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The Naked Prey
Box cover, The Naked Prey
Directed by	Cornel Wilde
Produced by	Cornel Wilde Sven Persson
Written by	Clint Johnston Don Peters
Starring	Cornel Wilde Ken Gampu Patrick Mynhardt Bella Randels
Distributed by	Paramount
Release date(s)	1965, 1966
Running time	96 mins.
Language	English, Afrikaans?

The Naked Prey is a 1966 adventure film starring Cornel Wilde, who also directed and produced. It is a wilderness survival story loosely based on the experiences of an explorer, John Colter, who was pursued by Blackfoot warriors through frontier Wyoming.

Contents 1 Tagline 2 Plot summary 3 Background and critical reception 4 Trivia 5 External links 6 Notes

Stripped, weaponless, alone and only ten desperate seconds ahead of the killers!

Wilde, whose character is never named, plays a professional guide leading a safari through the African veldt during the colonial era. When the group intrudes on a local tribe's territory, some natives politely accost them, expecting to be bought off with gifts. Against the guide's advice, the man paying for the safari makes a big mistake: he insults the natives and sends them away empty-handed. Later, the tribe returns en masse, captures the entire party, and puts the captives to death, using various ingenious, unpleasant methods. One man is covered in clay and roasted alive on a spit; another is tarred, feathered, and trussed, then beaten to death by the women.

Wilde's character is spared until the last. He is stripped, given a brief head start, then chased by some of the tribesmen. With a combination of luck, cunning, and sheer desperation, he eludes the warriors, killing several; finds food and water; and, after many days, reaches the safety of a fort just seconds ahead of his pursuers.

Although the story is violent, it does have a few moments of tenderness and humour after the man is rescued from drowning by a little girl, who travels with him for a day or two. As they walk along, he sings a 19th-century drinking song, Little Brown Jug and the child sings a song in her own language; they then attempt to sing each other's songs.

The Naked Prey was filmed on location in southern Africa. The original screenplay was set in the American West and more closely resembled the incident that inspired it; however, financial concerns persuaded Wilde to change the setting to Africa. Wilde, a former Olympic-calibre fencer, was nearly fifty years old when the movie was made; nevertheless, he looks lean and fit enough to make the story plausible. He was also sick during much of the filming, but pressed on, saying the illness added to his performance.

Although Naked Prey is considered a minor classic today^{[citation needed]}, it received somewhat disdainful reviews at the time of its release. Robert Alden of the New York Times, reacting to the brutality of some of the early scenes, dismissed the film as "poor and tasteless motion-picture entertainment", but did acknowledge its "authentic African setting" and "effective use of tribal drums and native music."^[1] Roger Ebert, taking a somewhat different tack, called Naked Prey "pure fantasy" of the "Great White Hunter" variety, adding:

"Sure, it's nice to think you could outrun half a dozen hand-picked African warriors simply because you'd been to college and read Thoreau, but the truth is they'd nail you before you got across the river and into the trees."^[2]

• The pre-Coheed and Cambria band, Shabutie, got their name from this movie.

• The Naked Prey at the Internet Movie Database
• The Naked Prey in the New York Times All Movie Guide.

1. Alden, Robert "Screen: 'The Naked Prey':Cornel Wilde Is Chased Through the Jungles", The New York Times, June 15, 1966.
2. Ebert, Roger "The Naked Prey", The Chicago Sun-Times, June 14, 1967.