Savages

Savages is a 1974 American television thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin and based on the 1972 novel Deathwatch by Robb White. It stars Andy Griffith and Sam Bottoms. Synopsis A successful Los Angeles lawyer and hunter, Horton Madec (Andy Griffith), receives a rare permit to hunt bighorn sheep in the nearby Mojave Desert. He hires a timid college student currently working as a filling station attendant named Ben (Sam Bottoms), who will drive him into the desert with his Jeep CJ and help show Madec where the bighorn are. Ben is studying to be a geologist, so therefore he knows the desert very well. After Madec accidentally shoots a ewe with his .30-06 Winchester Model 70 rifle, he buries it and although Ben is disappointed, he agrees that they should pretend like the incident never happened. However, Ben realizes that what Madec shot was no female sheep; upon noting a bloody human hand underneath the grass. Horrified, Ben digs it up and realizes that Madec has actually shot a local prospector named Winnie Haas, who was Ben's friend and mentor. Madec apologizes, but argues that he cannot afford to sit in jail, as he is too important and has a family to take care of. Refusing to cover it up, Ben argues that the honest thing to do would be for the two of them to report the accidental shot, but Madec refuses, even going as far to bribe Ben with thousands of dollars just to keep quiet about the incident. It is then that Madec decides to eliminate the only witness to the crime - Ben. Madec forces Ben to strip down to nothing but his shorts at gunpoint. He intends to make up a story saying that the two became separated, then Ben went crazy, tore off all his clothes and died within a matter of hours due to dehydration and heat. Ben attempts to escape by walking 45 miles to the nearest highway. Madec watches Ben the entire distance while aiming at him with his rifle. After trying to climb the nearby Big Lizard butte, Ben is shot by Madec, causing him to fall and injure his back. Time is running out as he begins to hallucinate. Suffering from dehydration, hunger, sunburn, and his gunshot wounds, Ben needs to find water, food, shelter, and a weapon. Ben later gets a slingshot from the prospector's tent and uses it to breathe after he buries himself to avoid Madec finding him.