Savage Sam (film)

Savage Sam is a 1963 film sequel to Old Yeller based on the novel of the same name by Fred Gipson. Norman Tokar directed the live-action film, which was released by Walt Disney Productions on June 1, 1963.

Plot
In 1870, 18-year-old Travis Coates (Tommy Kirk) is left in charge of his precocious 12-year-old brother, Arliss (Kevin Corcoran), on the family farm in Southwest Texas, while their parents visit an ailing grandmother. While Arliss and his dog, Savage Sam, are tracking a bobcat, Travis is warned by Bud Searcy (Jeff York) that renegade Apaches are in the area. When Travis joins Bud's 17-year-old daughter, Lisbeth (Marta Kristen), in a search for Arliss, all three are captured by a band of Apaches led by a Comanche. The boys' Uncle Beck Coates (Brian Keith) witnesses the scene and manages to wound the Native American leader, but Beck's horse is shot by one of the braves, allowing the Comanche and his followers to escape with the captives. Beck alerts the U. S. Cavalry, but the Native Americans split into three groups and ride for the hills; in the confusion, Travis escapes but is knocked unconscious and left to die. Beck and his posse of five find Travis and his dog, set out in pursuit of the other captives, and eventually find the Indians in a valley fighting over Lisbeth. Although posse member Pack Underwood (Royal Dano), bent on revenge for the massacre of his family, fires a shot that alerts the Indians to their planned ambush, the youngsters are saved and the renegades captured.

Cast

 * Brian Keith as Uncle Beck Coates
 * Tommy Kirk as Travis Coates
 * Kevin Corcoran as Arliss Coates
 * Dewey Martin as Lester White
 * Jeff York as Bud Searcy
 * Marta Kristen as Lisbeth Searcy
 * Rafael Campos as Young Warrior
 * Slim Pickens as Willy Crup
 * Rodolfo Acosta as Bandy Legs
 * Pat Hogan as Broken Nose
 * Dean Fredericks as Comanche Chief
 * Brad Weston as Ben Todd
 * Royal Dano as Pack Underwood (uncredited)

Behind the scenes
Walt Disney bought the film rights to the novel in 1961, prior to its publication. Gipson was then hired to write the screenplay.

It was one of the first movies from Norman Tokar. "I got him from TV," said Walt Disney. "I like young talent. When people get to be institutions, they direct pictures with their left hand and do something else with their right."

Pat Hogan appears as tribesman Broken Nose. Dean Fredericks, formerly Steve Canyon on NBC, played a Comanche chief in this film.

Critical reception
The film received poor reviews and fell short of box office expectations, paling in comparison with Old Yeller.

The Washington Post called it a "dogged, listless effort." "Action melodrama with a formula plot" said the Los Angeles Times. The Chicago Tribune said "the members of the cast are all capable enough, but they are all handicapped by a lurid plot which looks like it was made up by all the action scenes in a bunch of old television scripts."