SNAKE WATER

Not since the Treasure of the Sierra Madre has the courage and the cunning induced by avarice been so well traced. Its source this time is on the banks of the stagnant Snake Water, a volcanic river in a South American country where the terrain, the climate and the inhabitants come off the page like a small town in Hell. The raw diamonds are lying along the river bank. This is the biggest something-for-nothing Sam Reyderbeit has ever heard about. The psychopathic South African drunk, given to manically lyrical dialogue, enlists the aid of tourist Ben Morris, a young English widower who would like to forget the death of his wife or, failing that, get himself killed. They are joined by Melanie MacDougall, a frigid succubus, whose presence on the trek into the nearly waterless, snake infested back country pressures the psychological hazards to the bursting point. What a movie this will make. Snakes, locust-like mosquito swarms, seven corpses to cross, then flight bags full of diamonds -- and it's so hard to keep track of a flight bag... Swift, sardonic, can't-lay-it-down adventure.