(1966)
3
Mike Cummings
African warriors track human prey, and the chase doesn't end until the final moment of this taut 1966 motion picture. After the first 15 minutes of the film, there is almost no dialogue -- just running, dodging, chasing, and stalking. Cornel Wilde is the quarry. He portrays a 19th century hunter leading a safari that insults local natives. In retaliation, the natives torture and kill all the safari members except one (Wilde). He must run for his life in a kind of game in which spear-toting tribesmen give him a one-minute head start. While fleeing, he retrieves the thrown spear of a pursuer, kills him, then escapes into the thick of the African bush. There, he lives off the land, trying to stay a safe distance ahead of the hunters. Wilde, who also directed the film, paces the action brilliantly, keeping viewers squirming as the hunters and the hunted attempt to outwit and outrun one another. However, though the film is very good, it has an annoying flaw: the frequent depiction of animals killing animals, a "survival of the fittest" metaphor that shows up again and again, ad nauseam. Although character development suffers in a film of this type -- it's the chase that matters and little else -- credit must be given to Wilde for investing the black African hunters with humanity. They stop and mourn their dead comrades, exhibiting deep emotion, thus showing other filmmakers of the '60s that black Africans are people too. Overall, The Naked Prey is a nice little tour-de-force film that deserves a place on the list of "best chase films."
releases for The Naked Prey on AllMovie
The Naked Prey (1966)
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Release Date |
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The Naked Prey [Criterion Collection]
Criterion
More
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January 15, 2008 |
