Vuelo al inferno (1971)

Completely exhausted and drained, American newspaper reporter Tom Nilson returns to his correspondent’s office in Rio de Janeiro. He has just survived Flight X 312, a one-way flight from Chile into Brazil’s green hell. Nilson calls Joe Varga, an acquaintance on the police force, who cannot believe who he is speaking to, since Nilson, like the other passengers on this death flight, has been listed as missing or dead ever since the plane crashed. The aircraft vanished without a trace in inaccessible jungle terrain. Nilson dictates a recording documenting the events of this one-way journey. He is still afraid for his life, having witnessed events centered on the hijacking of a plane, its crash, and a struggle to survive in the jungle against greedy criminals and the forces of nature. When the rickety aircraft took off, Chilean banker Alberto Ruprecht was also on board. He was president of the Chilean National Bank and had seemed nervous from the outset. Apparently fleeing the socialist government of Salvador Allende, he was carrying a suitcase full of jewels. At first, no one but him knows what is inside the case. Initially, the survivors—led by burly steward Bill Gonzales—pull together and, faced with what seems like a hopeless situation in the middle of the Brazilian wilderness, form a tight-knit community bound by their shared fate. The passengers are a motley crew: besides reporter Tom, among those who survive are Steffi, a blonde Viennese woman; a rather exhausting American tourist; Mrs. Wilson, an upscale prostitute; and a gay Spaniard with a fondness for dogs. From the outset, the seductive Latina Anna Maria Vidal is especially mysterious. The crash was caused by a gangster who had been ordered to steer the plane to a meeting point arranged with his employers. When the pilot in the cockpit refused to follow his instructions, things became turbulent in every sense, with the familiar consequences. Gonzales decides that the small group should set out and make their way to the nearest settlement, on a trek through the dangerous green hell. Before long, one or two of them take an undue interest in the contents of Mr. Ruprecht’s briefcase, and steward Bill proves especially ruthless in his desire to take possession of it. In the struggle for the diamonds, he murders Ruprecht and Mrs. Wilson. When the group encounters ruthless headhunters and brutal jungle bandits, the survivors’ numbers are rapidly decimated. In the end, only Tom, Anna Maria, and the chief gangster, John Somers, manage to escape the horror. But Tom celebrates too soon: Anna Maria turns out to be an accomplice of the villain aboard the plane who was responsible for the crash. After finishing his account, Tom goes to her to hand Ruprecht’s diamonds over to the police. Only then does he realize what part she played. Tom becomes her final victim, but he had called Varga earlier, so the police are already on their way.