The Savage Seven (1968)

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This movie is essentially about three different groups which come into conflict with each other coupled with alliances shifting back and forth. The first group consists of Native Americans who live in extreme poverty. The second group is led by a rich but extremely controlling person named "Mr. Fillmore" (Mel Berger) who exploits the Native Americans and keeps them in line by using hired thugs whenever anyone dares to complain. The third group is a motorcycle gang known simply as "MC California" who drift into the ramshackle town with the idea of fighting, drinking beer and carousing with some of the Native American females. Needless to say, Mr. Fillmore doesn't quite like all of the chaos and destruction by the motorcycle gang. On that same note, some of the Native Americans don't like the way they are treated either. But the tactics used by Mr. Fillmore are just as bad and as it turns out he now has a secret plan which will leave the Native Americans even more destitute. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie has plenty of action but very little character development. As a result several scenes lacked the necessary setup which made the movie appear to be too spontaneous and shallow. But that's just my opinion. Be that as it may, although it does have some good qualities here and there, I was generally disappointed overall and I have rated it according. Slightly below average.

Savage Seven, The (1968) * 1/2 (out of 4) Extremely bizarre AIP flick about a group of Indians, led by Johnnie (Robert Walker, Jr.) who are tired of their poor lives where they're pushed around on their reservation by a greedy white man. Soon a gang of bikers show up and the two sides clash, especially Johnnie and Stud (Adam Rourke) and it's all going to end in a battle. This is a very bizarre movie as it seems three or four screenplays were just mixed together and AIP quickly filmed them without trying to put anything into order. There are times when you think the bikers are wanting to help the Indians but then we're back to fighting only to flip flop a couple more times. The entire movie constantly left me with a WTF look on my face as nothing ever made too much sense or really added up in the end. You've got your typical white bad guys who are stealing money from the Indians. You have the Indians wanting to fight back on what is basically your land. Then you have the bikers show up who are probably here so AIP could exploit the biker genre. The film was apparently selected by Quentin Tarantino during one of his film festivals, which is a little interesting since there are much better biker flicks out there from this era. There's really not too much violence, no profanity and no nudity so the "exploitation" market is pretty low. What the film does have are a few long fights that seems to keep going and going. That's certainly not a bad thing as the fights are pretty outrageous with bats, chains and various other objects being used. Walker isn't too bad in his role but the screenplay doesn't leave him too much to do. The same can be said for Rourke who is also impressive for what he's given. Supporting players include Billy Green Bush, John "Bud" Cardos, Larry Bishop and Joanna Frank. Most of the time these biker flicks are at least mildly entertaining but this one here left me bored for long stretch of periods and way too many times. There's some cult-ish items here but just not enough to make this worth sitting through when there are so many better films out there.

The most misogynistic movie of all time? Not to mention by '68 shouldn't they have moved beyond white people in brown face playing the "Indians"? My favorite parts though have to be when the girls giggle and blush as the bikers drag them off to gang rape them. Rape is fun! Who knew? Let's see, then there's the blatant rip-offs of "The Hustler" (fat boss character actually plays pool while scheming to destroy the Indians with the lead rebel dude), the horrific acting, the so-on-the-nose-they-might-as-well-have-just-told-you-what-to-think music cues, the lack of ANYONE WHO'S ACTUALLY Indian in this movie. And who are we supposed to be rooting for? I have to say it figures that Quentin Tarantino loves this movie. Even though his movies tend to champion strong women, I've heard from at least one source that in real life he's a misogynistic idiot. Why did I watch it, you ask? Don't ask.

This starts out to be one of the best biker films (which ain't saying much, since most are pretty horrible), but like another good one (The Hard Ride), it falls on it's backside, in the end.Rourke and Walker both elevate this film to a much higher level than it would be, with lesser actors. There's lots of action and the Indian story is a nice change of pace. What kills the effect is what happens in the end of the film, and the following will contain spoilers:..........Spoilers.............1. Johnnie gets shot in the back, but somehow ends up with a belly wound. 2. Does he live? No one knows, because it's not indicated. 3. After Fat Jack is killed, what happens to Seely? He just disappears. Did he escape? Did he fall dead from some unseen wound? Did he plan on killing his boss, or was it unintentional? 4. Kisum leaves his mortally wounded future brother-in-law, as if he means nothing to him. What happened to the ambulances? Wouldn't someone have called from the Indian reservation once the killing started? 5. Kisum finds Marcia, and it's over....just like that. Boo! With a tighter, better thought-out ending, this one could have been a winner. It's still worth seeing for Walker and Rourke's performances, as well as the early performances of "Lavern" and Billy Green Bush, but if only they had had a decent ending for it.