The importance of Andy Griffith‘s 1974 TV movie of the week, Pray for the Wildcats, is hard to understand without bathing oneself completely in the 100 minutes of sun-dappled glory featured in this small screen cinematic masterpiece, and for the sake of cinephiles everywhere I hope Wildcats is re-released now in the wake of Griffiths’ passing so that all the world may see and feel its’ unusual power. Griffith plays against type as a horrible villain and is darkly masterful throughout. Audiences forget Sheriff Taylor and start hating him immediately. William Shatner acts powerfully against his usual take-charge type, always maintaining extraordinary, character-necessitated, dramatic restraint, as a shy, office-bound victim. Robert Reed deliciously portrays an ambitious, duplicitous corporate Iago. Angie Dickinson is beautiful, tough, and articulate as Reed’s liberated (by the standards of the time) and impatient wife who may play around but nonetheless has a heart of platinum. Kicked off in a SoCal office plaza but set mostly in Baja California on motorcycles, this outdoor thriller has a “last western” feel, complete with male bonding, desert travel, unconvincing Federales, masculine redemption via martyrdom and a Wild Bunch ending. Loaded with 70s timepiece sets and dialogue, Wildcats is a wondrous pop-cultural curiosity and must be seen by anyone who remembers the era, or holds a fascination thereto.
Andy Griffith in the best 34 seconds of Gospel music on television.
Andy Griffith singing, “Turn Your Radio On.”
Andy Griffith’s 2007 film comeback.
LA Times obituary for Andy Griffith.
Savages is another 1974 film wherein Andy Griffith portrays the villain.
