Savages - The Merchant Ivory Collection

Description

A masked, naked, clay-covered band of jungle primitives are disturbed in the middle of a human sacrifice by the sudden intrusion of a croquet ball. Led by their high priestess, they trek through the forest in search of its origins and arrive at an immense, deserted manor house. They occupy the mansion, which begins to have a civilizing effect on the savages; individual personalities emerge, and with them, pasts, futures, family connections, ambitions, and other trappings of society. Over the course of a weekend get-together, the savages soon become grand socialites, in fine clothes, who give elaborate dinner parties, where the talk is of world politics, art, and the fascinations of anthropology. But then their civilization begins to fall apart; the savages' manners and morals deteriorate and they even lose the habit of speech. By Monday dawn they have shed their clothes and we last see them retreating into the forest and their Stone Age lives.

The first American film from Merchant Ivory Productions is also their most uncommon and most unexpected, especially for audiences only familiar with their Indian films or their period films set in Europe or America. A fascinating meditation on the rise and fall of civilizations, with a witty screenplay by George Swift Trow and Michael O'Donoghue, Savages is filmed in an improvisatory, experimental style and merges a series of tragic—comic tableaux with pseudo-scholarly documentary narration and title cards. The result is a dark, biting satire that will turn viewer expectations upside-down.

Customer Reviews:

Just a bad movie.......2007-03-27

Look up pretentious in the dictionary, it will say: claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified, which is a perfect way to describe this utter waste of time. "Savages" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The story goes something like this: a tribe called the mud-people discovers a cricket ball in their forest which leads them to an abandoned mansion. The mud-people then take over the mansion and they start to evolve into civilized people, but retain the childlike behaviors of their former lives as mud-people. The casual cruelty and complete disregard for others tempts us to ask the question "who are the civilized?", and rather poorly at that. A mix of simple shock value imagery and German voice-over to make us feel that we are watching an anthropological examination (with no subtitle) made this movie at times unwatchable. I understand where they are coming from, but the execution was so bad I wanted to turn it off for something better, but obligation to finish the movie made this an endurance test of my patience. The few high-points of the movie are a young Sam Watterson (Law and Order) and Salome Jens (Star Trek: DS9 & Seconds), which do their job as actors considering the grossly over-the-top script and poor dialogue. Please don't waste your time.

Weird is a mild description.......2006-03-09

This is the strangest film I have ever seen. After multipal viewings, it still does not make sense. I got it because of the actors in it. Well, they had to be hard up to have done this film, first running around almost naked with their bare behinds showing (bare except for tail like pieces in the center of their derriers.) Some were lucky in that they had large masks on so the viewer did not know who they were. Then spouting inane dialogue that seems to have come from some drug induced dream.

One question - if they were returning to their primitive world, why did they do it fully clothed? Like the rest of the film, it made no sense.

A Hilarious Allegory of the Decline of Western Civilization.......2004-09-23

Merchant and Ivory go on a psychedelic bender in this mad indictment of capitalist culture and hubris. The accidental discovery by the mud people of a perfect sphere induces them to abort their planned human sacrifice and follow the bouncing ball. This leads them to an abandoned Long Island mansion, where, literally overnight, they blunder their way into the formation of a perfect 1930's dinner-party society. There are an industrialist, a poet, male and female cross-dressers, a fallen woman, a slave girl, and the hard-boiled hostess with the mostest, Carlotta. All have their roles to play in the rise and fall of "progress". As various power struggles play out, unresolved tensions force a dissolution of the social structure and the characters devolve into the "savages" that they were at the beginning of the film.

Still one of the most amusing parables available regarding the excesses of Western -- and specifically American -- culture, "Savages" is as loony as a mushroom trip and as symbol-laden as a classic fairy tale.

I'd have given it five stars, except that there a couple of scenes toward the end that just don't seem as tight as the rest of the film -- but maybe that's just me.

Actors must have needed a paycheck! Ugh!!.......2002-07-14

Weird is hardly adequate for this thing. I tried to watch this one, but fast forwarded through most of it. Obviously not my taste to keep this dumb movie in my library, so I didn't. Truly the actors must have needed the work. Can't you imagine their giggling through this thing as they marched ...through the muddy forest to their next adventure! They followed the bouncing/rolling wooden ball to discover a new era, including a chest of old clothes and how to wear them. That was somewhat amusing, even though briefly. If you like odd, old scripts, you might like this thing. But alas! The characters head back to their life in the jungle. Get real!

We like Sam Waterston in just about any role he's chosen. His part in this one is OK, but it's almost embarrassing to see him in this kind of movie. It's just not worthy of him. This movie is from 1972 when he was only 32-years old and had a 2-year old to feed. He must have needed to pay the rent too!

I really don't like to be negative regarding a review, but if you're going to spend your money to get it, and your time to see it, you should be aware that it's really strange! (Don't want this video on my Sam Waterston library shelf. He's so excellent in his later roles. Try one of those.) Hope this helps you out.

JUNGLE DUMS.................2002-03-01

THE MUD People are about to perform the usual human sacrifice, when out of nowhere - lo! A red ball [croquet I recall] comes whizzing out of nowhere and lands in their midst! Fascinated, they abandon the victim and trace the trajectory back to its origin - a decaying, vast, ancient mansion 'in the jungle'. THEN AN astute member finds a trunk filled with rather lovely period costumes [circa 1920 ish], and as they start donning the robes - they transform the action into something along the lines of Gatsby revisited ........ Hmmmm a quaint concept - and it does hold attention!

ODD little movie from the early 70ties with Sam Waterston, Salome Jens, Kathleen Widdoes, even Ultra Violet. [An Early
James Ivory for your collection]

Superb Costumes and Art direction - if you're in a quirky "Brazil type" mood.

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