Recensioni degli utenti

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.

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.

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 ;-)

And I thought Grizzly Man was crazy. This film made me uncomfortable, bewildered, and astonished all at once. How nobody died during the making of this is beyond me. How ANYBODY in their right mind would even think of committing to this movie for even a fraction of a year is completely and totally insane. For a film with overtones of slapstick comedy, it certainly manages to deliver a feeling of intensity and uneasiness that I've never experienced while watching a movie before. At times, I felt like the novelty was fading away, only to be reminded that THIS FILM IS WHAT HAVING A DEATH WISH LOOKS LIKE. Every so often, you come across a movie that sticks with you for whatever reason. This is one that you won't forget anytime soon. I promise you.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently with my 7 year old nephew. While i found it a bit tedious now, my nephew enjoyed it. The film doesn't have any plot n it has lots of hide n seek kinda moments. It is funny at times, the scene where the lioness try the skateboard, the facial expression of the big cat when a leopard grabs away the meal, the cat pushing the female in the water, etc. The film is very picturesque. I found Tippi Hedren at 51 in this film very attractive n in good shape.

A bunch of family members are casted as actors and thrown to untrained Tigers, Lions and other predators. The camera captures whatever action it can get. Dangerously made crazy film that was unnecessary. 11 years in the making and made life hell for everyone involved. I'm glad that Animal rights activists won't allow any other crazy filmmaker to attempt this again.

Definitely one of those movies you have to see to believe. "Roar" doesn't have much to offer in the plot department (aside from the conservationist message), but it has plenty in the way of unparalleled filmmaking negligence. Just look at that tagline:

"No animals were harmed in the making of this film. 70 cast and crew members were."

It's hard to watch what happens onscreen because there are no stuntmen. Tippi Hedren really fractured a leg after being thrown from an elephant; Melanie Griffith really needed medical attention after being mauled; Jan de Bont (that guy who made "Die Hard" and "Speed" look so good) really needed extensive stitches after being scalped(!) by a lion. The reactions from the cast are as real as the blood, and you're constantly shaking your head that they'd use wild animals with no training or supervision. They're apex predators, not pets! The whole thing is incredibly irresponsible, and it lives (warts and all) on film. It's amusing that they try to lighten things up with a playful score and a happy ending. But this is not family film; it's downright chilling.

7/10

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.

Or Daktari meets a kind of Bill Dieterle's ELEPHANT WALK with lions and tigers instead of our pachyderm friends as the heavies of the film. Or, if you prefer, a sort of home invasion film with wild beasts instead of humans. You could decline the elements of this scheme for hours with all kinds of beasts. This most dangerous movie ever shot is far from being a masterpiece, but it remains worth watching. Poor Melanie Griffith who already had to deal with BIRDS nearly twenty years earlier, now she has to face wild animals !!!!

Probably the best part of this was when the canoe carrying the family capsized, and someone in the group I was watching with quipped, "That's why they call her 'Tippy' Hedren." Another quality moment is when a lion skateboards, sort of. As for the rest, it's simply dreadful, despite the sheer spectacle of a swarm of big cats putting the lives of the cast and crew at incredible risk. The film is remarkably confused, showing the animals as a violent menace for 85 minutes, and then as sweet cuddly creatures for the last 10, at which point it cuts over to incredibly cheesy music.

If you're looking for a coherent film with any semblance of acting or a story, don't bother. If you're looking for an eyebrow raising exercise in imbecility, this is your film. It's hard to fathom this being viewed as something that sticks up for animal rights given how overcrowded, misguided, and dangerous it was, despite the American Human Society disclaimer at the beginning and conservation message at the end. It feels a lot more like a vanity project straight out of Tiger King, and about as stupid.

There's nothing fake about this film. It's shot beautifully, on real locations. Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith head a talented and fearless cast, who literally throw themselves in the jaws of the beasts over and over again. The picture has a terrific rhythm and is fun to watch but I couldn't help dwelling upon how dangerous a film it must have been to make. Although there were some poignant and funny moments like the scenes where dauntless John Marshall tries to pull his boat away from the shore but the lion keeps pulling it back or when he hides in a barrel filled with water and the lions begin to drink from it. The story seems simplistic in structure but is really quite profound in the way Marshall draws sympathy for the animals, brilliantly shot by John De Bont. The closeups of the dying beasts will bring tears to your eyes. This is must see for anyone who believes that filmmaking is artificial and safe.

