Savages

Andy Griffith gives a tour-de-force performance as a big-city (!!!) lawyer who is as cunning as he is warped. Sam Bottoms is totally believable as the nature-loving student who suddenly finds himself fighting for his life and his credibility. I sat down to watch this film on commercial TV one early AM, expecting to doze off in 20 minutes, and it was so fast-moving, gripping, and suspenseful, I found I had to watch the whole thing.

This is one of those movies I really wish was available on DVD, as many of the early Aaron Spelling classics should be. It was years before I would see A FACE IN THE CROWD, but when I first saw this excellent TV thriller, I imagine it must've dropped a lot of jaws to see amiable Sheriff Andy Taylor cast against type as one mean 'sumbitch' - not only doing a great job at it, but having fun as well!

Griffith glowers with gleeful menace as a rich lawyer whose hobby is big-game hunting. Sam Bottoms (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) co-starred as an unsuspecting local from the town Griffith visits to bag his latest prey. He enlists Bottoms as a helper/guide, with the young man having no idea that Griffith's character is bored with the usual game, and has his (literal) sights set on bagging the ultimate trophy...MAN.

Think of it as "DUEL" on-foot, as Bottoms, witness to a cold-blooded murder committed by Griffith, must make it back to town without food, water or most of his clothes, the deranged hunter dogging his every step. This story has been told in many forms, (the most well- known being THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME), but rarely has it been told this well or suspensefully since.

I saw this movie a couple times and enjoyed it. Andy Griffith plays a a great role as a psychopath stalking a young man through the desert and mountains. This is the only time I have seen Andy Griffith play a bad guy, and he did it to a tee. I would highly recommend this film if you can ever catch it on TV.

At the time I thought this was a totally different path for the usually good natured roles that Andy Griffith did. He played the psychopathic hunter to perfection as he stalked the terrified boy through the wilderness. This story has been done several times in differing ways, but this one remains one of my favorites.

This movie must have shocked a lot of people when it first came out because it was Andy Griffith's first villain role. He has since played several other "baddies" (such as in Murder In Coweta County his best). There was a story I read in high school called The Most Dangerous Game about a mad hunter with a taste for human prey. This grim chase thriller follows Andy as he hunts his young guide through the desert after an accidental shooting. Griffith must have had a ball shedding his image. This is one of those 70s films that is hard to catch today, but its worth your watch.