{"id":4630,"date":"2007-10-25T15:27:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-25T22:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4630"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:34:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T23:34:01","slug":"savage-innocents-the-1960","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4630","title":{"rendered":"Savage Innocents, The (1960)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;To the white man, Arctic ice and snow are pitiless enemies; but to the Eskimo they can be useful friends.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Savage-Innocents-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Savage-Innocents-Poster-188x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"188\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Savage-Innocents-Poster-188x300.jpg 188w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Savage-Innocents-Poster-80x128.jpg 80w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Savage-Innocents-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 188px) 100vw, 188px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nEskimos Inuk (Anthony Quinn) and his wife Asiak (Yoko Tani) survive happily together in the Arctic, until the day they arrive at a trading post and Inuk accidentally kills a missionary (Marco Guglielmi). Eventually Inuk is found and arrested by two troopers (Carlo Giustini and Peter O&#8217;Toole) &#8212; but when Giustini falls into the ice and dies, Inuk must decide whether to kill his remaining captor or help keep him alive.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anthony Quinn Films<\/li>\n<li>Native Peoples<\/li>\n<li>Nicholas Ray Films<\/li>\n<li>Peter O&#8217;Toole Films<\/li>\n<li>Race Relations and Racism<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nInexplicably lauded by modern critics, this patronizing ethnographic drama (co-written and directed by Nicholas Ray) is an insufferable exercise in frustration. Accompanied by a grandiose Voice of God narration, the story purports to portray Eskimos in an authentic light, but instead simply holds them up to our &#8220;civilized&#8221; gaze as &#8220;savage innocents&#8221;: the mostly Japanese cast (generically olive-skinned Anthony Quinn is a notable exception) can&#8217;t seem to stop giggling; sex is depicted as a casual, all-day affair; and men resolve their differences by knocking their (apparently dense) heads against blocks of ice. Quinn himself is perhaps the most egregious character in the film: it&#8217;s impossible to take him seriously when he&#8217;s asked to recite such insipid lines as, &#8220;A woman is not a seal &#8212; or even a walrus!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For every moment we&#8217;re allowed to admire the Eskimos&#8217; estimable survival skills (especially in contrast with the ignorant troopers, who fatally refuse to follow Inuk&#8217;s guidance about riding over ice), we&#8217;re supposed to laugh at the silliness of their quaint customs. For instance, while it&#8217;s impressive that Asiak is able to give birth on her own (how this scene must have shocked audiences at the time!), it defies belief that she and Inuk don&#8217;t know babies are born without teeth (have they never seen babies nursing before?). The film partially redeems itself once Peter O&#8217;Toole&#8217;s (American-dubbed) trooper arrives in the story, and is given a detailed explanation of why it&#8217;s the ultimate insult to refuse to &#8220;laugh&#8221; with another man&#8217;s wife &#8212; but, once again, this cautious respect is undermined in the final scene, when O&#8217;Toole is posited as ultimately savvier than the naive Inuk can ever hope to be. Even the lovely Arctic cinematography can&#8217;t save this film from its own worst tendencies; I recommend renting <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1892\"><em>Never Cry Wolf<\/em> (1983)<\/a> or the recent Inuktitut-language <em>Fast Runner<\/em> (2001) instead. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gorgeous cinematography of Arctic landscapes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/si-snowy-scenery.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/si-snowy-scenery.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4632\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The freaky hypothermia scene &#8212; a rare moment when Inuk&#8217;s wisdom is allowed to bear out<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/si-death.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/si-death.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4633\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The final half hour of the film, when O&#8217;Toole gradually begins to understand the ways of the Eskimo<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/si-otoole.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/si-otoole.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4634\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. While it&#8217;s listed as a Cult Movie in the back of Peary&#8217;s book, this dated film is no longer must-see viewing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0053244\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1961\/05\/25\/archives\/the-savage-innocents-is-seen-in-neighborhood-theatres.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-savage-innocents\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;To the white man, Arctic ice and snow are pitiless enemies; but to the Eskimo they can be useful friends.&#8221; Synopsis: Eskimos Inuk (Anthony Quinn) and his wife Asiak (Yoko Tani) survive happily together in the Arctic, until the day they arrive at a trading post and Inuk accidentally kills a missionary (Marco Guglielmi). Eventually Inuk is found and arrested by two troopers (Carlo Giustini and Peter O&#8217;Toole) &#8212; but when Giustini falls into the ice and dies, Inuk must&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4630\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4630"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98977,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4630\/revisions\/98977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}