Alamo Drafthouse Films marketed the re-release of this film as "It's like Walt Disney went insane and shot a snuff version of Swiss Family Robinson," and that's a pretty apt description. The story, such as it is, has a family visiting their dad in Africa, where he's studying lions by living with them. When they arrive at his compound, he's not there, and they then find themselves running and screaming from an assortment of big cats for the duration of the film. In real life, actress Tippi Hedren, while filming SATAN'S HARVEST in Mozambique, hit on the idea of making a movie about lions taking over a house. She and her family, including her daughter, a teenage Melanie Griffith, accumulated over 150 lions, tigers, and assorted big cats to make the film. First, housing the cats in their Beverly Hills home (Look up the pictures from LIFE magazine. It's unbelievable!) and then later moved them to a ranch where they shot the film. ROAR features terrible acting, no real story, and inconsistent photography and editing, but I could not keep my eyes off of it! This is a film that would never get made today or really at any time other than by a family of crazy people. The stars of the film, besides Hedrin and Griffith, are comprised of Hedrin's husband and stepsons, who shot the film over 5 years, during which time Tippi had her leg broken by an elephant, Melanie had her face mauled, requiring 50 stitches and facial reconstructive surgery (the mauling even made the final cut of the film!), and director of photography Jan De Bont, who'd later go on to direct SPEED and photograph big budget Hollywood flicks like DIE HARD and BASIC INSTINCT, had 220 stitches on the back of his head after a mauling. There's another scene where a lion is on top of Griffith, and she's shouting the safe word for them to cut, which was her stepfather's name, Noel, but they thought she was yelling "No" and didn't cut, leaving the lion on top of her, biting and pawing at her hair. It's terrifying! This is a movie that needs to be seen to be believed. It's bonkers on so many levels! While objectively not a good film, I was absolutely riveted by the real-life dangers I was witnessing on screen. Sheer insanity! ROAR is probably going to be my new favorite film to recommend to people. Do yourself a favor and watch it now!

I read about "Roar" many times and can hardly believe some of the things I encountered, so I really had to see with my own eyes just how insane this film is! Well, let me assure you, it's beyond insane. Beautiful and unique, for sure, but unfathomably and irresponsibly insane. How is it possible that so many people from cast and crew, including a few very famous names like Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith, voluntarily offered to be mutilated and practically killed by a massive number of untrained wild animals?!? Simply reading the trivia-section of the film here on IMDb is the equivalent of watching a bloody horror movie; what with all the reports of violent attacks, mauling and an accumulated amount of approximately 3.000 stitches.

Looking at all the physical agony this movie must have caused, and then adding all the other misfortune that overcame the production (set flooding, bush fires, enormous delays, financial struggles, ...) one can only ask the question: was it all worth it? I sincerely doubt it, to be honest. Due to the use of authentic wild animals and truly beautiful locations "Roar" often feels like an absorbing documentary, but it doesn't work as an actual movie because the plot is too weak and the action too monotonous.

"Roar" is the brainchild and overly ambitious lifelong dream-project of director/lead actor Noel Marshall, who probably considers himself to be a sort of hybrid between Steve Irwin and Walt Disney because he lives among and communicates with big savage animals. I can understand that Marshall dreamed about making "Roar" and didn't mind getting killed in the process, but it's pretty impressive that he also persuaded so many other people to risk their lives for something as simple as a movie! The rest of the cast exists of Noel Marshall's family, but still. My dad certainly shouldn't ask me to play catch with an angry male lion.

The plot is ridiculously basic. Hank is a wildlife fanatic and an avid defender of animal rights, who lives in the middle of the African jungle where he allows more than a hundred big cats to run free in his house and garden. His family - wife, daughter and two sons - come to visit him from the States, but while Hank is chasing after poachers and thus not at home, his loved ones find themselves endlessly pursued by the many lions, tigers, jaguars, cheetahs. Oh, and even a few elephants! That's it, really: chase, attack, maul, repeat. More than forty years later, I think we can state that "Roar" enjoys somewhat of a cult status, but not a very massive one. The film isn't very well-known and never appears in any "best of" lists. So, I repeat my question, was it all worth it?

