Synopsis
Glamorous leading man turned idiosyncratic auteur Cornel Wilde created in the sixties and seventies a handful of gritty, violent explorations of the nature of man, none more memorable than The Naked Prey. In the early 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, back to a primitive state. Distinguished by vivid widescreen camera work and the unflinching depiction of savagery, The Naked Prey is both a propulsive, stripped-to-the-bone narrative and a meditation on the notion of civilization.
Cast
| Man | Cornel Wilde |
| 2nd man | Gert Van den Bergh |
| The leader of the warriors | Ken Gampu |
| Safari overseer | Patrick Mynhardt |
| Little girl | Bella Randles |
| Tribal chief | Morrison Gampu |
| The pursuers | Sandy Nkomo |
| Richard Mashiya | |
| Joe Dlamini | |
| Horace Gilman | |
| Jose Sithole | |
| Fusi Zazayokwe | |
| Franklyn Mdhluli | |
| John Marcus | |
| Eric Mcanyana |
Credits
| Director | Cornel Wilde |
| Screenplay | Clint Johnston and Don Peters |
| Co-producer | Sven Persson |
| Cinematography | H. A. R. Thomson |
| Production supervisor | Basil Keys |
| Editing | Roger Cherrill |
| Musical advisor | Andrew Tracey |
| Theme song sung by | The Principal Warriors |
Disc 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
From the Current
The Naked Prey: Into the Wild
by Jan 14, 2008Certainly 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 ranges from comic-strip splat to outright gut punch. Watching the films, you may certainly get the...
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