My review was written in July 1984 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.
"Raiders of the Sacred Mountain" is an okay pulp adventure film inspired by the success of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Filmed in 1982 under the title "Falcon's Gold" as the first of the cable-backed feature films (by Showtime), pic is now available in the home video market.
The late John Marley toplines as Dr. Christopher Falcon, an archaeologist called away from an Arabian dig to Mexico where his expert opinion is needed on a recent find. Items, including a fertility goddess statuette much sought after by Falcon, turn out to be from a legendary treasure lost in a 1645 earthquake, containing material from meteorites and thought to have supernatural powers.
A shady, fabulously wealthy industrialist Murdoch (George Touliatos) stakes Falcon to an expedition to find the rest of the Mexican treasure, with gung-ho reporte Archibald 'Hank" Richards (Simon MacCorkindale) tagging along in hopes of writing about Falcon, and a beautiful Mexican woman B. G. Alvarez (Blanca Guerra) hired as gide. Falcon's feisty young daughter Tracey (Louise Vallance) stows away also.
Punctuated by frequent action sequences, treachery and twists, tale is an effective low-budget update of traditional serials and benefits from a more explicit sexiness (cable backing shows up in frequent nude scenes by the striking Mexican actress Guerra, balanced by equal ime skin displays by hero MacCorkindale) thn its more famous big-screen competition.
Cast is okay, though villainy is not hissable enough and despite supernatural and sci-fi easing story elements, the plot payoff is conventional. A Canadian production company delivered the goods.