Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

The Naked Prey (1966)

Director: Cornel Wilde

4
Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Chicago

It would be all too easy to write off this fascinating oddity as another "white man in a savage land" film, with safari guide Wilde taken captive by an African tribe and then set loose so it can hunt him down. Anyone who has ever seen this grimly riveting film is likely to recall the spectacle of a man encased in mud being roasted alive over an open fire—the height of savage torture. In fact, as film scholar Stephen Prince persuasively argues on a commentary track, The Naked Prey inverts many of the conventions of Hollywood films about "the Dark Continent." The warriors are given more character depth than Wilde's protagonist, and the film seems seriously engaged in a debate over whether man is driven by Darwinian brutality or rises above it.

Author: Hank Sartin 2008-01-23 18:37:03

Time Out Chicago Issue 152: January 23–30, 2008 [Time In]

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Cornel Wilde

Producer: Cornel Wilde

Cast: Cornel Wilde, Gert Van den Bergh, Bella Randles, Morrison Gampu full cast

Rated: NR

Duration: 96 mins

US Release: Jun 14 1966


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.