User Reviews

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.

Boy, this is about a simple an action story as you're going to find, but it works, and has its interesting moments. Almost the entire film is devoted to a safari guide/hunter being chased (for the kill) by members of a angry tribe. Those tribe members had been insulted by an obnoxious member of the safari group and this good-guy guide (Cornell Wilde) has to run for his life.

Along his escape for survival, we, the viewers, are treated almost to a National Geographic-type tour of the African jungle with many wild animals, crocodiles, poisonous insects, snakes and - the most species of them all: naked women!

The film looks dated here and there but it's now over 40 years old. There is not much English dialog in here, but it's not needed.

The Naked Prey is on my short list of the best films of all time. After a very few minutes, the viewer will sit on the edge of his seat for a full hour where there is virtually no dialogue. When this movie was first released 35 years ago, I drove 30 miles across town to find and see it. It was worth the trip. Years later, watching it on TV, they omitted (so as not offend the viewers' sensibilities) what was one of the most effective moments in relieving the tension in an action film I have ever seen - the burp! The next time it was shown, I had to watch and was pleased to see it was back in. Watch for it, and you will know what I mean. All of the comments by naysayers about racism should be ignored. If anything, it is one of the most anti-racist films ever made, much credit to Cornel Wilde who made, directed and starred in the film with outstanding achievement in all three areas. Previously known for his role as Fredric Chopin in "An Affair to Remember", this was also one of my favourite films. As "the prey" Wilde shows the battle not only of man against man, but man against nature in the fight for survival and in a triumphal moment at the end he salutes his pursuers who, in mutual respect, return his salute. What more egalitarian gesture can one ask for in a pursuit and a fight to the death? Recommended for all adults but for those with a weak stomach.

The Naked Prey is one of my favorite adventure movies. It is pure visual cinema. By that I mean the film can be shown anywhere in the world to any age audience without translations or sub-titles. Everyone viewing the action will understand everything that is happening on the screen whether they understand the languages or not. Like the movie Zulu, the antagonists are African tribesmen, but in both films, I never had the sense the natives were evil villains. Rather, the story is about the clash between two alien cultures, a life-or-death struggle that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Like Psycho, The Naked Prey should be taught in every film class around the world. It is perfect and pure just the way it is.

THE NAKED PREY is very similar in many ways to Cornel Wilde`s later movie NO BLADE OF GRASS in that it deals with the theme of survival , is rather violent and features real life stock footage mixed in with the location footage , and while neither film is all that well directed they both have very thought provoking plots of which THE NAKED PREY is more subtle . Yeah NO BLADE OF GRASS is shockingly thought provoking but that`s entirely down to the John Christopher source novel rather than the adapted screenplay or Cornel Wilde`s sledge hammer direction telling us what a terrible thing ( yawn ) pollution is

The premise of THE NAKED PREY is white man getting chased through African bush by black natives but the movie never becomes racist or reactionary and even more refreshingly is devoid of any patronising liberal right on attitudes . Wilde`s hero called simply " The Man " is an innocent victim who happened to have the misfortune of being a safari guide to a bunch of philistines , but hey everyone has to make a living . The natives who while not exactly being painted in the most sympathetic light do have a motive for their amoral stance - One of moral relativism . It should also be pointed out that the natives do weep tears for their dead kinsmen and are capable of respect too . The screenplay never talks down to its audience by having tribal chiefs suddenly speak pidgen English when it suits the narrative nor are we shown subtitles but it`s easy to tell what`s going on . The fact that Clint Johnston`s and Don Peters screenplay was Oscar nominated says a lot about its quality

A good film mainly down to the fact that it treats the audience with some respect and doesn`t degenerate into a slightly obvious MCGUYVER type plot . Having said that I did mention earlier that it`s not all that well directed with obvious stock footage used . It`s also obvious in the early chase scenes that Wilde`s character is wearing flesh coloured briefs when he`s supposed to be naked and I wished I could have seen a few more of those cruel and inventive executions which probably says a lot about me . Maybe some day we will see a remake set in the Brazilian rain forest with a guide escorting a bunch of environmentalist do gooders stomping through the jungle telling indiginous tribes how to live their lives and being confused as to why the natives want to impale them on a pole . Everything is down to respect

I saw this movie when I was 16 (1966) and it has remained with me since. Upon viewing it in later life, it is still as good as it was then. This film has very little speaking in it, but the action will keep the viewer sitting on the edge of his seat until the climatic end. In short, this is a GREAT movie. It is about man's struggle against man and man's struggle against nature. It is about the fragility of man, whose arrogance and brutality lead him to believe he is superior to other men and nature. Enough philosophizing. Watch this on as large a screen as possible. By the way, Cornel Wilde was reportedly an expert swordsman.

