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As his religious movement has been hassled in the USA for pressurizing its
members into submission, even with physical threats, extortion, tax evasion
& similar accusations, reverend Johnson (Stewart Whitman) has moved his
operation to Guyana, where the socialist government has given him sufficient
land in the deep jungle to build Johnsontown, his paradise ... But the
paradise is more reminiscent of a concentration camp, with hard working hours,
scarce food, life in barracks & harsh punishment for all wrongdoers ...
even little children. But even in the remote jugnle of Guyana, Johnson doesn't
feel secure from the American government ... which is only part paranoia, in
part the American government - & especially congressman O'Brien (Gene
Barry) - try to get several American citizens back they think kidnapped. So
O'Brien chooses an offensive method to make first-hand observations. He - along
with an armada of journalists - goes to Johnsontown to inspect the goings-on on
an official visit (which Johnson just couldn't refuse him). At first,
Johnsontown is naturally represented as exactly the paradise Johnson had
claimed it to be, & O'Brien & company are lmost impressed ... but soon,
ruptures start to show, like sleeping quarters overcrowded with undernourished
people, an attempt made on O'Brien's life by one of Johnson's followers, &
several cult members begging O'Brien to take them with him. In the end it
seems O'Brien has won out over Johnson, as he has negotiated to take several of
his followers with him, & at first they are let go unhindered too ... until
they arrive at teh airplanes that are supposed to take everyone back to
civilisation ... where everybody, including the congressmen & his
journalist friends, are brutally gunned down. Johnson knows that this can
only spell desaster, so he decides to, with his community, make one final
escape ... mass suicide. He tells his followers to drink poison - who doesn't
is shot -, & does the same, just before the troops arrive ... Joseph
Cotten has a small part as Johnson's attorney, Yvonne De Carlo plays his public
relations advisor. Obviously based on the then rather current events
of the mass suicide of reverend Jim Jones' cult (& the names have only been
changed ever so slightly), this movie does leave out the (rather fascinating)
political implications of that event though & instead concentrates on the
exploitation angle of the story. Unfortunately that does oversimplify the story
& derives it of much of its (real-life) impact, plus (like ever so often
int he field of exploitation) most of the characters, including Johnson
(despite a fine performance by Stuart Whitman) stay terribly flat. The
result of this all is a entertaining if overlong little shocker, but not really
recommendable if you want to see something definitive about the Jonestown
massacre.
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amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Guyana: Crime of the Century at adultvideouniverse.com
