Savage Journey

A film I ended up with from Mill Creek's Drive-in 50-pack. This film is not my cup of tea. It's basically like some critics and reviewers say it is a "Mormon Propaganda" flick.

The film basically portrays *almost everyone* as "savages" except the founder of the church Brigham Young. There are very few "good people" in the film and mainly, you know it, Brigham Young. Brigham Young is the only "good and holy" person around.

I'm sorry I don't by into the whole Brigham Young was the only non-savage person and basically the only "good" person around during those years. I'm not falling for this gimmick.

They wanted to portray Brigham Young as a martyr and basically the only person that is "Christ-like" but it comes off as propaganda that I'm not going to swallow.

1/10

After an apocalypse, the world is in some weird post apocalyptic pioneer era, imagine "Little House on the Prairie" meets " A Serbian Movie". This guy gets tarred and feathered and then ends up being cleaned up by the preachers wife. He then has sex with the older woman and then does the walk of shame, only he can't run far enough to escape his secret cuckholding activities, He goes on the run with Bull from night court, who aids him in his quest to build a utopian society of where men own as many women as they like and breed litters of child laborers. The rest of the people outside of their group are an angry stupid and violent group of survivors that cannibalize their victims. They kill Bull by burning down his quarters forcing him through a window , then they lynch him. The rest of the group wander further west being chased by scavengers and other survivors of the Defcon 5 event. They make friends with a Native American that is so realistic in his appearance and demeanor that you can actually tell your friends that you know a real Native American and can actually call yourself an expert on Indian culture after seeing this film. The utopia is built and Brigham Young becomes their king, until one day, he runs into the Wu-Tang Clan. After a series of fights up to the top of the tower, a battle to the death takes place with the Mormon Masters of Kung Fu. In a violent free for all the marbles, young bites his opponents to death. Triumphant is Young in the 20 minute brutal breakdown a scene that is a must see for for the true Post apocalyptic Mormons. Young rules his land with violent blood reign of kung-fu and swordsmanship that he believes to be prophesized on Golden plates from God, which also supplement as flying guillotines. What this film does so effectively is to give the secular viewer a romanticized story about the the start up of the post apocalyptic society that we know as Utah, which oddly is almost exactly the same as it has ever been.

Savage Journey tells the story about the original founders of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints as they trek across the United States looking for a home in the 19th century. Persecuted wherever they go, the Mormons end up in the unsettled land that will one day become known as Utah. The drama centres on the two founding members Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

This film is certainly pretty ambitious in scope but it ultimately fails primarily on account of its poor production values which are not good enough to execute such an expansive story. It has to be said that this is a highly biased presentation of the Mormons, which whitewashes such contentious issues such as the groups endorsement of polygamy. The Mormons in this story are shown to be very worthy and good to a level that seems unlikely. The film itself gets plus points for its educational value, yet despite this it's still not exactly very good and simply does not engage the viewer as much as it should.

Here's a quick question: Did I watch this because I have an active interest in the Church of the Latter Day Saints or because I'm a moron who just has to watch every film in Mill Creek's Drive In Classics box set? Answer: Only two to go! (now that I've also watched Invasion of the Bee Girls).

So as you should know unless you stumbled upon this page by accident is that this film is the story of the early days of the Mormon Church, what with the Joseph Smith and the….Brigham Young guy? And wee Jimmy Osmond.

Thing is, I didn't hate this one! I didn't think it was great either, but nonetheless it wasn't boring. I'm no god-fearing person (I worship Massimo Vanni) so the 'God will provide' speeches did rankle up my heathen gland, but then again it was interesting to watch how xenophobic and intolerant Americans were even back then. I knew of Joseph Smith but didn't realised he was murdered. Nor did I know that Jimmy Osmond parted the Red Sea and (must think of something funnier and more asinine before posting).

You're not going to be seeking this one out but if you have that box set please know that this isn't the worst film on there (that's Black Hooker, or maybe Who's Killing Her Now).

Or now that I've started watching it, Throw Out the Anchor.

This is the story of the founding of the Mormon Church and their trek across America to found Utah.

I'm not sure how this will play if you're not a Mormon. To me it seemed like a cross between the old Sunn Classic pseudo documentaries (ie Beyond and Back, In Search of Noah's Ark) and one of the awkward educational films you'd see in school. Yes its informative, but ts not very interesting. It definitely not something that I would ever put on again for enjoyment. Its just sort of is.

Actually the most interesting thing is the casting of Richard Moll as Joseph Smith the founder of the church. The role is so very different than what we know him for, Bull on Night Court and monsters in low budget horror movies, that this is a nice change of pace.

Worth a shot if you're curious but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.