Naked Prey is a member of the small number of films that reduce dialogue and fully utilize the visual medium to tell a tale. These movies frequently use natural settings and indigenous animals to express the apathy of the world to the struggles of an individual who is in crisis mode. The cinematography is engaging and the story is compelling.

Other films that aim for and achieve this rarified level of accomplishment are Quest for Fire (1981) and The Night of the Hunter (1955, the only movie directed by Charles Laughton, an academy award winning actor).

Naked Prey successfully achieves the often contradictory goals of simultaneously entertaining and providing an intelligent forum for discussion. It's a nice change, for a change.

If you're expecting a tense and thrilling manhunt, you're in for a big let down. The movie is nice (that would be a crime to get a crude obnoxious movie with that kind of location shooting) but lacks a strong vision.

Cornell Wide is obviously not a great producer or director, so you'll have to be content with a simple nice and naive safari. For a manhunt you would expect more suspense, more situations when the Naked Prey is really running for his life, and a couple of times when he is literally out of breath. Actually this only happens once, at the very start of the hunt, and it's not quite suspenseful movie-making at its best.

Basically The Naked Prey is too much of a --Robinson Crusoe runs into a couple of man-eating savages-- storyline. As dated (and short) as it may be The Most Dangerous Game is much more suspenseful. And does remain the template for manhunts.

If you want a basic movie review you may want to skip this entry. However, if you are a fan of the late Joseph Campbell, or enjoy attempts at mythological interpretation, you might find this interesting. On the surface, Naked Prey may appear as just a neat Tour-de-Force action film, but having viewed it numerous times over the past 15 years, I have found the film to reveal a much deeper critical significance then most works of the celluloid genre can offer. Cornell Wilde's survival trek across the wilds of South Africa portrays an immensely symbolic experience that mirrors the primal journey of every human mind and spirit. Filled with archetypes instead of personalities, (Notice there are no names in the movie, only "Man" and the "Pursuers", as if they are only ideas of something) Naked Prey is a showcase for the figurative battle that every human "fights" in their subconscious mind.(The sparse dialogue of the film underlines the fact that this is a movie of the mind) The film's chase scenes appear as a model of the universal/eternal cycle of life. In the film's opening, Cornel Wilde sets off from the fortress like an infant from the womb, and influenced by choice and chance, goes through a figurative cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth. A few of the movie's "props" play important roles: The harsh flora and fauna of the savanna act as the world of obstacles that we all must struggle and compete within. "Stripped down", literally in this film! The naked man must become a part of his environment in order to conqueror it. (Just as Wilde becomes both hunter and hunted in many scenes of the film). Other major archetypes include the Masai tribesmen, who are not so much the "villians" of the story as they might represent the elements of primal fear. They are part of the danger, and their pursuit to catch the man is as relentless as the uncertanties/trials we must face as human beings. The "Man" is not the target of their hunt solely by chance. Though demonstrating some "nobleness" of character, he has paritally put himself in this position by the reluctant choice of company he kept with the Safari.

The Man must therefore confront the unknown possibilites of the wild, and be willing to "die" (As he appears to briefly when dragged from the river) before he can get back "home". His goal of "settling down" on his farm must be put-off until he completes this "rite of passage". Ultimately as the late mythological expert Joseph Campbell would say, we come to the task of the mythical hero, to accomplish that unknown goal that brings spiritual fulfillment. Obviously, this is the "Man" who is able, well almost able...to return to the seminal place from which he came. With the help of some outside support, (The little girl, the sentry guards at the fort) "Man" becomes a survivor and fulfills his quest. He is able to look back at his struggle (As we sometimes reflect on our past) with an almost wry smile. Though not very movie-buff would care much to turn entertainment into philosophical study, it is to me as if these sub-conscious archetypes in Naked Prey are unlocked gradually through the viewer's very natural relationship to them. I don't necessarily believe that Wilde read as deeply into the story as I have, but then again that's the subconscious mind at work. Naked Prey is a very entertaining action picture. Like Boorman's Deliverance, it just also happens to an inconspicuous mythical masterpiece.

