Roar

Jesus Christ! I've read a lot about this since it was resurrected a while back, but nothing quite prepares you for just how insane it is. It is as if Timothy Treadwell had decided to make a sitcom starring his beloved grizzly bears. The Treadwell here is Noel Marshall, Hollywood producer and husband of Tippi Hedron. The two were obsessed with lions, so they wrote this picture, where a family lives with like 50 different big cats, mostly lions but also several tigers, cheetahs, leopards, etc. There are also some elephants. The script is nearly nonexistent - I mean, how exactly are you going to get 50 giant cats to do what you want? So the idea is just to write a bare sketch of a plot and then throw your cast (which mostly consists of Marshall, Hedron and their children) to the lions like it's ancient Rome or something. Besides Noel Marshall, who probably should have been in a mental institution, the rest of the family members and other cast look terrified much of the time. At one point, one of the Marshall sons has to speak the line "I don't have to be in Chicago until next week!" A lion jumps up on him halfway through the line and you can hear his voice quiver. Of course, Melanie Griffith is one of the kids. Amazingly, no human died during the many years of production (some lions did, though, when the ranch was flooded). The film itself is far from great, but it's a must-see.

I recently watched ROAR for the first time. Boy oh boy this film got to me!!! Not because of the story (it's got none beyond a near nonsensical plot), but you instantly realize what you see is real, and all the "actors" (though only Tippi Hedren and Kyalo Mativo qualify as such) are in danger of being eviscerated alive by giant and not exactly predictable cats in every scene.

This film may try to tell your head it's a comedy, but it won't fool your natural instincts: I was breaking out in cold sweats after a mere ten minutes. Thankfully, nobody died during the making of the film (at least that we know of, since no remains of actors or stuntmen were found and none were reported missing) but after watching it I still felt as if I had accidentally watched some weird sort of snuff movie.

In the long and varied history of irresponsible filmmaking and dangerous vanity projects, this has to count near the top. It's some crazy shîte lemme tell you! But once you get over the fact that everyone you see is in constant mortal danger, it's also a ton of twisted fun. Truly a one of a kind movie. I highly recommend it (just don't forget to pick up your jaw from the floor afterwards ;-)

I saw this movie dubbed in German in 1984 and thought it was incredible how lions were used in the movie. The plot, though simple, is interesting which makes the movie enjoyable for a wide audience. The writers did a good job in keeping the humor light. Kudos go to the lead characters in the movie, supposedly some of whom got injured in the filming.

ROAR is one of those rare films where the behind-the-scenes story is more interesting than the one up on screen. It's a would-be animal movie along the lines of BORN FREE about a normal American family coping with a house full of big cats, but the whole thing is so ridiculous in both execution and planning that it's a film which has gained infamy as one of the most dangerous in history.

The problem lies with writer/director/star Noel Marshall, he of the wild hair and dubious acting talents. Marshall thought it would be a good idea to mix together a ton of different big cats, including a number of male lions, and throw them in with unprepared actors, including his wife Tippi Hedren and stepdaughter Melanie Griffiths. The resulting shooting schedule saw over 70 injuries to cast and crew, the most infamous of which was the director of photography, Jan De Bont, getting scalped.

The enjoyment factor of this one is of the 'car crash' variety. Marshall is obviously a zealot who acts and sounds a lot like Timothy Treadwell, the doomed star of the Herzog documentary GRIZZLY MAN, who got a bit too close to the grizzly bears he was obsessed with and paid with his life. Nobody died during ROAR, but they came close. There isn't really a script here, just characters reacting to the big cats, and the only decent bit is the tense mid-section in which Hedren and her screen children attempt to evade the cats which are chasing them around the house (which is far better than the whole of the tiger-in-the-house thriller BURNING BRIGHT). Otherwise, it's just a case of watch and endure it.

You know what? Sometimes words really aren't enough to do justice to something.

Roar has to be without a doubt the most insanely unsafe cinematic undertaking I have ever had the pleasure of watching. The unbelievably high level of danger is quite frankly there for everyone to see up on the screen as we watch a group of actors interact with over one hundred big cats with no protection whatsoever! It was inspired by the success of the lion drama Born Free (1966). And you might make the observation that there is fifteen years between these two movies and think this strange, well that's because this flick took eleven years from start to finish! Its production met with all manner of set-backs such as fire, flood and disease; each of which put the film's schedule back. But more to the point, it was as dangerous to work on as it looks on screen. The opening credits state that no animals were hurt in the making of the film, what they could not say with as much confidence was that there were no humans hurt! As it was, seventy cast and crew were injured, including cinematographer Jan de Bont who was partially scalped, Tippi Hedren had her neck bitten, Melanie Griffiths almost lost an eye, Jerry and John Marshall both required extensive stitches, while Noel Marshall was attacked so often it took years for him to recover from his injuries. When you watch Noel in action in this film it is not exactly hard to see why! In fact some of the injuries can be seen happening on screen. It is madness, pure and utter madness.

But because of this, it makes for highly entertaining and bizarre viewing. Unfortunately, the public back in 1981 didn't seem to agree and Roar was a box office disaster. To be honest, this is not entirely surprising as this feels far more like a cult movie than blockbuster material, given its utter strangeness. For a start it doesn't really have a plot and it boils down to a few events that bring our human cast into contact with the big cats. The story barely makes sense if you think about it very long. But who needs a story when you've got this insanity on screen? The madness and health and safety black hole that the events on screen represent mean that a story needs be no more than an afterthought. For what it's worth, Noel Marshall - wrote, starred, directed and financed it and his wife Tippi Hedren, who was a wildlife activist who campaigned for the protection of big cats, was the big name draw. Hedren, of course, was previously most well-known for her starring role in The Birds (1963) where she was famously mauled and scratched by an assortment of flying fiends. Well, all I can say is that what she experiences on Roar makes the actions of the birds in Alfred Hitchcock's classic seem positively reticent by comparison.

The actors are all splendidly game and deserve huge amounts of credit for their nerve but the real stars of Roar are the big cats and rampaging elephants. This is the ultimate wet dream for any lover of the big cats in particular and we have the very strange scenario of seeing lions, cheetahs, panthers, leopards and tigers interacting with each other. Watching them violently wrestle is a pretty nerve shredding thing, except if you are Noel Marshall that is, he usually runs in to join them! But on the whole, while there are a few continuity errors and the editing is full-on and sporadic, this is exciting stuff that could never in a million years be described as boring. It truly defines the term 'one of a kind'. With health and safety legislation what it is now, there is no way in hell there will ever be another film like Roar. It's truly unique and I sure lapped it up.