Savages (1974)

Horton Madec (Andy Griffith) is an out of towner with a lot of money. He's out to bag some bighorn sheep but needs a guide...so he asks Ben (Sam Bottoms) to show him about the southwest desert in search of his prey. However, soon Horton is being sloppy and shoots at something without a clear idea what it is...and it turns out to be a man. Instead of owning up to this, he quickly buries the guy. But Ben discovers the corpse and cannot allow Horton to just walk away from this. However, Horton has the trump card...he's got the rifle. So, he strips Ben down to just his pants and sends him into the desert to die. But, just to make sure, he tags along behind him and hunts for Ben! Nice guy, huh...and quite the sadist as Horton REALLY enjoys the hunt.This is yet another film where Andy Griffith seemed to be trying to exorcise his nice-guy demons (after all, he was the sweet and affable sheriff on TV for many years). So with films like "Pray for the Wildcats" and "Savages" he clearly was playing against type...deliberately choosing the most vicious sorts of characters! As far as the plot goes, the first two thirds of the film is best. After Ben returns home...well that's where, occasionally, the film makes less sense. Why the cops didn't believe Ben's story (especially in light of his exposure injuries) is inexplicable. Still, it's well made and well worth seeing...especially to see Andy Griffith's 'evil twin' at work!!

Good old Andy Griffith is mostly known and legendary for his leading roles in the long-running TV hits "The Andy Griffith Show" and, of course, Grampa Simpson's favorite "Matlock". I have to be very honest and admit I've never seen a single episode of these two series, nor anything else he ever did. Having only seen this ABC movie of the week "Savages", I can only say it's regrettable that this man didn't portray any more villainous characters throughout his career instead of making ten thousand episodes of the same damn show! Griffith depicts one of the most loathsome types of bad guys in this film: an obnoxious, rich, sleazy and egocentric elderly guy who thinks he's more powerful than God himself. The performance is very convincing, and solely based on his portrayal of Horton Madec, I think Griffith should have played more roles like it. Horton Madec headed out to the desert to hunt for mountain ram trophies, but the trip doesn't really goes as planned. When Madec (accidentally?) kills a local hermit, his youthful guide Ben wants to do the right thing and report it. The old man fears a scandal and offers Ben a bribe. When he refuses, Madec forces Ben to strip off his clothes and wander through the hot desert without food or water. The young man is strong, but Madec chases him around in his jeep and rifles. "Savages" is a bit of a misleading title. It's in plural even though there's only one baddie and he isn't even a savage but more like a sophisticated and eloquent villain. If the plot sounds vaguely familiar, it's because you have probably seen it numerous times before already. The "hunting humans" storyline is one of the most popular themes in the horror/action business and exists since the early 1930's, with the timeless classic "The Most Dangerous Game". Since then the same plot has been reworked into versions, each with a different setting or specific type of characters, for example a prison in "Blood Camp Thatcher. This plot always works and practically guarantees a suspenseful movie. "Savages" simply replaces the tropical island setting with a seemingly endless and baking desert, but it's enough. This is a TV-production, so don't expect any extreme violence, but director Lee Katzin ("Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?") provides enough tense atmosphere and beautiful imagery.

Why aren't the TV networks open to fresh, compelling stuff like they were forty years ago? Who knows? You'd think it would be a tremendous benefit to both burgeoning filmmakers and the networks alike."Savages" is another one of those gems that graced the Movie of the Week time slot (usually on ABC) and is now, sadly, unavailable. You can still find kind souls willing to sell you home tapes of it on eBay, though, and this one is worth the hunting.The comparisons to Spielberg's "Duel" here on IMDb are not unwarranted in the least. In a way, this movie, while not being as well-made (what could be?) is more brutal and hard to watch mostly because of Andy Griffith's no-holds-barred performance, which amounts to nothing less than evil incarnate.I saw this on TV as a child, and back then, I saw only similarities to "The Most Dangerous Game." But after a few more viewings, I think it's quite different. The key to this puzzle is: "Did Maddock set the entire scenario up with the Sam Bottoms character from the start? Did he really intend to hunt him?" I'm not completely sure he did, now that I've seen it a few more times. I think it really did start as a legitimate hunting accident, and then Maddock's sadistic nature just took over. And does it ever...Griffith howls hysterically as he forces the bare-chested, bare-footed guide to tumble down rocky ravines; gleefully blows holes in his canteen; and waves iced martinis under his nose as he's dying of thirst. He cold be the most hateful baddie in all of TV movie-dom, and Griffith eats the role up with a spoon.Even when they're out of the desert, the tension doesn't quit, and there's good supporting work here from Noah Beery and Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane himself, James Best, looking extremely young and fit.The only thing that mars it is the horrendous music, which is as bad as anything on TV ever got, and the fact that it's difficult if not impossible to find a print of this that's not deteriorating in some manner.We need a best of TV movie box....with "Dying Room Only," "Bad Ronald," "Shattered Silence," "The Girl Most Likely To...," "Terror on the Beach," "Outrage," "Night Cries," "A Case of Rape," etc. We'll likely never see the likes of them again.

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.