I first saw this movie as a child and it has always stayed in my memory as an enjoyable experience. I just watched it recently as an adult and found it every bit as enjoyable as before. It's directed by Noel Marshall who spent a decade making this film. What really works the best is the fantastic music score. Unlike some films today, "Roar" doesn't drag on for hours and has no shallow character's or bad CGI. This is the way films should be made. Real lions and tigers involved in this amusing story of a family arriving at the wrong time to be greeted by the local wildlife. I don't understand the other reviewer and their negative comments. Watch this for yourself. It's not spineless garbage but a passionate and thoughtful film. Thank you for reading.

We all saw the original trailer released by Drafthouse. It looked whimsical and weird, but boy were we in for a trip.

Just watching this film leaves you with an eye opening experience. Every shot, and I mean every shot....feels tense. There is impending doom when you see the actors "play" and "frolic" with these untamed animals. To be honest, it was more intense than the trailer ever could have led on. Real injuries were being shown on screen. Real people were being "playfully" chewed on by various big cats. I can't imagine the wild conversations and fights that must have resulted from the filming of this mess. Either way, the stories about the film are just as insane as the movie itself.

I will be honest. This film has absolutely no plot. This is mainly the result of trying to film cats doing interesting things and then cobble a story together. It's not very entertaining, but the sheer craziness of each scene will keep you engrossed. Personally, this film should be in the Library of Congress. We will never see anything like this again, especially now that we are in an age where even movies that feature prominent animals have CGI (and obviously fake) animals. Watch and see just how wild some people can be.

Even before it begins, Roar proudly declares: "No animals were harmed during the making of this film." What it doesn't say - but absolutely should - is that every human came out injured. Literally. Broken bones, stitches, bites, headbutts. A film set transformed into a safari gone rogue. This is one of those movies where the behind-the-scenes legend eclipses the actual plot; the production stories are more fascinating - and absurd - than anything that made it to the screen.

The plot, by the way, is almost an afterthought: an American family travels to Africa to reunite with their patriarch, a researcher obsessed with big cats. Lions, leopards, tigers, jaguars - whatever fits on the ark. The man lives surrounded by dozens of them, roaming free, as if they were domesticated house pets. The problem? When the family arrives, he's not there. And that's when the house turns into the savannah. Unprepared, the visitors find themselves cornered. The cats invade the home, climb furniture, knock over cabinets, chase people through the halls, and dive into water barrels where humans try to hide - all set to a lighthearted, almost slapstick comedy score, as if we're watching Home Alone with the family as the burglars. The contrast between the chaos and the jaunty piano in the background is so jarring it becomes a case study in how to destroy tension with the wrong music.

Visually, Roar is hypnotic. There's something mesmerizing about watching lions, tigers, and panthers slinking freely among terrified humans. Some scenes are surprisingly well-directed: deliberate framing, cuts that maintain fluidity even under the imminent threat of an off-script claw. The direction knows what it's doing - even if the decisions are utterly deranged. One sequence where a character climbs onto an elephant is staged like childlike wonder - until you learn the actress nearly died filming it, which makes the whole thing unsettling. It's like laughing at someone slipping on a banana peel, only to find out they shattered three ribs. The real question isn't "Will they survive?" but "Why the hell was this movie made like this?"

The attempt at an ecological message - about coexistence, harmony, respect for animals - arrives late and half-baked. There are hunters in the plot, and a climax involving deaths (both feline and human), but none of it carries the dramatic weight it should. The film seems more interested in proving lions can sleep next to humans without eating them than in crafting an actual narrative. In the end, the family wakes up surrounded by big cats and smiles, as if accepting their new lifestyle. Is it reconciliation? Surrender? Or just relief they're all still in one piece?

The most unsettling thing about Roar is its constant state of contradiction. It's a dangerous film shot like it's harmless. An unintentional comedy with serious direction. A controlled disaster - or a desperate attempt to pretend there was ever control. It should never have been made this way. But since it was, there's an almost criminal magnetism to watching it. It's hard to call Roar a good movie. But it's impossible to call it forgettable. It lingers in memory like a deep scratch: not fatal, but it leaves a mark. There are beautiful shots, carefully orchestrated compositions, and songs that work on their own. But together, they form a mosaic of deeply questionable aesthetic and moral choices - stitched together by the courage (or insanity) of someone who decided to unleash over a hundred big cats on set. The result? A film where the danger is real, the absurdity is constant, and the line between fiction and accidental documentary shatters as easily as a lion breaking down a door. Roar isn't so much a movie as it is a filmed accident - beautiful, wild, and utterly irresponsible.