"Certainly one of the wildest, most original, and most instinctive movie stars turned auteurs in the Hollywood annals, Cornel Wilde made procedurals of uncivilized survival, in a visual syntax that ranged from comic-strip splat to outright gut punch." Poor Cornel Wilde, to have to carry that burden of ripe writing.

Wilde was a limited actor who managed to make it to the big-time in the mid-Forties, only to see his status as a star slip down the ladder starting at the end of the Forties. He always wanted to direct, so he took what remained of his bankability and parlayed it into a handful of movies he produced and directed in the Fifties and Sixties. It turned out, in my view, that he was just as sincere a director as he was straightforward and without guile as an actor. He brought a kind of naive directness to his films (and without the awful French accent he sometimes employed in an acting role). As a director, he knew what he wanted, but he had very limited financing to get the job done, Says the same overwrought film critic quoted above, "Wilde remains an unexhumed artist, a scattershot brother to delirious genre god Samuel Fuller..." I can only say, "Oh, brother!"

The Naked Prey is a simple story that takes place in colonial South Africa. Wilde, identified in the credits only as Man, has been hired to lead a small safari on the hunt for elephant ivory. Along the way the man who is paying for the safari manages to offend a group of warriors they encounter. Wilde tries to intervene, but to no effect. Not much later the safari is attacked. The white men are captured and brought to the native camp. All the captives are killed in ingenious and humiliating ways, which the men, women and children of the tribe think is hilarious. Wilde, however, is recognized as the man who attempted to give the warriors their due. So he is condemned to an honorable death. He will be set free, naked and without weapons, and at a specified point a group of warriors will chase after him. They will kill him when they capture him. It will be death, but a brave death. The Naked Prey is the story of the chase, told without English dialogue or subtitles. Wilde the director cuts away frequently from the chase to show us pictures of the struggle for life in Africa, everything from big cats chasing baboons to baboons chasing big cats, to toads eating other toads, to scorpions getting ready for a face-off, to a lizard and a snake in combat, to a disemboweled elephant being butchered for food, to a snake biting a man and a man eating a snake, to slave traders attacking a peaceful village.

Wilde does not give his character any nobility, and he makes no effort to portray Man's pursuers as either noble or simplistic. We've seen that Man is a decent fellow and he remains one. In his exhausting struggle to keep ahead of the warriors, he is able to kill a few. This gives him no pleasure, nor does it give us pleasure. The fact of the matter, Wilde shows us, is that the pursued and the pursuing are equally decent men.

The man also is not particularly ingenious or brave. He is simply desperate, but he also is knowledgeable and experienced. The message Wilde gives us, I think, is that life is struggle, and that man's struggles are not so far removed from all other creature's struggles. This is a message of no great depth, even for 1967, but it's presented in an exciting and well- constructed package.

Wilde seems to be in the process of becoming the latest darling of the auteur-loving film crowd, energized in part by the recent Criterion release of The Naked Prey. He became an interesting man as he managed to move to directing. He doesn't deserve the quivering attention of those who love to role around in the mouth the word "auteur."

A lot of comments hear say that this movie is obviously racist.

I think this an nervous knee jerk reaction. It definitely dose not put a phony PC spin on colonial Africa but that doesn't mean it is racist.

Certainly the racism of the safari leader who refuses to respect the tribe with a gift is portrayed and is most likely accurate. It should be noted that the rest of the movie is a direct result of this racist white mans ignorant arrogance and that the hero knows better and tries to warn him. It is improbable that one man, out of his element, could over come his pursuers who must know the terrain better and have more experience hunting and fighting with spears, however I think this is not an attempt to portray the white man as superior but a convention of action movies (heroes can always dodge bullets). The idea that this movie portrays all Africans as savages is based on the assumption that the pursuers are representative of ALL Africans which is a bit racist in itself. They are a particular tribe. Africa is a big continent full of many different nations and tribes. There are other Africans present including those in the safari party, who are not shown to be savages. There are also two other tribes depicted towards the end. One is the village that the man comes upon. These people wear dyed clothing and seem to have a more advanced, structured, and less violently primal, society. The white mans life is saved by a child from this more peaceful tribe. They are attacked by another tribe, obviously working for colonial slave traders, who wear more modern clothing and have guns. This really happened. Some Africans at war with other Africans would sell their conquered foes to the white slave traders.

