Pray for the Wildcats

"Pray for the Wildcats" is a 1974 U.S. television movie that originally aired as an "ABC Movie of the Week". The movie was an action-drama and was directed by Robert Michael Lewis and starred William Shatner and Andy Griffith. It co-starred Robert Reed, Marjoe Gortner, Angie Dickinson, and Lorraine Gary. It was released in 1987 on video by Republic Pictures Home Video. The story centers on Sam Farragut (Andy Griffith), a sociopathic business executive in Southern California who forces a team of advertising agency employees (Shatner, Reed, Gortner) to embark on a dangerous motorcycle trip to Baja California in order to compete for his business. Shatner stars as Warren Summerfield, a suicidal middle-aged ad executive who has been fired from the agency. Reed co-stars as the strait-laced Paul McIlvian who is disattentive to his wife (Dickinson). Gortner, as the young brash art designer, feels suddenly trapped after his girlfriend (Janet Margolin) announces she is pregnant. The movie has numerous long sequences of motorcycle riding on desert backroads. The Mexican town scenes were shot on location at "Old Tucson". The running time is 100 minutes.

Summerfield (Shatner) has been having an affair with McIlvian's wife (Dickinson). He has not told his wife (Gary) that he was fired and is simply serving out his tenure at the agency while looking for a new position. His wife is actually aware of the affair. Farragut convinces the ad men to make the motorcycle journey on the pretext of looking for a location to shoot a commercial. In reality, Farragut is reckless and looking to involve the men in spontaneous edgy adventure of his own manipulation. After they leave, McIlvain's wife (Dickinson) suspects that Summerfield is planning to kill himself for the insurance money, but she cannot convince Summerfield's wife (Gary) to instigate a search.

The four men travel deep into Baja on isolated dirt roads. At one point Summefield (Shatner) contemplates plunging off a cliff but defers the act. After being humiliated by a young American couple in a Baja bar, Farragut later tracks them down on the beach while accompanied by Maxon (Gortner). He tries to offer the young man one hundred dollars in order to sleep with his girlfriend, claiming he is a "hippie with money." When rebuffed again, he seizes an axe and destroys the radiator of the couple's car. After returning to the others, he and Maxon don't inform them of the incident. They are later confronted by the Mexican police who tell them that the young man died trying to hike to safety and that the girl may die as well. Overnight in the town, Summerfield discovers the truth and tries to convince McIlvain to help him turn Farragut into the police. McIlvain resists out of prudency. The next morning, Farragut and Maxon leave on their own for the airport to fly home. They are pursued by Summerfield, who catches up with them. Maxon returns to the town, and Farragut pursues Summerfield across the desert in a motorcycle chase. As Farragut chases Summerfield along a high cliff, Summerfield ditches his bike while Farragut loses control and plunges over the cliff and crashes in a fiery explosion on the beach. The three ad men return to the U.S. with Farragut's remains. McIlvain's wife (Dickinson) informs him she wants a divorce. Maxon's girlfiend tells him she is no longer pregnant, implying she has had an abortion. Summerfield, with a new lease on life, is greeted warmly by his wife.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072024/ IMDB entry for "Pray for the Wildcats"]

* [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/4383 "Official" Pray For The Wildcats Fansite]