The Naked Prey
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: March 23, 1966 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The Naked Prey has the brute force of great pulp; there's little dialogue, and even much of that is untranslated African dialect. Yet much as Wilde strives to express man's animal nature, he isn't crude or culturally insensitive, so much as sharply attuned to the hideous offenses that put his character in such a bind. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Despite little dialogue, the story and screenplay were Oscar-nominated -- and, at 50, Wilde's physique is amazing for an actor who once played Chopin. [18 Jan 2008, p.4D]
80
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
Without insulting modern Africa, Naked Prey writes the wild poetry of its past in raw colors. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The Naked Prey inverts many of the conventions of Hollywood films about "the Dark Continent." The warriors are given more character depth than Wilde's protagonist, and the film seems seriously engaged in a debate over whether man is driven by Darwinian brutality or rises above it. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineFernando F. Croce
A purified chase film, Naked Prey nevertheless is at its most affecting in the childlike scenes between the main character and a young native girl (played by Bella Randles) he befriends along the way. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
An early cinema staple, the chase film, is resurrected, pure and simple, by star-producer-director Cornel Wilde. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
It's a film of tension and spectacle, with a singular point of view behind it. It grabs the viewer thoroughly, even as it invites audiences to watch it with a cold, careful eye. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesJohn Hartl
Cornel Wilde directed and stars in this nearly wordless 1966 story of a stripped white man hunted by African natives. It has several elements in common with Passion in the Desert. [09 Jul 1998, p.E3]
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Told with virtually no dialog, the story embodies a wide range of human emotion, depicted in actual on-scene photography which effects realism via semi-documentary feel. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
Moderately pretentious, though very well filmed, this was the sort of thing teenage boys throve on in the dark ages Before Spielberg. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The film itself remains pure fantasy. Sure, it's nice to think you could outrun half a dozen hand-picked African warriors simply because you'd been to college and read Thoreau, but the truth is they'd nail you before you got across the river and into the trees. Read full review
30
The New York TimesRobert Alden
A poor and tasteless motion-picture entertainment, redeemed somewhat by its authentic African setting and its effective use of tribal drums and native music as the accompaniment for a primitive jungle chase. Read full review
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