Savages (1974) is a made-for-TV movie that features Andy Griffith in a villain role. No teaching Ron Howard how to fish here. Andy is all about dealing death.
How does Savages stack up against previous made-for-TV movies like The Intruder Within, Midnight Offerings, Curse of the Black Widow, Satan’s Triangle, Killdozer, Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell , Invitation to Hell and Summer of Fear? Read on to find out!
Lee H. Katzin directed Savages. He headed films like The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission and The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission. William Wood penned the screenplay and cut his teeth on shows like Mission: Impossible and The Fugitive. The story was based on a novel by Robb White.
Aaron Spelling produced, which is not surprising. A person can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a made-for-TV movie produced by Spelling in the 1970s.
At the end of the day, Savages is another riff on The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell.
Savages
The movie starts with Sam Bottoms getting ready to drive out into the desert to “see what the vultures are doing…” He says this with a dreamy disassociation that is probably Asperger Syndrome.
Or maybe Bottoms is a precog and depressed that he will shortly pass through the best part of his career with The Outlaw Josey Wales, Apocalypse Now, Up From The Depths and Bronco Billy and then end up in movies like Project Shadowchaser III.
Sam indeed drives out into the desert to watch vultures. Apparently, something peaceful exists about watching death birds that cool themselves with highly acidic urine.
Andy Griffith shows up in spiffy hunter’s attire. The wardrobe makes him look like he stepped from the pages of a Sheena comic as an exploitive colonial villain. Andy wants to shoot a big horn. Andy will pay Sam $60 a day to guide him and a $200 bonus if he blasts a good trophy.
That’s more money than prostitution pays, so Sam agrees.
Savatages
Sam and Andy go deep into the desert and pitch a tent. Andy limps about the campsite like Willy Wonka and lays down some heavy truth bombs on Sam.
“Handicapped people have an advantage. Most people are lazy at heart. A handicap person can’t afford to be lazy. I trained my mind like an athlete trains his body.”
One wonders how Andy trained his brain to do deadlifts, and if he did, one questions whether he is truly handicapped. It sounds more like we are dealing with something like The Brain From Planet Arous.
The next day, Sam and Andy spot some big horn. One has a head on him “like the front of a train.” Andy gets his gun. The big horn run. Andy sees something moving in the area the big horn vacated and shoots. Andy and Sam go up to see what Andy blasted, but Andy insists on checking himself.
That does not seem normal. If a hunter shoots something, they want everyone to see it. That Cecil-the-Lion thing maybe put a damper on showing off, though. A hunter might be afraid of ending up with signs on their dental practice from angry activists that say, “I want to fill your ethical cavities…”
That sounds like a line from a movie that features a “hooker with a heart of gold” character…
Savages (not the Oliver Stone one).
Sam gets tired of waiting for Andy, so he goes to check on him. He finds Andy standing over a rock pile with a human hand sticking out of it. Turns out Andy shot an old prospector named Winnie. It just so happens that Winnie was in that particular part of the desert at that particular time to get in the way of Andy’s bullet. It also just so happens that Winnie was a good friend of Sam.
What a rotten run of contrivance. I mean, luck.
Fortunately, Andy’s well-trained mind has a solution.
“Let’s bury him and forget the whole thing, I’ll give you $5,000.”
At least, that was the initial trial balloon floated by Andy’s brainstorming session. He eventually settles on something a bit more heinous: shooting Winnie’s corpse with Sam’s gun, forcing Sam to take off his shirt, hat, boots, and socks and walk until he dies.
“You’re crazy,” Sam says.
“I’ve often been called that by those I’ve defeated,” Andy replies.
Savages Sword Of Conan
Thus, the movie enters the second act, in which is Sam walking, falling down, and trying not to die while Andy shadows his movements from the comfort of a jeep. Andy even goes so far as to mix a cool, refreshing drink for himself while Sam languishes in the heat.
Andy hasn’t achieved that level of onscreen cruelness since he insisted on only allowing Don Knotts one bullet for his gun in Mayberry.
Sam eventually turns the tables by discovering Winnie’s camp and procuring a slingshot. He gets the drop on Andy by burying himself in the sand and shooting ball-bearings through Andy’s hand and leg. He trusses Andy up and drives back to town to report the man’s misdeeds.
Andy is nonplussed by all of this and ups his offer to $10,000. That is the equivalent of $63,000 today, which would buy nearly two bags of groceries and almost enough gas to make it home.
Doc Savages
Sam talks to the police about what happened. The sheriff is played by none other than Rosco P. Coltrane himself, James Best. Andy, meanwhile, gives his own version of events and claims Sam shot Winnie and then shot him. Andy makes his story believable with his lawyer powers.
By the way, what is the difference between a dead skunk on the road and a dead lawyer on the road?
The skunk has skid marks in front of it…
The question of who is telling the truth comes down to whether or not the missing slingshot is found.
Some of you may be thinking this all sounds familiar. If so, you are correct. Savages was remade in 2014 as a Michael Douglas movie titled Beyond the Reach.
Savages probably ends up being the better version, if for no other reason than it’s 70s aesthetic and Andy Griffith playing against type. The Michael Douglas version is watchable but suffers from a certain modern blandness.
At the end of the day, Savages is short and sweet and simple but not savage enough to truly bite.
