Truly a movie that could not easily be made today. The plot is simple; the man financing an African ivory safari (Gert Van den Bergh) offends a tribe by not paying them a tribute gift against the advice of his own guide (Cornell Wilde). The tribe takes them prisoner back to their village and kills all except Wilde in various imaginative and gruesome ways for the amusement of the tribe. Presumably because he wanted to pay the tribute, Wilde is given a sporting chance; he's stripped naked, and given a head start before several of the men begin to hunt him down and kill him like an animal. The first pursuer misses Wilde with a spear, which Wilde uses to kill that pursuer and take his footwear and some of his equipment. Wilde not only has to elude his pursuers, he has to cope with his own thirst and hunger at the same time. When he kills a deer, a lion steals it from him. Throughout the movie there are scenes of animals pursuing and killing each other. One animal scene even mirrors the plot when a baboon being stalked by a cheetah survives by being willing to fight back. Even the plant life is shown as being inhospitable to being eaten. There are a few plot holes; early in the movie the financier of the safari mentions to Wilde that next time he'd like to combine hunting for ivory with the slave trade. This is inconsistent with the times (around 1850) since by then, the slave trade but not slavery itself had come to an end. The village where the safari party is taken to is filled with thin people except for the village chief, who is enormously fat, like Jabba the Hut. How'd a guy like that get to be chief? It probably takes half the village resources to maintain his fatness. The head pursuer (Ken Campu) was a tall, fit looking guy who looked like he could have easily killed the chief and taken over the village. The other plot hole occurs when Wilde starts a fire in order to drive his pursuers away when they were at most a minute behind him. Where did he get the materials to start a fire so quickly? Did one of the pursuers he killed have firestarting materials? Those plot holes aside, the movie was beautifully photographed and well acted by all. The Africans were not stereotypical villains; they showed true sorrow and caring when one of them was killed or injured. They were not superhuman; they also need to catch their breath, eat and drink. Spoiler alert! Don't read any further if you haven't seen the movie! At the end, when Wilde's character is about to be rescued, he turns and salutes the head pursuer, who returns the salute. There is a similar scene in "Jeremiah Johnson" when an indian who's tribe has been relentlessly pursuing Johnson gives him a similar salute as if to say "I'm calling an end to the pursuit". Unlike many movies today, you cannot add a disclaimer saying that "no animals were harmed in the making of this movie". Many animals were indeed harmed, from a small toad or frog being eaten by a larger one to several elephants being shot and disemboweled.My criticisms? I'd have liked some subtitles so I could've have known what the pursuers were saying. For example, early in the chase, it appears like the head pursuer was ordering some of his men to go this way and others to go that way. Was he unsure which way Wilde had gone, or was he trying to trap Wilde between two groups of pursuers? Toward the end of the movie, Wilde befriends a young girl who's village was destroyed by slave traders. After walking with Wilde for a while and sharing songs, she decides she wants to go back. Go back to what? Her village was burned and most everyone was taken as slaves or killed outright! Even Wilde shakes his head and murmurs "I hope you'll be all right," but he doesn't try and stop her. Previous reviewers have found racism in this movie because some of the Africans are portrayed as vicious savages taking pleasure in gruesome killing. Why should Africans be portrayed any different from Europeans? The history of all humans is filled with examples of cruelty as entertainment, regardless of race. Besides, tribal and religious warfare with appalling cruelty still goes on in Africa. Reviewers have also found it strange that a white man out of his element is able to survive and in some cases turn the tables on some of his African pursuers. In this movie, the white man is not out of his element. He's a professional safari guide. Any north woods hunting guide is probably fitter and more skilled at survival than local hunters. Speaking of fitness, Cornell Wilde looks in great shape for a man of 53. I can only think of a few Hollywood actors who could have met the physical qualifications of this role in their 50s.

Set in Africa in the 1850s, The Naked Prey stars its director, Wilde, as 'The Man', a safari guide whose hunting party is captured by a primitive tribe; after killing the other captives in a variety of brutal ways (including clubbing them to death and impaling them with sharp sticks), the natives strip and release The Man, giving him a few minutes head-start before pursuing him for sport, spears at the ready. However, The Man's resourcefulness makes him a formidable prey.I'm a huge fan of films that pit 'civilised man' against bloodthirsty savages, among my favourites being the gruesome Italian cannibal movies that were popular (with gore-hounds, at least) in the 70s and early 80s. Although Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey contains just one scene that suggests cannibalism (a man coated in clay is roasted on a spit over a roaring fire), the movie's shocking early scenes, which feature real animal deaths (of the National Geographic/mondo footage variety), gratuitous female nudity courtesy of the native women, and plenty of bloody violence, are enough to indicate that it could have served as the blueprint for the Italian cannibal genre as a whole (until now, I had thought A Man Called Horse to be the original inspiration).It's not all about the shock value, however: The Naked Prey is an extremely well crafted piece of cinema—a rollicking adventure tale with sparing use of English dialogue, an effective tribal drum soundtrack, convincing performances, impressive cinematography and a wonderfully tense finale. Something for everyone then…Highly recommended. 8/10.

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.

The Naked Prey is a suspenseful and very well made film from 1966. For its era it contains some surprisingly savage scenes, but thankfully none of them are gratuitous or exploitative. Another surprise is the extraordinarily low amount of dialogue in the film. Since the advent of sound I can think of very few films with as little dialogue as this one. Yet even without words, it comes across as a compelling film – a true example of film as a visual medium, with a thoughtful mix of panoramic vistas and intense close-ups. There is a bit of sound – some African drum scoring for the dramatic scenes, plus a very organic and natural background hum throughout – and it is used very cleverly and sparingly to maximise impact.A group of white hunters on a 19th century safari offend a local tribe by refusing to exchange gifts with them. The safari manager – known simply as The Man (Cornel Wilde) – warns that this is not wise, but he is ignored by his clients. Later the tribesmen attack the safari party and take its members prisoner. One by one the white hunters are killed – some are hacked to pieces, one is bitten by a snake, one is encased in clay and roasted over a fire. The only one left alive is The Man. He is to be used for sport – the tribesmen strip him naked, give him an arrow-shot distance head start, then pursue him like a wild animal into the blisteringly hot African bush. What follows is an epic struggle to stay alive, as The Man attempts to outrun and outwit his pursuers. But the longer he lasts, the more his survival instincts become primitive and barbaric.Cornel Wilde shows an impressive eye for detail as the director of this film, and as actor he is convincing as a man simply desperate to remain alive. The role seems physically demanding, and Wilde is equal to it. There is inevitable violence – and it definitely isn't for the squeamish – but it is done tastefully and realistically within the context of the story. Where The Naked Prey loses out slightly, for me, is in the sparseness of its characterisation. There's a lack of depth to the pursuers and the pursued, perhaps deliberately, which just makes it that little bit harder to "feel" anything for them as real people. But the spectacle of the hunt is certainly vivid enough, and Wilde's overwhelming desire to stay alive is captured very clearly. A blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene at the end – where the Leader of the Hunters and The Man exchange a salute of mutual respect – is wonderfully done. This is a very atypical product from 1960s Hollywood, and one which should be seen by anyone with an interest in the "visualness" of the film medium or anyone who likes a rattling good adventure flick.