Camper John

A peaceful Native American is wrongly accused of rape leading to a lynch mob pursuing him and his people.

Opening with one of those breezy folk pop songs that you seem to find in many American movies from the early 70's, I was immediately on board due to an unfathomable liking for this kind of musical accompaniment. This interesting obscurity stars William Smith in the title role, even though he clearly isn't an American Indian. It's a low budget flick that has a foot in the exploitation camp without really being especially exploitative overall. The pivotal moment that launches the narrative is where the protagonist and a young woman roughly argue over money she owes him only to be interrupted by her father, who proceeds to violently beat his daughter. It's a heavy scene but handled in a fairly understated manner. And that is essentially the way that the film is handled from hereon in, i.e. with restraint, despite the subject matter. The lynch mob is led by two hugely unsympathetic characters in the angry sheriff and abusive father. Some further atrocities are committed before the end but the Indians fight back, resulting with the media descending on the town to report events bringing a lot of very negative press.

All-in-all this is a pretty solid little flick. Its focus on Native Americans as the heroes in a contemporary drama/thriller is its big selling point, as at best Native Americans have no more than periphery roles in the vast majority of movies they appear in. It's certainly a shame that the lead actor actually is not one in fairness but, this aside, this is an honourable and interesting effort.

This is a great B-movie which stands for tolerance against other cultures. William Smith plays the young indian Camper John Allen, who is charged with rape. Hunted and traced but innocent he fights back with help from his friends and family. B-movie veteran Gene Evens as Sheriff and his deputy Joe Flynn, co-star of many Disney-movies complete the cast of this excellent movie.

Passable time filler concerning impoverished American Indian (Smith) accused of sexual assault, taking matters into his own hands when the prejudiced townsfolk turn on his community.

I saw a 75-minute edit under the title 'Gentle Savage' which features lots of cheap sets blowing up and a contingent of ageing Hollywood actors (Evans, Flynn, Armstrong, Hagen) playing bigoted rednecks who persecute Smith until he vows to get even.

Uneven tone occasionally attempts slapstick style humour, parlaying the familiar on-screen persona of Joe Flynn in particular, a well-known Disney supporting actor at the time. William Smith of course is the antithesis, a brooding, smouldering intensity but with much less revenge to inflict here than many of his other on-screen performances, and overall whilst threatening, the film is disappointingly tame (it almost seemed like the film pulled punches and might've run out of money/time to bring it together properly).

Aside from the principals, Barbara Luna is assertive as Smith's loyal wife unafraid to wage war for the cause, Ned Romero generates sympathy playing the protagonist's ill-fated brother, and regular alumni of director MacGregor, Gayle Hemingway (credited as Gail Smale in 'Devil Times Five') is effective as a loudmouth yokel, one of the main instigators of the lynch mob.

Exploitation film fans will also appreciate leggy CJ Hincks (aka Candice Roman) as the source of the ensuing conflict, and then brawny Bob Tessier playing the Indian oracle who advises Smith to seek retribution.

As others have remarked, the long awaited climax isn't necessarily worth the wait and doesn't really make a great deal of sense which is a shame because the set-up was there for a rousing ending. Instead, 'Gentle Savage' is TV-movie standard fare with a little action, violence, profanity but nothing in particular to recommend other than the quality cast assembled.

I saw this movie years ago on a cable channel; I wish I could find the VCR/DVD. It's a story about a bunch of good ole boys who take off in search of a local Indian who is accused of raping a white man's daughter. Nothing stands in their way; everyone is armed. Their objective: To "bring back some bunch of red a**es across their tailgates," and they don't care if they have to kill every Indian around in order to find the one they want.

Kevin Hagen does a good job playing the outraged father who is hiding a secret, and R.G. Armstrong plays the gun shop owner who is coerced into supplying the mob with free guns and ammo while they try to hunt down accused rapist Camper John Allen.