Savage Journey

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.

Savage Journey is the story of the Mormon Church if not from the beginning when Joseph Smith was visited by the Angel Moroni on his farm in Palmyra, New York, it does tell the story from its early days of wandering and persecution until the church settled in what is now the state of Utah. I presume it was made with the full cooperation of the LDS church and made with an audience of non-believers in mind. A kind of Mormon primer.

It certainly is more accurate than the Hollywood classic Brigham Young, Frontiersman that starred Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell back in the day with Dean Jagger as Brigham Young and Vincent Price as Joseph Smith. Though more historically accurate than that one, Savage Journey surely does lack the production values that 20th Century Fox could give it.

The only name familiar to most of us is Richard Moll who was Bull Shannon on Night Court and who played Joseph Smith in the film. It's kind of hard to accept Moll in the part, possibly not his fault, but I kept seeing the intellectually challenged Bull as I watched him. Someone like Vincent Price who was also tall as Joseph Smith was, but who also played cerebral characters when he wasn't scaring us to death on the screen was perfect.

I did enjoy Moll telling the Illinois jailers before he was lynched by a mob that as a prophet he foresaw blood and destruction on the USA within the lifetime of these people. Now I don't think it would have taken any metaphysical insights into predicting the Civil War. Many saw it coming and none of them claimed God as their source of information.

The seminal event of the LDS Church, the one that convinced them that the Deity was giving them a special providence was the sea gulls appearing to eat the locusts that were devouring that first crop of their's in the winter of 1846-47. That part was handled well given the limited budget this film must have had.

Still Savage Journey does not claim to be more than an educational and evangelical tool and it really doesn't rise much above the level of the Christian films from Protestant evangelical churches.

Don't let the title fool you, this isn't some action-packed thriller. In fact, SAVAGE JOURNEY is a rather dull account of the origin of Mormonism. Richard Moll plays Joseph Smith, who is tarred, feathered, arrested, and eventually lynched. There's pretty much one disaster after another for the early Mormons.

Brigham Young takes over for Smith, encountering plenty of tragedies himself, including a swarm of locusts and gaggles of backward yahoos with murder on their tiny minds.

If this movie had been as interesting or exciting as the actual history, it might have been more than a G-rated sleeping aid...

I originally saw this while I was living in Norway. As such, it had Norwegian subtitles across the bottom of the screen. I was, at the time, serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons).

The two main players in the early days of the church were Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Joseph Smith was the founder of the church, and Brigham Young later took the reins after his death, leading the members of the church to modern-day Utah. This movie deals with these early days of the church.

Brigham Young was well portrayed. Everything I've read about the man says this portrayal was spot-on. At first, I thought Joseph Smith had been miscast. I mean, come on: Richard Moll (who plays Joseph Smith) is better known as "Bull" Shannon on "Night Court." In retrospect, it's not that far off. The real Joseph Smith was well over six feet tall, and was generally known for being a very gentle person.

The early persecution of the church, and the subject of polygamy are dealt with head-on, and accurately.

All-told, a decent movie, carried by the strength of the stories and the portrayals. The budget is pretty low, so don't expect too much flash.

I thought this movie was a pleasant surprise! It doesn't deserve its lowly rating I noted!!! - I assume that's connected to a prevailing dislike for religiousness, too often associated with bigotry & hypocrisy, with good reason!

I have no affiliation to such a church as the Mormons I understand this is centred on! I have also left my own mainstream religion that I intend never to return to!

But what I saw here was an impressive depiction of how hard it can be for a minority that might appear to be a sect to some, to find acceptance in any circumstances! It doesn't matter if someone is a visionary, an inventor, a prophet, or an innocent bystander! Likewise surely for God, whatever you conceive him to be!

Suddenly, you can find yourself in the middle of a storm, having your family threatened or even destroyed, having your property or existence or even letters confiscated, for your trust in God &/or man! While others gossip about you! Or bring on a sea of fireballs in the hands of rednecks, when you are in no position to defend yourselves! It can happen at the hands of a multi-national corporation, something like the slick tobacco or fast-food networks!

I have seen such red-necks & oppressors as portrayed here, as Christians or their adversaries! Equally distasteful! I have seen similar red-necks & oppressors amidst the unbelieving in any form of 'God' they might believe or not believe in! I have witnessed their individual & collective responses without tolerance & with amazing audacity & narrowmindedness!

I didn't know this was about Joseph Smith, only read it on your website later! I'd only vaguely heard of him, & don't even know the difference between the Mormons & the Seventh-day Adventists! But I respect the value of each & countless others from faithful to all manner of visions of God, or their perceptions of such a God, that I have met in churches or temples, to hotels & much beyond! I'm not sorry I watched this movie rated 3.2/10 & would recommend you view it for yourself!

You find both sides of it here! It has drama & action! It is poverty, even desperation! I don't understand why it is judged so poorly, but for the association of many churches to be centred or judged to be based on bigotry & hypocrisy! There's the old-fashioned version of a tels-evangelist (without requests for donations) & a mob of nasty rednecks (who don't like to be challenged in their perceptions) ... so much like the pharisees, while the outcasts & downtrodden were depicted in Jesus' times, variously worthy of condemnation & respect are still to be found!

It's not hard to see how anyone of faith in any belief, on anything from politics to religion, to how the world, could or should be, finding themselves to be a victim here! This deserves a favourable rating! 8/10!