 |
| Robert Reed, Marjoe Gortner & William Shatner |
The 1970s was definitely the golden age of the made for television movie, and many of these telefilms showcased all-star casts. One prime example is 1974's Pray For The Wildcats, which stars Andy Griffith, William Shatner and Robert Reed, and also features Angie Dickinson in a supporting role. That's right, Sheriff Andy Taylor, Captain Kirk, Mike Brady and "Police Woman" Pepper Anderson all in the same movie! Pray For The Wildcats tells the story of business executive Sam Farragut (Griffith), who cajoles three advertising agency employees (played by Shatner, Reed and 1970s B-movie star Marjoe Gortner) into joining him for a fateful motorcyle trip into the California desert.
Farragut is egotistical, manipulative and a borderline socipath. He leads the other three men on a nightmarish journey that will change their lives forever. The three men are dealing with issues in their personal lives. Warren Summerfield (Shatner) is about to be fired by the agency, and is considering suicide. Paul Mcllvain (Reed) is having trouble in his marriage, and Terry Maxon (Gortner) has just found out his girlfriend is pregnant, and they'll need to figure out what to do about the baby. The trio is at a crossroads, and Farragut's macho posturing is exactly what they don't want in their lives. However, they need him as a client for their company, and agree to go on the trip with him.
During the desert ride, things take a deadly turn after the group visits a cantina, and only Summerfield is willing to challenge Farragut regarding his bad behavior. Will the maniacal executive push the suicidal Summerfield (quite literally) over the edge? Pray For The Wildcats features a scenery chewing turn from Griffith as Farragut. At the time, he was still best known to TV audiences for his portrayal of the kindly Sheriff Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, but following this film, he was cast in several other villainous roles, including that of a a murderous hunter in another telefilm, 1974's Savages, co-starring Sam Bottoms. It shouldn't be surprising that Griffith wanted to stretch his acting muscles a bit, as he'd given a chilling performance in the 1957 Elia Kazan film A Face In The Crowd.
William Shatner, Robert Reed and Marjoe Gortner are all solid in this entertaining film. Shatner dials back his usual Shatner-isms a bit, and it's fun to see Reed in a role other than Mike Brady. The cast also includes Lorraine Gary (best known as Chief Brody's wife Ellen in Jaws), the late Janet Margolin (who co-starred with John Saxon in the Gene Roddenberry telefilm Planet Earth) and Robert Burton, who appeared in the Dan Curtis classic Trilogy of Terror. Pray For The Wildcats was written by Jack Turley and directed by Robert Michael Lewis. The film is available on DVD and Blu-ray, and can also be found on YouTube. If you're looking to see several actors best known for iconic television roles ride dirt bikes around the California desert, wax philosophic, and deal with a homicidal Andy Griffith, then check out Pray For The Wildcats.
No comments:
Post a Comment