''Savage Sam'' is a 1963 American

Western film The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Calif ...

sequel to '' Old Yeller'' based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Fred Gipson.

Norman Tokar Norman Tokar (November 25, 1919 – April 6, 1979) was an American film director, director, actor and occasionally writer and producer of serial television and feature films, who directed many of the early episodes of ''Leave it to Beaver'', and ...

directed the live-action film, which was released by Walt Disney Productions on June 1, 1963. It did not enjoy the success of the original.

Plot

In 1870, 18-year-old Travis Coates is left in charge of his precocious 12-year-old brother, Arliss, on the family farm in Southwest Texas, while their parents visit an ailing grandmother. While Arliss and his dog, Savage Sam, are tracking a

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

, Travis is warned by Bud Searcy that renegade

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

s are in the area. When Travis joins Bud's 17-year-old granddaughter, Lisbeth, in a search for Arliss, all three are captured by a band of Apaches led by a Comanche. The boys' Uncle Beck Coates witnesses the scene and manages to wound the leader, but Beck's horse is shot by one of the braves, allowing the Comanche and his followers to escape with the captives. Beck alerts the U. S. Cavalry, but the Indians split into three groups and ride for the hills; in the confusion, Travis escapes but is knocked unconscious and left to die. Beck and his posse of five find Travis and his dog, set out in pursuit of the other captives, and eventually find the Indians in a valley fighting over Lisbeth. Although posse member Pack Underwood, bent on revenge for the massacre of his family, fires a shot that alerts the Indians to their planned ambush, the youngsters are saved and the renegades captured.

Cast

Brian Keith Robert Alba Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997), known professionally as Brian Keith, was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family ...

as Uncle Beck Coates * Tommy Kirk as Travis Coates * Kevin Corcoran as Arliss Coates * Dewey Martin as Lester White * Jeff York as Bud Searcy * Marta Kristen as Lisbeth Searcy * Rafael Campos as Young Warrior * Slim Pickens as Willy Crup * Royal Dano as Pack Underwood * Rodolfo Acosta as Bandy Legs * Pat Hogan as Broken Nose * Dean Fredericks as Comanche Chief * Brad Weston as Ben Todd

Behind the scenes

Walt Disney bought the film rights to the novel in September 1961, prior to its publication in February 1962. The price was $25,000. Gipson was then hired to write the screenplay. He started in October at $1,250 a week. Gipson was an alcoholic by this time and he was frequently incapacitated by rages. On June 14, 1962, Mike Gipson, Fred Gipson's son, found the Gipson family dog, the inspiration for Savage Sam, chained and clubbed to death in a shed behind the new family home. The next day, Mike returned to university in shock, and committed suicide that weekend. Gipson's wife would leave him a month after the premiere of ''Savage Sam''. It was one of the first films from director Norman Tokar. Walt Disney said, "I got him from TV. I like young talent. When people get to be institutions, they direct pictures with their left hand and do something else with their right." Pat Hogan appears as tribesman Broken Nose. Dean Fredericks, formerly '' Steve Canyon'' on NBC, played a Comanche chief in this film. Filming started August 6, 1962. It was mostly shot around the San Fernando Valley.

Critical reception

The film received poor reviews and fell short of box office expectations, paling in comparison with ''Old Yeller''. According to Gipson's biographer, "criticized as clichéd and overdirected, the production was especially faulted for inconsistency with Gipson's tone". ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called it a "dogged, listless effort". ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called it "action melodrama with a formula plot". The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' said "the members of the cast are all capable enough, but they are all handicapped by a lurid plot which looks like it was made up by all the action scenes in a bunch of old television scripts."'Savage Sam' Is Below Par for a Disney Film. Tinee, Mae. Chicago Tribune, 26 June 1963: a5.

References

Notes

External links

* * {{Norman Tokar 1963 films 1963 children's films 1963 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Apache Wars films Comanche in popular culture Films about dogs Walt Disney Pictures films 1960s English-language films Films directed by Norman Tokar Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace 1960s American films English-language Western (genre) films Films set in 1870 Films set in Texas Old Yeller