The Beasts Are on the Streets

After reading the reviews here, my hopes weren't high for this movie, but Carol Lynley was in it so I watched. Despite her being the most experienced actress in the whole movie, she was barely in it. Even still, I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. It held my interest, though there were a few scenes that seemed to drag on pointlessly. Wish we would have had more moments between Kevin and Claire, but the script writers were more interested in lions jumping on cars, elephants roaming backyards, and women screaming their heads off as if that's going to help anything. Couldn't say I wouldn't do the same in their position though. Hope I never have to find out.

This is one of those over-the-top type of 70's disaster-ish stories with a preposterous plot scenario: a truck hits one outer chain-link fence of a wild animal park and somehow all manner of animals escape through the fence - never mind that such parks carefully segregate dangerous animals and have multiple fences and living areas to prevent escape. Somehow, though, this cheaply made TV movie is fun to watch - if anything just to see the lion cub run through a hospital, the stereotype "hick" life as portrayed by the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, and the mindless extras screaming in raw panic whenever an animal appears. (I personally enjoy seeing myself tackled by the bear as it breaks through the crowd watching the juggler. It really scared the bear's trainer when that happened!)

Carol Lynley does the best she can with the script, and the film overall is a fun if forgettable piece.

Yes, the animals were all largely in one pen, but use your imagination, there were numerous automobiles smashing into one another there, perhaps tearing down more than one pen and panicking several animals.

Still, the shots of that herd storming out amongst the burning wrecks was very dramatic and astonishing for me as a kid. I would hate to see it now and have it ruined.

This was a Hanna Barbera movie, I do remember that, and it was supposed to be groundbreaking for the company to have the lion cub die, as well as a gunshot victim.

I haven't seen this thing near about since it first aired, and I really enjoyed the animal scenes, but how did the bears or the lions escape from the same pens with all those livestock?

In the end, for some odd reason there seemed to be nothing left running wild but lions. I deduced it must be because they trained better or something.

Fantasy fun, that's for sure.

Believe me, I really try to avoid using cliché statements in my user-comments, but this good old-fashioned cable-TV production simply forces me to use not one but two horrendous review clichés. Here goes: #1 - they don't make movies like this anymore. By this, I refer to the use of real wild animals at real public filming locations. If someone should decide to remake "The Beasts are on the Streets" today - and it's actually a miracle that it hasn't happened yet - it would be almost entirely digital. They made 100% computerized animal versions of "The Jungle Book" and "The Lion King", so they could do the same for a few dozen safari park residents. #2 - the true stars of this film are the animal trainers, and of course the animals themselves. Many sequences in "The Beasts are on the Streets" must have been unimaginably difficult to shoot, what with big cats strolling around in suburbia, elephants shaking up cars, bears chasing after peddling boats in shallow water... My tremendous respect for the professionals that can accomplish this.

All compliments for the production circumstances aside, "The Beasts are on the Streets" is a very fun and engaging film! The plot is simply, but effective. A stressed-out driver of a tanker truck loses control and tears down the outer fence line of a safari park located next to a busy interstate. In practically no time, the road is flooded with a large variety of wild animals. You name a species, the Texas Grand Prairie Safari Park has it: rhinos, zebras, camels, ostriches and a variety of big cats. And, evidently, the main message the writers are trying to make clear is that animals simply follow their instincts, while people deliberately choose to be dumb! There has to be one nitwit who steps out of his car, while the helicopter above him repeats non-stop to stay indoors, and gets hugged by a tiger. Foolish teenagers chase ostriches in their dune buggies and set half a forest on fire. And, of course, the redneck hunters (who indirectly also caused the mayhem) can't resist to go after a lion's head for their trophy wall.

I was really entertained by "The Beasts on the Streets"; - as an animal lover, a cult fanatic and as a giant sucker for "animal attack" horror. The film probably doesn't deserve more than a 7, but I'll give it an 8 for sheer amusement!