Amazon was a syndicated television show created by Peter Benchley. It was developed by Canadian production companies Alliance Atlantis Communications & WIC Entertainment and German company Beta Film GmbH. The 22 episodes of the series were in first-run syndication between 1999 and 2000. The drama series focused on the six survivors of a crashed airline flight in the Brazilian Amazon jungle. The group soon comes into contact with a Native American tribe, and relations are anything but friendly. The group is taken in by a mysterious tribe, who descended from 16th century British colonists who were lost in Amazon. Relations with the Chosen are tenuous at best. Most of the group escapes the Chosen only to stir up a hornets nest with a tribe of cannibals, led by an insane American woman bent on domination of all the local tribes. The first season ended in a cliff-hanger, and a second season was never produced. The series retained sufficient interest that it was released on DVD in 2011. A novelization of the 2-hour pilot was written by Rob MacGregor, and a mass-market paperback was released by Harper on 8 Aug 2000. The German title was Amazonas - Gefangene des Dschungels.
| Alternative Titles | Amazon: Fúria Selvagem, Amazonas: Gefangene des Dschungels, IMAX Amazon, Peter Benchley's Amazon |
| First Air Date: | 1999-09-25 |
| Last Air Date: | 2000-05-20 |
| Number of Episodes: | 22 |
| Number of Seasons: | 1 |
| Genres: | Drama |
| Status: | Canceled |
| Networks: | $Syndication |
| Casts: | C. Thomas Howell, Carol Alt, Chris William Martin, Fabiana Udenio, Tyler Hynes, Rob Stewart, Gabriel Hogan, Joseph Scoren |
Released in 1962, Knife in the Water (Polish: Nóz w wodzie) was director Roman Polanski's full-length debut. Married couple Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka) are driving to the marina when they pick up a hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz). Though Andrzej is initially angry at the young man for standing the middle of the road, he invites him to come sailing. Once on the boat, tension arises between the two men because of Krystyna sexual appeal and the hitchhiker's poverty versus Andrzej's affluence. Not only is the title a metaphor for the boat as it moves through the lake, but it also refers to the intimidating knife that the young man carries with him. Knife in the Water is entertaining enough. The cinematography on the lake and the low-key soundtrack by jazz legend Krzysztof Komeda are memorable. But personally I don't find this to be an especially great film. It feels derivative of Italian cinema of the time, without an original touch. The casting of the weathered, 32 year-old Malanowicz as a 19 year-old student undermines its credibility. I suspect that the film gained so much attention on release due to its risque nature (especially novel in a film from the Eastern Bloc) instead of its intrinsic merit.