When will people learn that portraying racism in all its ugliness and complexity is not equivalent to being a racist. The man who plays the hero was also the director. he is a white man and the story is told from his perspective but not exclusively. Part of the films context is that of cultures colliding, both European with African, and African with African. Another important point to this movie is that this is an educated, civilized man who is (literally) stripped of all the trappings of his civilization and thrust into the primal, and universal, struggle of shear survival. Im no expert on Africa but from what little I have read about its history, the movie, while a simple tale in itself, did not seem to over simplify its portrayal of Africa. I suspect that, quite far from being racist, the makers of this film probably had a respect for African culture. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Over all I found it to be well acted. Even though the film makers did not have had a big Hollywood budget and may have used some stock wild life footage, it seemed to blend seamlessly. As far as the chicken chasing scene, I liked how comic it was. In reality a starving man, desperately chasing a chicken around with a spear would probably look pitifully comical and I believe the irony is intentional.

I recommend this film. I found it to be very original but if forced to describe it I would say its a mixture of Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout (though not as pretentious) and Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Five days ago, I published a review for WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. In it, I quoted from Billy Wilder:

"There are only two kinds of films for the public - the simple story, padded out, furnished in rococo; the simple plot allows visual embellishment. Then the complex story, filmed simply in order to make it comprehensible."

THE NAKED PREY is the former; a simple story, "furnished in rococo". However, even though the description fits this film, it still has an undeserved negative connotation.

THE NAKED PREY is at times shocking, controversial, and perhaps even questionable. There is little dialogue, yet it manages to hold you captive till the end. That in itself is a difficult challenge accomplished.

A common theme among my reviews is the fact that the movie going public after the release of The African Queen and King Solomon's Mines was not satisfied with studio jungle sets, they wanted the real Africa. Well no one ever gave them the real Africa quite like Cornel Wilde did in The Naked Prey.

That it was shot in Africa is a given, in fact it was shot in the former Union of South Africa, Bechuanaland, and Southern Rhodesia, two out of the three final gasps of white colonialism on the continent. And the cinematography is spectacular in color and quite graphic about the beauty and brutality of the jungle.

The story as it is is set in Africa of the 1850s before the European had penetrated much beyond the coastal areas. Wilde plays a safari guide and tries to talk a thickheaded and obstinate man heading the safari to part with a few trade goods. What this nitwit does is insult the chief. Such an act of lese majeste is not tolerated and the tribe swoops down on the safari with a vengeance and kills all of them in some truly terrifying ways. Wilde however is given a break, a small head start as he's sent out buck naked into the jungle and pursued by the tribe.

Wilde who has the experience in the jungle proves to be quite capable and ingenious at foiling the warriors after him. In many ways The Naked Prey is the ultimate survival film.

For those curious Wilde does not stay naked, he finds some animal skins to protect the privates.

With minimal and I mean minimal dialog Wilde turns in a great performance, in many ways similar to Spencer Tracy in The Old Man And The Sea, but with a lot more action.

The Naked Prey is one of the best African location films ever done and it's a timeless classic.

This is not a film for the squeamish. Footage of African elephants being gunned down was used in this film. Some of the most horrific brutality man can inflict on his fellow human being is depicted. How did they get a tribe to act out these ghastly portrayals? Were these practices once used? Binding someone, encasing them in mud, sticking a cylindrical device in their mouth so they can breathe, allowing the mud to harden, and then slow roasting them over a fire is much more than primitive. It is a scenario drawn out of the deepest recesses of depravity.

No suggestion of racism here. Both blacks and whites are hacked, speared, and cut to pieces. Thank goodness that part of the film is overshadowed by a thrilling chase through the wilds of Africa, which is the gist of the story.

