Savages is a 1974 American television thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin and based on the 1972 novel Deathwatch by Robb White.

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.

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.

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.

[2] 40 years later, this film was remade in 2014 as Beyond the Reach with Michael Douglas and Jeremy Irvine in the roles originally played by Andy Griffith and Sam Bottoms, respectively.