This movie is truly terrifying. I can't imagine being chased by 100+ lions and tigers.

Crazy how this movie even got made. But at least it's entertaining and one of a kind. Worth seeing, unlike anything you've ever seen and will come across when it comes to wild life.

Animal exploitation of the worst kind. I don't give a damn about all the actors and crew involved, they were willing participants, but, the use of wild animals for entertainment is horrible.

No real story line, terrible acting, possibly one of the worst things I have seen. I would love to give it a 0/10, but, can't.

My advice to any true animal lover is to avoid because there is nothing nice about seeing animals fighting and those fights being real.

Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren certainly had a, uh, interesting relationship for a while there in the 70's and early 80's. I don't know what their marriage was like behind closed doors of course, but somehow it's a great gift to the Earth that they produced the film ROAR. Why this is can't be easily explained in a review, but I can try with this: it's about a family that lives with lions and tigers and some elephants and panthers too. Or rather it's about a guy who LOVES these lions and tigers (by the way, why tigers, shouldn't they be in India and, oh, nevermind) and panthers and so on, and invites his wife to come live with him along with her and his kids. So here comes Tippi Hedren and actual real life children Melanie Griffith and John and Jerry (Marshall's kids), and when they arrive Noel is out uh doing stuff out in the plains or jungle, and they have to contend with a house full of lions. Oh, and these were UNTRAINED LIONS by the way.

In a way I should be critical of Roar. Marshall, with the exception of one sequence that takes on the qualities of a Night of the Living Dead picture with wild cats in place of the un-dead, doesn't really set up suspense very well. The fascination with watching Roar is basic but constant: these are real people, many of them likely not exactly used to the f***ing idea of hanging out with things like lions and tigers, being knocked around, chased, bombarded by their paws and jaws and bodies, and that should in all likelihood they could/should kill these people.

There's also the behind the scenes drama that imbues real danger with what's on screen so much; right on the cover of the blu-ray it states that 70 cast/crew were harmed, and looking up who got what is just staggering (to give you an idea of the extent, director of photography Jan de Bont got his skull practically knocked off, and Melanie Griffith got facial reconstructive surgery, though the fact that we didn't notice in those movies she starred in in the 80's shows how good that surgery must have been). If there was a documentary on the making of this film it might make Herzog's Grizzly Man look like kids stuff.

Indeed the hero to me of this film is de Bont; he gets his camera into places that I just couldn't think would be possible, right in the faces of these lions, capturing action that seems impossible - certainly with the knowledge that these lions didn't have proper, you know, TRAINERS. It's just a feeling of constant WTF that goes on with this - likely why it got picked up by Drafthouse Films as Drafthouse CEO Tim League is all about finding the freshest and brightest of those WHAT IS THIS sort of flick (they also released Miami Connection some years back) - and it's amazing just on that basis alone. It's also just hysterically funny in that way that the movie lacks that awareness of the danger. Or, let me rephrase that, I think the director knew that there would be danger with these cats, but, well, why carp? The attitude is that Man is the biggest enemy - the closest thing to antagonists are under-developed hunters, you know they are as they get lines showing that I guess and they have the guns - and that, with the exception of one memorable/super-bloody lion named Togar, the lions would be just peaceful and lovable creatures if left alone.

But the ethos of the filmmakers is constantly at odds with what IS shown on screen. The actors, to their credit (at least Hedren and Griffith to an extent), get this and play this fear well through a long mid-section. There's really the feeling like there isn't really any, shall we say, 'acting' going on here; to this end, Melanie is named Melanie as are the Marshall sons, though why Hedren is a different character name is anyone's guess. I'd be surprised if there even was a solid script - how do you get these lions et al to do the things they do? It's an entirely maddening enterprise to see unfold, the kind of movie that shouldn't have been made, and may even be (borderline?) unethical, but as it is here you can't look away from the metaphorical train-wreck.

This was 10x more psychotic than I expected. You will never see anything else like it.

It explains a lot about Melanie Griffith's controversial trajectory (from this to Body Double to Milk Money and so on), the fact that the history of her film presence began as being cast in this movie by her insane mom and stepdad, who produced, directed, and starred in this absurd spectacle aside her. The movie features hundreds of "untrained" wild animals, all capable of killing a human at any moment. Bundles of people were maimed during the production of this movie, by one of the hundreds of lions, tigers, etc. That includes Melanie Griffith. There's a scene where she just kind of appears to be wrestling a lion in the house - while the lion appears to almost be playing, it partially scalped her, ripping part of her hair and flesh off, and damaging more of her face, which she immediately needed reconstructive surgery for. Yet, even after incidents such as this, her parents continued with the production of the film until it was complete.

