KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Michael Ledo This film could be a "so bad it is good" film. It takes a log time to develop. The part I liked best was Gilbert Roland talking to the audience with a drink in his hand. I was ready to hear him say, "Stay thirsty my friends." A group of people look in Mexico for the Tayopa treasure left behind by padre miners killed in 1646 in Arizona according to the narration. Kathryn (Rena Winters) leads a small group of men who are ready to strap 17 tons of treasure to their backs and walk out. A crazy man named Sally (Phil Trapani) has his eye on Kathryn. There is also a snake curse.It takes 50 minutes to get to Tayopa. There is a lot of dialogue and narration. The action was minimal. Kathryn gets naked and we get to see underwater blurred nudity. They do use metal detectors to look for the treasure. Is there a metal detector that works with the detector held at waist level? No reason. Just asking.Guide: No swearing, sex. Near nudity. Some unintended camp value.

Rainey Dawn Another Mill Creek Drive-in 50-pack film. This one should be retitled to "Garbage of Tayopa" -- it's completely garbage. 100% trash not one thing salvageable about this snooze-fest.Z-grade acting. Almost anyone can do this film because acting talent is not what they were looking for - everything sounds staged and phony. The one scene with the sun glaring in the camera seemed to drag on and on... time filler I would guess.This is the most boring treasure hunt you can watch. You are much better off gathering up your family and friends to treasure hunt in your back yard - you'd have more fun than watching this dreary film.1/10

Bezenby Four folks, including a lady who's name I've forgotten already, a guy called Tom, a guide and translator Phillipe (for whom the actor who plays him receives a credit for doing everyone's hair) and a crazy guy called Sally, head off into Mexico to find the fabled Treasure of Tayopa, said to be hidden in a mine somewhere in the mountains. They run into some dodgy banditos but none turn out to be as dodgy as Sally, who doubles back to massacre the bandits for pushing his horse! With the one remaining bandito in pursuit, the quartet head into the hills, but, as the lead actress says rather stiltedly "An air of tragedy has befallen us". Strangely introduced by a Mexican guy drinking hooch and stumbling over his own lines, Treasure of Tayopa is a very obscure wilderness movie full of weirdness (we hear the thoughts of our protagonists as they trudge through the land), brief gore and nastiness, really bad acting, a bit of skinny dipping and endless shots of people riding horses. Although very low budget and hard going at times, there are glimpses of that good old seventies grimness, as Sally uses his crossbow and machete to make short work of the bandits (who were, after all, planning to kill the explorers), and turns his craziness on his friends, including giving out a nasty beating to our lead lady. I can't see anyone but obscure movie fans seeking this one out, but be warned, this is strictly amateur hour, but it does have its charms (the 'host' is hilarious in his ineptitude and faux philosophy), and I might be going easy on the film as I'm kind of a sucker for 'people stuck in the wilderness with treacherous companions' movies (like 'Four Rode Out' and 'Apache Blood'). The bad acting goes a long way in this film too, and for those seeking it out, I hope you like lots of salaried shots!

smittie-1 Joking aside, this is a competently made, if rather low budget, thriller about a bunch of gringos (and Fillipe) who trek off into the Sierra Madres in search of . . . the treasure of Tayopa. Duh. Despite the cowboy hats and six-shooters it's less of a western and more of a '70s survivalist movie, with Trapani stealing the show as crazy ass Sally . . . though all of the actors are good, especially Rena Winters, who I could swear I've seen elsewhere, though the IMDb lists this as her sole credit. Numerous spoilers follow.After being introduced to our main characters the film jumps into a bit of back story, with "host/star" Gilbert Roland's narration accompanied by murals of the (fictional?) 17th century Tayopa mission, where Jesuit priests mined gold until they were massacred by Indians. Quickly enough we segue back into our tale, where, as already mentioned, Sally proves himself to be one messed upped mutha, coming on to Rena with increasing frequency and intensity, harassing Fillipe the guide, and locking horns with the ineffectual Stoppard. Along their merry way to Tayopa Sally murders some bandito types ("They pushed my horse - nobody does that" is a cheesy line, but Trapani made me believe it), resulting in the party being stalked by the ruffians' former employer, a sinister looking fellow dressed all in black. And he has a scar. But he's nice to his horse. Upon reaching their destination Sally snaps completely, attempts to rape Rena, kills Stoddard and Fillipe, and finally dies laughing maniacally, after his head is bashed in with a rock. The sinister fella only shows up to witness the aftermath. He is NOT the villain of the piece after all, despite what Mill Creek's product write up states. Really, most of the action centers on Rena and Sally, as individuals and as antagonists to each other. Rena shows herself as particularly resilient, at one point eating raw rattlesnake to stave off death, only after crawling out of a creek half-drowned and covered in welts. In her dying moments, she hallucinates (as I interpreted it) a priest, who offers her water. She dies. The end.After all that unpleasantness, Roland again addresses the audience, restating his assertion that "Tayopa's past will continue to drive people to search today, and plan to search for tomorrow." ---Spoilers end---Despite its low budget, Treasure of Tayopa makes good use of editing techniques and cinematography. I really can't see why it's as obscure as it is, or why nobody connected to it went on to bigger and better things.