The Savage Innocents

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Matthew D Apparently Inuits are a race of giggling psychopaths that don't know which way is up or that babies are born without teeth. Makes one wonder how the race lasted so long being so damn stupid. Somehow everyone thinks this movie does a brilliant job in eliciting sympathy for Inuits and their culture despite each portrayal alternating between cartoonish stupidity and unbridled insanity. The only explanation I can think of is that Nicholas Ray directed it and this is the old Hitchcock/Allen/Tarantino effect; the assumption that if some of a director's output is good, then every dump he takes must be soild gold. Sadly, reality doesn't work that way. Yes, Ray did direct 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'Johnny Guitar', and 'Run for Cover', but all those great movies don't make 'The Savage Innocents' not bad. It was bad, it is bad and will always be bad and not even Nicholas Ray having co-directed 'On Dangerous Ground' is going to change that. It's a fact we're all just going to have to live with. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 08/27/21 Full Review Audience Member It is impossible not to cringe when you see Anthony Quinn playing an Eskimo (now referred to as Inuit or with specific tribal affiliations) and the assorted supporting actors come from a range of Asian cultures (with Yoko Tani excellent as Quinn/Inuk's wife). Setting this aside - and also setting aside the condescending view of indigenous people as less civilized - is difficult, but persisting with the movie does allow for some rewards. In fact, contact with the white man reveals them to be more decadent, foul, and unwilling to understand the (stereotypically noble) "savages" who eat raw meat, wife-swap, and occasionally kill each other. Director Nick Ray heightens the emotional interpersonal drama between the two main characters and their surrounding sparse social network and uses (probably stock footage of) arctic animals along with trained seals and a polar bear for counterpoint. The whole thing is so strange - and the characters speak in a kind of pidgin English that heightens this strangeness - that the viewer is quickly absorbed into an entirely different world. It is just too unfortunate that the rampant stereotyping of the time infects everything. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member It's weird, possibly racist, and terrifically uneven but I kind of like it's kooky imperfection. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member if one can get past the obvious problems, like racially insensitive casting, animal slaughter and romanticizing native culture, it's quite a remarkable example of outsider cinema. containing peter o'toole's film debut (tho they saw fit to dub his voice), this is still a powerful film. you'll not see nothing like the mighty quinn! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Vastly under-appreciated Nicholas Ray film Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Anthony Quinn as an eskimo is amazing.A strange movie from one of the greatest american directors and a favourite of Bob Dylan Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Savage Innocents

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