 of his cult followers to a cyanide-laced death in the Guyana rainforest. Only this time, however, the filmmakers managed to bribe a lot of big names to play real people whose names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty. Gene Barry, John Ireland, Stuart Whitman, Yvonne DeCarlo, and a whole host of others can hardly call this either one's shining hour.But just as SURVIVE! necessitated the making of ALIVE, CULT OF THE DAMNED would be followed (inevitably, and much sooner) by the superb 2-part TV film GUYANA TRAGEDY: THE STORY OF JIM JONES. This film is simply nothing more than gruesome horror exploitation that even slasher film exploiters in the American market would have had a hard time stomaching.