The WILDEST part is that the movie never even received proper distribution until like 2015 or so, so it was all for "nothing".

So how does it work as an actual film? Well, the majority of the shots make no sense. A lot of the time, you can tell the narrative they are trying to create involving the wild animals, and it's laughable at best. Of course, this is still wildly entertaining, witnessing this very special sort of failure. And a great part of the time, you can't even tell what they are trying to convey, but plenty of people love puzzles. All that aside, it is all a spectacle unlike anything you will ever see. Some of the shots in small rooms within a house where there are 10 lions and tigers jumping up on countertops and knocking over every single thing in a kitchen at once...it is a chaos unlike any I've seen before.

Lead man (and director) Noel Marshall's special sort of over confidence around these animals is very apparent throughout the film, so the movie also functions in a way like a documentary observing his lack of fear in a very Grizzly Man type of way.

Though the movie makes very little sense, I was highly entertained all the way through. Every single shot is a wonder - the primary wonder generally being: I can't believe they got all these shots without getting fully eaten. Melanie's mom Tippi Hedren did break her ribs and maybe a leg when that elephant straights up threw her off of it though! What an insane shot! Actually the whole sequence where the "angry" elephant is smashing up their boat is hilarious! Who decided the elephant was gonna be "a bad guy" like that?! I've never seen an elephant so mad!

The whole movie is free on YouTube now in full quality and I recommend it if you are interested in seeing rare pieces of historical cinema. What a freakshow.

This movie, which I understand took years and years to make, should have been left unmade. The one man show of Noel Marshall, the producer-director-writer-star and who knows what else, is another example of how a Hollywood personality (in this case a former agent) makes it big (with the Exorcist) and blows his money to make a ludicrous vanity project. The story, which makes Marshall out to be a Hemingway warrior type, is laughable excrement. There are no characterizations and no intelligence behind the film making. The animals are good. They would have been better if they had eaten Noel Marshall.

Having both seen the film & visited the amazing home of the star, Tippie Hedren, to see the wonderful animals, I can't recommend the film highly enough. Cats of different species living together in the beautiful setting of Roar is stunning to see. Ms. Hedren shares her home at Shambala with as many as 80 great cats of all varieties, & provides a permanent home for them. The Roar film project taught Ms. Hedren & her family the importance of protecting these "wild ones" & she shares this with the public by opening her home twice a month to visitors over 18 years of age. I have experienced being up close & personal with the "wild ones" at Shambala twice & was able to, in a very special way, live "Roar". See the film & visit Shambala, you will be very happy you did.

Conceived by writer-director Noel Marshall, "Roar" is an insane animal-attack thriller clearly made with a LOT of cojones. Marshall plays Hank, an eccentric big cat lover in Africa who lets the beasts run wild over his estate. But his family is soon to be visiting, and they won't know just what is in store for them. They are then repeatedly menaced by the big furry predators, over and over in a practically plotless movie, while Hank, who has ended up miles away, hurries to get back to the property. And in the meantime, the vindictive Prentiss (Steve Miller) is determined to seriously cull the animal population.

Although obviously made with a lot of passion for big cats and the protection of wildlife, Marshall and company give you the impression that they were absolutely certifiable. This is some of the most reckless filmmaking that you'll ever see, with cast and crew often in real danger. A trouble-plagued production (with setbacks ranging from fire to flood to disease) that spanned several years, it resulted in serious maiming of 70 or so people - including young Melanie Griffith, Marshalls' stepdaughter at the time. Also co-starring Marshalls' then-wife Tippi Hedren (Griffiths' mother), and his sons Jerry and John, this doesn't give its cast fully-fleshed out characters to play, but just has them *react* a lot to the big cats, who were NOT trained and who were basically given free reign.

It's these very qualities that make "Roar" an interesting curio that is the kind of thing that film lovers just have to see for themselves.

One definite asset is the widescreen photography; the cinematographer Jan de Bont (also one of the camera operators) was one of the personnel that came to harm during the production; he was scalped by one of the lions!

One appropriate postscript is that Hedren DID become an animal-rights advocate afterwards, and presides over an animal preserve outside of Los Angeles.

Six out of 10.