It is easy to conclude that many black people have been offended by the imagery in this film. I was offended at the brutality. But, I was captivated by the desire to make this film believable. Even the music was traditional African. The humanity of the savage pursuers is manifested. And finally, the bond of humanity between the hunted and the hunter is suggested: as Cornel Wilde raises his hand to show respect to those who so eagerly tried to kill him, the lead hunter raises his hand as a gesture of respect and admiration. The same basic idea can be seen in the final scenes of Zulu Dawn. After the bloodshed, enemies become honored warriors.

I just caught this on AMC a few days ago because my dad said it was really good. After viewing, I put it on my top ten list of all time. For a man who never really wanted to be an actor, Cornel Wilde was very convincing in his role. It was one of those films that was so enthralling, you really had a good time watching. The man in clay scene was disturbing. Also recommend Fortress(TV 1986) and Breakdown(1997)

I love this movie. I first viewed the movie as a young child and never forgot it. Cornell and the cast were excellent. This is the kind of movie that stays with you forever much like the movie, "The Good Earth" by Mrs. Pear S. Buck.

Savagery is the way of humanity. We are a savage species as we are the only species on Earth that kills just for the sake of killing. Every other organism kills out of necessity. This movie shows us at our most low. However, we as a species every once in a while rise above what our normal behavior dictates and we become something of legend. In the ocean of our humanity once in a while a few of us do sparkle.

Michael

If anyone thinks this film is racist because of the main story (a defenseless man is chased through the jungle by nine (then eight, then seven...) African pursuers), I can't help them. However, one should be forewarned that, after the provocation of not paying a tithe to the local chief leads to a mass slaughter of the hero's safari group, a few survivors are each executed in some of the most gruesome (if inventive) ways you can see in a mainstream film. I won't "spoil" all of them, but the man encased in clay with a tube in his mouth so he can breath while being baked to death on a rotisserie was pretty disturbing.

And here's a question I think someone needs to answer: has any known group in Africa ever actually committed the types of executions shown in the film? If not, then I would have to say that the makers were expecting us to believe some very awful things about people we've never met, and I have a hard time getting past the racist implications of that. (If the killings were authentic, though, I have no sympathy for the characters committing them at all.)

The final salute between the defeated leader and the hero was absurd, I thought, and kind of gratuitous. The provocation leading to the slaughter and chase was miniscule, and can hardly be a credible catalyst for the implied mutual respect of these exchanged gestures. (The same idea was carried off more convincingly and more movingly in "Zulu," made two years earlier.) But, after the grisly opening and until the silly ending, the chase scenes are pretty good, if not always believable. (The hero wins too many battles with weapons he's never used, against people who should be experts with the same things. I dunno, maybe that's racist, too?)

Anyway, if you can stand to see a man cooked to death, you might like this movie. I wouldn't let anyone squeamish or innocent see it, though.

What an amazing film , the use of the cinematography and the landscapes, the acting and a commendable plot make this a must see .

I also admired the way the director used animal hunter and prey film alongside what is happening to the protagonist of the piece.

Oddest thing is that my mum remembered the 'baking' scene and it has stayed with her all this time she saw it on British T.V 38 years ago !! I too thought this to be quite grueling for the films vintage and the fact it was released from one of the major mainstream distributors makes it surprising too.

The new DVD release has done this complete justice but would one expect anything less from the 'Rolls Royce' of DVD distributors. I read on here a comment about the exorbitant price tag but would comment that it deserves it.

So much care has been taken using the best print and the most complete version possible. There is also a fascinating commentary to listen too if you have the time and other worthwhile extras.

This I feel has 'forgotten classic' invisibly etched on every frame.

A must see and must have.

It is claimed that actor Cornel Wilde was so technically unprepared, financially underfunded and physically unwell that reinforcements had to be brought back from the UK following their return from filming Zulu the previous year. Apparently their local knowledge and expertise was much needed and presumably appreciated when the actor's health was restored and he took up the directorial role, as well as that of the near naked runner. It is an extraordinary film featuring Wilde being chased by natives across African plains amidst much local wildlife activity. Much of the animal footage is stock material but fits in well enough and overall we get an impressive vision of ruthless and desperate animal survival contrasted with the dastardly acts of ivory poachers and slave trade apologists. The film is not overlong and just about keeps going despite the actor/director not being particularly charismatic or earning of too much of our sympathy. There is just enough interchange with the Africans and their ways, helped enormously by the spectacular landscapes to make this a worthwhile watch.