Pray for the Wildcats

The coolest video store in the world, Movie Madness, has a VHS copy of this film here in Portland, I rented it one night a few years ago and was stunned at the wondrously awful hilarity it contained. The sight of Andy Griffith trying to erase his good guy image by hassling a young couple in a Mexican cantina, droning on about "hippies", Marjoe Gortner and his "main man" speech, Shatner and Robert Reed, at one point, having a conversation about what to do with Griffith, which just sounds like Captain Kirk and Mike Brady having a tete-a-tete. But the capper is Angie Dickinson doing absolutely NOTHING. She's supposedly married to Robert Reed, but having an affair with Shatner, yet there's no evidence of it, at all. Such a shame. GO find this film, have some friends over and soak up the bad-ness. - mh

One of many Hollywood morality-tales against corporate competition, which ironically keeps showbiz going, and, combining the counter-culture biker flick era with city-guys-out-of-their-element DELIVERANCE, what's really behind PRAY FOR THE WILDCATS is a kind of DEATH OF A SALESMAN character in William Shatner, semi-fired from an advertising agency, and whose only chance is relying on bigwig client Andy Griffith...

Famous for playing a good guy on television... which also includes THE BRADY BUNCH Robert Reed and of course Shatner from STAR TREK (clad in familiar Starfleet-yellow) with Marjoe Gortner as the token youngster... there's a bit of Griffith's intimidating FACE IN THE CROWD persona, herein a bully with everything to gain and nothing to lose...

The opposite of Shatner, the buried lead playing a decade older, he's the most reluctant of the three, all practically forced to go on a dirt bike excursion into the desert wilds of Baja, California...

And there's domestic trouble-in-false-paradise back home, which is the primary flaw for WILDCATS including contrived, melodramatic voice-overs from scenes that occurred fifteen minutes earlier, and particularly the sporadic b-stories involving troubled, nagging, soap-operatic wives...

From Angie Dickinson (who'd cheated on Reed with Shatner) to old-school housewife Lorraine Gary (Shatner's) to Gortner's pseudo-progressive girlfriend in Janet Margolin, this could've been an otherwise tightly-wound survival thriller (including the pivotal roundabout death of two hippies) without cutting back and forth from the gritty desert exterior to bland suburban-set interiors...

As if WILDCATS was catered mostly for a mainstream television audience, blunting genuine risks that the men-in-peril story promises, and yet, the entertainment value of an ABC Movie-of-the-Week is ever-present, and you'll want to see just how far Griffith will take things... if only he had the chance to escalate into a nefarious businessman's EASY RIDER than being too quickly hindered by Shatner's BORN TO BE MILD moral compass.

This film begins at an advertising agency with three employees named "Warren Summerfield" (William Shatner), "Terry Maxon" (Marjoe Gortner) and "Paul McIlvan" (Robert Reed) trying their best to retain the account of a wealthy businessman by the name of "Sam Farragut" (Andy Griffith). The problem is that Sam Farragut is not a nice man to do business with as he is both arrogant and extremely cruel. In fact, he is so arrogant and cruel that, in order to flaunt his power over them, he demands that they accompany him on a 600-mile dirt bike ride through the Baja Desert to an isolated site where he is setting up his next business venture. Needless to say, this long hard ride through the desert is not what any of them really want to do but for the sake of their careers they all reluctantly agree. What they are soon to find out, however, is that there is an even worse side to Sam Farragut than any of them could imagine and that all of them will soon be faced with a decision that might weigh heavily upon their consciences for the rest of their lives. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a decent made-for-television movie which suffered somewhat because of that format. It also had Andy Griffith acting in a role that was totally uncharacteristic of him-at least for that particular time. It also had several different sub-plots which, in some cases, could have used a bit more depth as well. Be that as it may, this turned out to be a solid film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

"Pray for the Wildcats" is a TV "movie of the week" from 1974 about four businessmen (Andy Griffith, William Shatner, Robert Reed and Marjoe Gortner) who take a trip through the desert wilderness of Baja California on dirt bikes. Griffith plays Sam Farragut, an arrogant mogul who thinks money is power and anyone can be bought if the price is right; and, if they can't, well, they'll just have to be discarded one way or another. Needless to say, the trip doesn't go as pleasantly as planned.

If you didn't think it was possible for Griffith to play a robust villain you need to see this film. Andy just eats up the role of the dastardly Farragut. Not only is his performance a pleasure to behold, it rings true! All the other actors are perfectly cast, as are the wives and girlfriend of the three subordinate bikers, Lorraine Gary, Angie Dickinson and Janet Margolin respectively.

"Pray for the Wildcats" is a morality tale in the manner of "Deliverance," except that the crime is inverted and the trip takes place in the SW desert/coast rather than a wild river in Georgia. Although a TV movie, "Pray for the Wildcats" is every bit as good as "Deliverance" and perhaps even better. And, thankfully, it doesn't contain anything as hard to watch as that infamous "squeal like a pig" scene.

Judging from the reviews, many will ridicule such commendations. In fact, for reasons that elude me "Pray for the Wildcats" is often mocked as "campy" and "unintentionally funny." Really? I don't see this at all; and anyone who thinks it's campy obviously doesn't know what camp is. This is clearly a serious drama/adventure/thriller with the requisite soap operatics, but nothing overkill and definitely within the realm of believability. Another overdone criticism is Shatner's hairpiece, which is odd since it definitely LOOKS like his natural hair (not that it is).

The real reason reviewers make fun of "Pray for the Wildcats" is because (1.) it's a TV movie and (2.) three of the stars had well-known TV shows -- The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek and The Brady Bunch -- and, gee, I guess there's no way they could really act and break away from their typecast roles. But they can and do superbly in "Pray for the Wildcats."

Another thing I love about this film is the powerful message: ***SPOILER ALERT*** One man sins greatly, but has zero remorse and tries to cover it up through his power and money; another man also sins, but realizes his mistake and ultimately proves his character; the other two show that they believe money and position are more important than justice and therefore prove their lack of character. ***END SPOILER***

The film was shot in Arizona and Baja California and runs 100 minutes.

GRADE: A+

Most TV movies contain new people you have not heard of. In "Pray for the Wildcats". It's an all-star cast. You have Andy Griffith, William Shatner of "Star Trek" fame, and Robert Reed of "The Brady Bunch" fame. Marjoe Gortner joins the crew as 4 men out on a scenic dirt bike run in the Baja. These 4 men are from an ad agency, on an excursion dirt bike ride. The boss Sam Farragut played by Griffith is a no-nonsense but crafty executive who takes the 3 men who wants his position at the firm. The 3 men have their own issues with their lives. One is terminated, another is absent emotionally with his wife, and the other is dealing with an impending family. Talk about going on a ride of their lives. They go on a dangerous trail, stop at a bar in Mexico where the boss meets a hippie couple and accost them. While on the trip, the group runs across them again at the beach, and Sam would pick a fight again only he would disable the van that they rode in. One would decide to turn in their dangerous boss to the authorities, but it would have to be in their own country, the United States. The fired member who was suicidal, confronted him found a new lease on life after the boss jumped the cliff. It's normally not Andy to play an evil character. He's a beloved man back in the 1960's. Shatner and Reed seem to be the reasonable ones in the film. I enjoyed the dirt bikes used in the film. It's all about change and redemption. I enjoyed it very much. The strong cast and plot helped the movie out a lot. Recommended by advertising and adventure seekers alike. 4 out of 5 stars.