Glamorous leading man turned idiosyncratic auteur Cornel Wilde created a handful of gritty, violent explorations of the nature of man in the sixties and seventies, none more memorable than The Naked Prey. In the late nineteenth century, after an ivory-hunting safari offends an African tribe, the colonialists are captured and hideously tortured. Only Wilde s marksman is released, without clothes or weapons, to be hunted for sport, and he embarks on a harrowing journey through savanna and jungle and back to a primitive state. Distinguished by widescreen camerawork and unflinching savagery, The Naked Prey is both a propulsive, stripped-to-the-bone narrative and a meditation on the notion of civilization. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince
John Colter s Escape, a 1913 written record of the trapper s flight from Blackfoot Indians which was the inspiration for The Naked Prey read by actor Paul Giamatti
Original soundtrack cues created by director Cornel Wilde and ethnomusicologist Andrew Tracey, along with a written statement by Tracey on the score
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Michael Atkinson and a 1970 interview with Wilde |
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117 of 123 found the following review helpful:
 Naked Does Not Mean DefenselessAug 14, 2002
By Martin Asiner
Most films which have the basic premise of a white man battling native Africans somewhere in the Dark Continent usually portray these natives as nameless, unmotivated ugga-mugga tribesmen whose only purpose in life seems to be able to toss missionaries into a round cooking pot. Thankfully, Cornel Wilde acts in and directs himself in THE NAKED PREY, a movie that is as astoundingly gripping as any film whose plot revolves around the hero's struggle for survival in a savage environment.
Wilde is a guide whose safari of foolish white hunters antagonizes some ferocious natives, who proceed to kill the hunters in a variety of graphically nasty ways. The natives allow Wilde a head start, then chase him. It is this chase that forms the bulk of the movie. Along the way, Wilde shows the natives (and the audience) that a near naked white man can still be a formidable foe. The pursuing natives, led by Ken Gampu, are a diverse lot, not all of whom are as dedicated to the chase as he is. They have numbers, food, knives. Wilde has only his fierce determination to live. What starts out as a standard chase movie, morphs quickly enough into another sort of chase. This time, though, it is Wilde who starts calling the shots about who is chasing whom. THE NAKED PREY is full of magnificent vignettes of survival on the African plain. This is no jungle movie. It is an engrossing film that allows the camera frequent panoramic sweeps over vast desert plains that are quite capable of supporting life if one only knows how. The natives are astonished that Wilde's knowledge is at least as full as theirs. Along the way, Wilde befriends a very young boy whose family was captured by Arabic slavers, and it is this boy whose very initial helplessness reminds Wilde that vulnerability is a trait that has the practical value of reminding one that arrogance on the plain is a negative survival characteristic. The latter half of the movie is a continuing series of confrontations between Wilde and Gampu. By the end, both the pursued and the pursuer recognize that sometimes the distinction between the two is a muddied affair at best, and the winner is not necessarily the one with a trophy, but with a recognition that all life, even the life of your enemy, has some value during a deadly game of chase.
50 of 50 found the following review helpful:
Cornel Wilde is `The Man'Jan 08, 2003
By Edward M. Erdelac
This overlooked gem directed by and starring one-time Olympic fencer Cornel Wilde concerns a knowledgeable safari guide (known only as The Man) whose greedy client gets him into a slew of trouble when he refuses to pay tribute to a band of Zulus while hunting elephants in Africa. The Zulus return en masse and take the white hunters prisoner, torturing them to death in a variety of ingenious ways. Recognizing Wilde as being made of stouter stuff than his companions, they strip him naked and cut him loose with the intent of hunting him down. But their generosity backfires when Wilde up and kills one of them. What follows is one of the greatest pursuit movies of all time as the vengeful Zulu hunters chase the Man across the savannah in a race to reach a remote British fort. The Man has to use every ounce of human ingenuity to stave off his relentless pursuers, as well as to contend with various random perils (pissed off wildlife, starvation, and slavers, to name a few). This was filmed entirely in Africa and Wilde makes great use of the rich locales. The hunt is juxtaposed at various times with real footage of animals contending with each other in the natural world, and there are some pretty memorable scenes here alone (including the snaring of a flying sparrow by a tree climbing viper!). This is a 2:35:1 movie, but you?ll be hard pressed to see it that way. I think there is a laserdisc, but no DVD. If you can, catch it on AMC until they come out with a well-deserved DVD version, because the widescreen format is well-used here, serving to encompass a panorama of natural beauty. Despite the primal savagery of the plot, and the at times brutal violence (not too brutal - this is the 60's after all), everything in this movie is quite beautiful, from the locations to the hundreds of native non-actors. This is a great movie for an amateur filmmaker to study, as except for the beginning and one brief segment towards the end, there is almost no English dialogue. This is a visually dynamic film reminiscent of a moving Frank Frazetta painting. The humans are lean and sensual, and the action is high yield. The earthen colors bring the viewer down to the basics, and the African singing and tumultuous heartbeat of the native drums make you want to put on your war face and go running through the bush. The theme of man vs. man vs. nature plays out to the fullest, in an admirably simple and refreshingly honest way. While the subject matter of a white man being able to hold his own against a group of native Africans on their own soil could be misconstrued as racist, I think the parting salute between Ken Gampu?s hunter and Wilde?s Man, as well as Man?s short friendship with an African boy who saves his life shows that the film?s heart is in the right place. In the end, these men find mutual admiration in each other?s abilities, and the picture ends on a high note. This is the pulpy sort of stuff that reminds one of yellowed Weird Tales covers with Robert E. Howard?s name emblazoned in red ink over some two fisted man?s man rippling with unbridled don?t-give-a-damn-but-I-can-take-a-punch grit. Wilde got the idea from listening to an old radio drama about a trapper being hunted by Indians through the mountains of the northwest. Highest possible recommendation.
18 of 19 found the following review helpful:
one of my all time favoritesApr 05, 2004
By Goozh
"mcdray"
I accidentally caught this movie late at night when I was a kid...and found it the most gripping movie I had ever seen. 30 years later my opinion has not changed one bit. After an hour into the movie, I remember finding myself amazed at how much I cared about the characters and how strongly their personalities came through - even with virtually no dialogue!! This is perhaps one of the most underrated movies in the latter half of the 20th century. Other reviewers here have already done an exceptional job of running down the highlights, so I need not do the same. This film leaves me with 2 questions that I would love someone to answer. First, why do they not make movies like this anymore? And second, when oh when will this come out on DVD??
24 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Where is the DVD?????Jan 15, 2005
By M. Kupper
"hfiuwrhfi"
Unbelievable. One of the best movies ever made and not even a whisper about a new release. Yet we get releases of TV shows like Full House. SAD.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Exciting, well paced adventure shot entirely in Africa.Mar 20, 1999
Actor/director Cornel Wilde has fashioned a tight, well crafted adventure story of survival in the African bush with "The Naked Prey". The story involves the capture of a party of white trophy hunters by a tribe of native Africans, who are gruesomely tortured to death one-by-one. Cornel Wilde, whose clothes had been removed by the natives in preparation of his execution, succeeds in escaping (hence the title of the movie). The rest of the film involves his fight for survival in the wilderness while being pursued by a group of native warriors. The film starts out slowly but the tension builds as the white hunters ignore and insult the natives that they see as harmless. The scenes of torture and death are quite graphic for a mid-60's film and because of this the film is not for family viewing. The movie really takes off once Cornel Wilde escapes and his fight for survival is as realistic as it is gruesome.
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