Savages

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.

This atypical and highly suspenseful battle of wits in the high desert features Andy Griffith cleverly cast against type as a menacing and creepy villain who keeps you (and the protagonist) guessing to the end. Essentially one extended chase / battle between two people, SAVAGES eschews intervention from the outside world until late, which keeps the story simple and focused on the two's mortal (and mental) combat. Several cat and mouse exchanges are intriguing but the piece is most compelling because of its unusually personal narrative. Similar in theme to HELL IN THE PACIFIC, Spielberg's DUEL and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, SAVAGES is still its own movie and is difficult to turn away from once you start watching, though it isn't always pleasant.

Better than many features and way above average for television, SAVAGES is an excellent neglected thriller with many surprises and a literate, well-reasoned script. Based on the dynamite novel DEATH WATCH by longtime William Castle horror scribe Robb White (possibly his best work.) 9/10

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.

College student Ben (Sam Bottoms) is offered $60 a day to escort lawyer, Horton Madec (Andy Griffith), around the Mojave Desert to hunt bighorn sheep. When Madec shoots what he thinks is a sheep on a ridge, it soon becomes evident that Madec has accidentally killed a prospector named Winnie Haas. While Ben wants to report the accident, Madec wants to avoid a scandal. After unsuccessfully trying to bribe Ben, Horton forces him at gunpoint to bury Winnie. Madec then forces Ben to strip naked and leave behind all his supplies and run into the dessert as Ben struggles to survive against both Madec and the desert.

1974's Savages is an adaptation of 1972 novel Deathwatch by Robb White. The book was well received upon release and was awarded the 1973 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America as well as an Outstanding Book of the Year by The New York Times. While the film is constrained by its TV movie budget, there's a decent amount of engagement in the end product.

The movie is at its best when it's a cat and mouse game in the desert with Andy Griffith playing against type as a violent sociopath who hunts Ben through the unforgiving desert. There's a strong feeling of desperation and while it's not airtight it's reasonably strong. Some of the sequences at night are too dark to the point I had a hard time seeing what was on screen, so moments like where Ben stumbles across Winnie's camp aren't all that viewable.

The second half of the movie is where it begins to lose me because even if these are established as very backwater cops they do some pretty stupid things like interrogating the accuser and the accused in the same room, and of course their willingness to buy into a story from someone they don't know versus someone they do is pretty facepalm worthy.

Savages is a little dated and the restraints of both budget and content restriction are prominently on display, but there's a solid against type performance from Griffith and some moments of genuine tension.

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.