Pray for the Wildcats

1974 "They're off on a wild motorcycle trip into hell... a bully... a coward... a survivor... and a man who faces his own death and finds a courage he never knew he had."
6.2| 1h40m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 23 January 1974 Released
Producted By: ABC Circle Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Three ad agency executives are pressured into taking a motorbike trip to Baja by a big-ticket client. Along the way, the client is spurned by a young woman whose boyfriend sticks up for her. The client later disables their van, leading to their deaths in the desert. When the executives piece together what has happened, it leads to a showdown.

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Director

Robert Michael Lewis

Production Companies

ABC Circle Films

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Pray for the Wildcats Audience Reviews

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
MartinHafer Sam Farragut (Andy Griffith) is a rich jerk who fully realizes how powerful this makes him. Instead of just allowing the advertising agency to handle his company, he controls them--insisting the three execs working for him MUST go on a long, long motorbike ride across Baja...or no contract. Once on the trip, Sam turns out to be a real piece of work...an amoral guy who drinks, brawls and womanizes-- acting nothing like the Andy Griffith we've all grown to love. He's a lot like Satan on a cycle!Among the three execs are Warren (William Shatner), Paul (Robert Reed) and Terry (Marjoe Gortner). All three are extremely flawed men and only Terry seems excited about making this trip. Paul is hiding a secret but Warren's is the darkest of all...he knows he's being terminated from his job and is showing hints that he might use this trip as a way to kill himself! What does come of all this? This is certainly one of the strangest made for TV movies of its era. That's saying a lot since "The ABC Movie of the Week" often featured weird plots--such as women impregnated by aliens, monsters living in the chimney and reincarnated witches! But this strange is because the folks play so against type...especially Griffith! But is this strangeness any good? Well, yes. Despite the plot being extremely difficult to believe and the actors playing so against type, the basic issues going on in the film are compelling-- especially when Griffith's character does some very horrible things. The only BIG bad thing about all this is the ending with Shatner in the surf--not THAT is amazingly stupid! All in all, well worth seeing just because of its novelty.By the way, if you are curious who Marjoe Gortner is, read him IMDb biography. This guy was VERY prolific on TV in the 70s but his life before this is really, really interesting. He's not particularly good in this film, however. Also, I think it is very likely NOT unintentional that the four men all sport shirts that look almost exactly like "Star Trek" shirts--red, blue and yellow! You really notice their Trekkiness in the cantina scene...complete with the black collars! Apart from missing the Enterprise emblem, they are almost dead ringers!
Woodyanders Three advertising industry agents -- worn-out washed-up has been Warren Summerfield (a surprisingly subdued William Shatner), passive yes man Paul McIlvain (a nicely wimpy portrayal by Robert Reed), and swaggering hipster hustler Terry Maxon (the always awesome Marjoe Gortner) try to win over the favor of wealthy and powerful mogul Sam Farragut (robustly essayed with lip-smacking wicked relish by Andy Griffith) during a perilous motorcycle trip through Baja. However, said excursion into the dessert doesn't go as smoothly as planned. Director Robert Michael Lewis and writer Jack Turley treat this heavy-handed morality tale about the abuse of power, compromising one's values, and personal integrity (or the lack thereof) with gut-busting seriousness, thereby resulting in a total campfest of exceptional unintentional hilarity. Shatner's typically hideous hairpiece and show-stopping "There is no me" monologue, the hysterically dated "cool" slang-ridden dialogue ("Now, we're getting' it on, baby!"), a sidesplitting surplus of soap opera-ish subplots (Warren's lost his job, Terry's girlfriend is pregnant, and so on), and the corny voiceovers all further enhance the overall goofy charm of this unsung kooky gem. Of course, Griffith playing a rare full-blown villain part gives this honey an additional uproarious kick, as good ol' Andy is clearly having the time of his life portraying one really mean, evil, and arrogant bully of a rich jerk. Angie Dickinson as the tart-tongued Nancy and Lorraine Gary as Warren's concerned spouse Lila do their best with their thankless roles. Fred Myrow's groovy score makes great use of a burning fuzztone guitar. The cinematography by John Marley Stephens offers plenty of breathtaking shots of the beautiful wide open scenery. An absolute hoot!
stickboy_60 Most of the previous reviews are accurate: Griffith plays a thrill-seeking tycoon and has plenty of rewind-and-see-that-again moments ("Come on, Hippy," "YAAAAA-HOOOOOOOO!!!!!," "Now we're getting' it on, baby," and the split leg "Hoooot Daaaammnn!!!"); Shatner is pretty restrained until the "There is no myself" speech; Robert Reed plays a boring character boringly (if you look for gay subtext, I guess it's more interesting); Dickinson does nothing except gripe (her "You've KNOWN and you've let it go ON?!?" would sound just like Monty Python if done with a British accent); and Gary does nothing but look like the doe-eyed cow that her character is (a dense Ellen Brody, pretty much).In addition to the Trek-like biking shirts, the Mexican police Captain swaggers just like Barney Fife and wears a similar-looking uniform. These must've been deliberate, but the subtlety makes it more effective than a spoken-word in-joke.I just love the badness of Pray For The Wildcats. Five actors who I recognize and like, all of them embarrassing themselves.Just like Impulse, this movie is perfect for your next beer-and-pizza get-together. Grab a copy of this hard-to-find diamond, and NOW WE'RE GETTING IT ON!!!
Teresa Are you a Marjoe fan? A Brady on a Silver Platter? A Cracker Eater? A Shatnerologist? Look no further! There's "Pray for the Wildcats": A cheesy TV movie where Marjoe, Robert "Brady Bunch dad, later 'Pat' the sex-change doctor on Medical Center" Reed, Andy "Cracker Boy" Griffith and William the "One True" Shatner (OTS) play four yuppies who take a motorcycle ride down Baja. Kind of like "Deliverance" on dirt-bikes.This film is dominated by a superlatively bad performance by Mr. Griffith. No doubt trying to overcome his wholesome (good cracker! GOOD cracker!) image, he administers a real Deep Hurting in a non-stunning role-reversal of "Deliverance". He tries to score with a traveling hippie's main squeeze in a cantina, but fails miserably. After a few minor brawls and scuffles, he resorts to bribery after catching up with them outside of town ("I'm sort of a hippie myself! A hippie with MONEY!!"). Failing again, he trashes their vehicle in the middle of the desert, condemning the poor young couple to a slow death by starvation and dehydration.From there the plot goes downhill, literally. The toupeed one (Shatner) naturally saves the day by running Mr Ritz, er Griffith, off of a cliff (from which he drops in ever-so-slow-motion to his fiery demise on the rocky beach below. Oh the pain!!) Shatner then runs his own dirt-bike into the ocean, and follows with his usual over-acted agony dance around the burning wreckage. The end.....or IS it!?!?! It's probably out of print. Find it if you can!!!