The Naked Prey (1965)

Good concept, poorly executed.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It never ceases to amaze me how many reviewers immediately resort to the racism angle when critiquing a film, for whatever reason. Watching "The Naked Prey", the idea just never crossed my mind. Maybe it's because I'm from the Baby Boomer era and wasn't inundated with the white guilt message that seems so prevalent today.Another idea I see expressed in the reviews by a lot of folks is how inconceivable it would have been for white man number one (Cornel Wilde) to consistently evade his trackers throughout the story. Well, maybe being a guide for hunting parties played into some of that; it's not like this was his first day in the jungle.But I seem to be digressing. The main point I want to get to is that the film just wasn't very interesting to me, again in counterpoint to a lot of the enthusiastic reviews for this picture. When the point of a story is to see how someone evades pursuit for an entire hour and a half, well that doesn't constitute much in the way of excitement for this viewer.There were some entertaining moments however. The scene of Cornel Wilde chasing after a prairie hen was pretty amusing, but the one where he tried to spear a small lizard about six inches long was downright hilarious. Probably the most interesting aspect of the picture for me was catching the law of the jungle at work in scenes of a lion taking down a wildebeest, the cheetah in a running argument with a baboon, and that one really weird scene of a larger toad eating a smaller one! I wouldn't have believed that one if I hadn't seen it. Oh yeah, and the white vulture which wasn't albino was pretty cool. The film makers must have been pretty lucky to come across that one.And what was simply stupefying to me was to see that this picture got a Best Writing Nomination for a movie written directly for the screen. Perhaps I'm missing something here that another viewing might help me out with but that's not likely. I fast forwarded enough the first time I watched the picture, I don't need to do that all over again.

It's an enjoyable adventure movie because of it contains action , sensational outdoors and outlandish exciting situations abound . It deals with a group of men are on safari , one of the party refuses to give a gift to a tribe they encounter . The tribe is offended and it takes a disastrous turn and our starring (Cornel Wilde who was ill through much of the shooting and evacuated to a hospital for treatment but he followed) winds up unarmed and nude . As African natives (Ken Gampu as Leader of the warriors) give prisoner headstart before they close in on him for pursue . Stripped, turned loose like a wild beast , being relentlessly chased by a violent group who keeps on his heels . There takes place a deadly hunt of man versus nature and man versus man .A tour-de-force adventure drama that brought Cornel Wilde real acclaim as a filmmaker . This is a moving manhunt of indescribable terror and screaming suspense . It is remarkable as well as competently made and it packs strong fights , spectacular sequences and remarkable brutal images ; creating a large impact on Italian sub-genre : ¨Mondo Cannibale¨. Good acting by Cornel Wilde as safari leader pursued by a large bunch of native warriors determined to finish him off . Cornel Wilde was careful to try to avoid harm to animals appearing in the film where possible. In the scene where the python and the monitor lizard battle, it became clear that the python was winning and the monitor was in danger ; Wilde personally intervened to save the monitor lizard; the lizard bit him on the leg, refusing to let go. We are seeing several African animals though some of them turn out to be taken from prior stock-shots . The script was originally a true historical incident about a trapper named John Colter being pursued by Blackfoot Indians in Wyoming, but lower shooting costs, tax breaks and material and logistical assistance offered by South Africa convinced Cornel Wilde and the other producers to shoot the film there . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography in Panavisión by R. Thomson . Appropriate musical score by means of drummers and African sounds . This harrowing motion picture was compellingly starred , written , produced and directed by Cornel Wilde . Wilde does a competent job both as actor and filmmaker . I's amazingly well done movie , being Cornel Wilde's best film . He is especially credited as a good actor but also known for directing some acceptable flicks . His later films were of varying quality, and he ended his career in near-cameos in minor adventure films . As he directed adventures as ¨Maracaibo¨ ,¨Lancelot and Guinevere¨, ¨Sharks' Treasure¨ but also Noir Cinema as ¨The Devil's Hairpin¨, ¨Storm Fear¨ and Sci Fi : ¨Blade of Grass¨. ¨The naked prey¨ rating : Notable , well worth watching . Essential and indispensable seeing for adventure/action fans . It's a good stuff for young people and exotic adventures lovers who enjoy enormously with the extraordinary danger in the lush jungle.

Set in Africa in the 1850s, The Naked Prey stars its director, Wilde, as 'The Man', a safari guide whose hunting party is captured by a primitive tribe; after killing the other captives in a variety of brutal ways (including clubbing them to death and impaling them with sharp sticks), the natives strip and release The Man, giving him a few minutes head-start before pursuing him for sport, spears at the ready. However, The Man's resourcefulness makes him a formidable prey.I'm a huge fan of films that pit 'civilised man' against bloodthirsty savages, among my favourites being the gruesome Italian cannibal movies that were popular (with gore-hounds, at least) in the 70s and early 80s. Although Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey contains just one scene that suggests cannibalism (a man coated in clay is roasted on a spit over a roaring fire), the movie's shocking early scenes, which feature real animal deaths (of the National Geographic/mondo footage variety), gratuitous female nudity courtesy of the native women, and plenty of bloody violence, are enough to indicate that it could have served as the blueprint for the Italian cannibal genre as a whole (until now, I had thought A Man Called Horse to be the original inspiration).It's not all about the shock value, however: The Naked Prey is an extremely well crafted piece of cinema—a rollicking adventure tale with sparing use of English dialogue, an effective tribal drum soundtrack, convincing performances, impressive cinematography and a wonderfully tense finale. Something for everyone then…Highly recommended. 8/10.

Way back in 1932---around the same time that Director Ernest B. Schoedsack was involved in production of the original classic "King Kong"----he also made another classic film entitled "The Most Dangerous Game (MDG)." Based on a famous story by Richard Connell, MDG tells the tale of a megalomaniac hunter who lives on a remote island. Ships would regularly end up wrecked on reefs near the island. Their passengers and crew would be rescued by our hunter----enjoy his sophisticated hospitality for a time---and then end up as prey as our crazy hunter indulges in his very perverse "sport." MDG starred a very young Joel McCrea and two members of the original "King Kong" cast----Fay (I never met a scream that I didn't like!) Wray and Robert Armstrong. At 63 minutes in length, MDG is the model of an exciting and compact thriller film.Since the basic idea of someone being forced into the totally unexpected role of an innocent victim hunted down with the intention of becoming another's trophy kill is pretty powerful-----it has been remade into numerous films ("Game of Death," "Run for the Sun," etc.).The plot device is essentially the same one that Cornel Wilde employed in his variation on MDG entitled "The Naked Prey" released some 34 years after the original film. Wilde makes his movie interesting by having a big game hunter becoming the hunted, and changing the megalomaniac hunter into a band of African tribesmen determined to chase down the Wilde character and do him in.Wilde also indulges his film with numerous symbolic devices and sub-plot lines---but remains true to the basic premise of MDG. Survival is a battle of wits between the hunter(s) and the hunted, and only the most resourceful of preys can make it alive to the end of the tale.Viewers who like "The Naked Prey" ought to seek out MDG to recognize yet again the practice often used by Warner Brothers in the 1930s: if the original film tells a good story, it is worth remaking----and remaking----and remaking......