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.
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.