- published: 06 Jan 2016
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Savages is a 1974 American TV film directed by Lee H. Katzin and based on the novel Deathwatch by Robb White. It stars Andy Griffith and Sam Bottoms.
A successful Los Angeles lawyer and hunter, Madec, (Andy Griffith) receives a rare permit to hunt Bighorn Sheep in the nearby Mojave Desert. He hires a timid college student named Ben (Sam Bottoms), who will drive him into the desert with his Jeep CJ and help show Madec where the bighorn are. Ben is studying to be a geologist, so therefore he knows the desert very well. After accidentally shooting an old prospector with his Winchester Model 70 rifle and trying to cover it up, Ben argues that the honest thing to do would be for the two of them to report the accidental shot, but Madec is too important to sit in jail. It is then that Madec decides to eliminate the only witness to the crime, Ben. Madec forces Ben to strip down to nothing but his shorts at gunpoint. Madec decides that this will be easy, because he will not have killed Ben himself, and he will make up a story saying that the two became separated, Ben went crazy, tore off all his clothes and died within a matter of hours due to dehydration and heat. Ben sees this as an opportunity to walk forty five miles to the nearest highway. But Madec won't let this accidental kill destroy his career, so he is watching him the whole way and aiming at him with his powerful rifle. The rifle's power shows as the old prospector's lungs are blown out of his back. After trying to climb a butte, Ben is shot by Madec causing him to fall giving him back injuries. Time is running out as he begins to hallucinate. Suffering from dehydration, hunger, sunburn, and gunshot wounds, Ben needs to find, food, water, shelter, and a weapon to stop Madec and save himself.
Savages, he knows you are
Do you not think that God is looking down?
On you savages, the children run to mothers
You put bullets in their backs
Ah, cowards, can you not see?
Do you not think that love is coming down?
You have no gods, they've all disowned you
You have no love, so you take it out on
People's lives in progress
That's what keeps you going when you're savages
Savages, you can dress it up
Give it a name and a fancy uniform
And a flag to fly, to hide behind
Can you not see the truth that's on the ground?
You have no love, it has all gone cold on you
You never have, so you take it out on
Those whose love is growing
That's what you hate most than when you're savages
Do you not see the love is coming down?