PRAY FOR THE WILDCATS: The Biker Film As Male Menopause Metaphor
Once the biker movie became a standard of the filmbusiness in the late '60s, enterprising filmmakers at all levels of thebusiness put everything on a bike to see what would sell: experiments includedfilms about female bikers, black bikers, gay bikers, even werewolves. It mightseem odd to include Pray For TheWildcats in this lineup of oddball biker flick offshoots as it's a t.v.movie, it arrived late in the game (1974) and wasn't really about a biker gangin the classical sense. That said, it's worth considering as it inverts bikermovie style and elements to fit its own unique interests.
PrayFor The Wildcats could be more conventionally defined as amale menopause drama. Its focus is agroup of men working for an ad agency: Warren (William Shatner) is trying tokeep his firing secret as he prepares to transition out of the gig, Paul(Robert Reed) is the ambitious second-in-command who will likely take Warren'splace and Terry (Marjoe Gortner) is an art director who is trying to figure outwhere he fits in the corporate world as he deals with newly pregnant wifeKristie (Janet Margolin). To add furthercomplexity, Warren is dealing with guilt from cheating on his wife Lila(Lorraine Gary) with Paul's wife Nancy (Angie Dickinson) and his behaviorsuggests he is contemplating suicide over his floundering career and financialissues.
A catalyst is introduced to this bubbling pot ofworkplace and domestic issues via the introduction of Sam Farragut (AndyGriffith), a swaggering industrialist who is deliberating over whether or nothe'll accept a bid from the ad agency employing the other men. To clinch thedeal, Warren, Paul and Terry must agree to accompany Sam on a cross-countrymotorcycle trek across Mexico. Once they're on the trip, Sam reveals there arelustful and violent elements of his persona that could get the other men killedor imprisoned, forcing them to define their own morality as they deal with thefallout of Sam's impulsive actions.
The result kind of sneaks up on you in that vintage t.v.movie way. Pray For The Wildcats starts off in primetime soap opera mode as wemeet the main players in their familiar surroundings. All the dramatic setups are familiar butveteran t.v. screenwriter Jack Turley lays them out with an appropriatecynicism and a sense of the characters stifling their inner selves for the sakeof being civil, the only pressure valve being the often barbed dialogue theyexchange. Shatner plays his role with greater subtlety than you're used to andDickinson establishes herself as a scene-stealer with her sardonic commentaryon the lives of the men.
PrayFor The Wildcats really shapes up when the men cross theborder into Mexico. Griffith does effective work playing against type here asan obnoxious "self-made man" type who believes his success means heis entitled to indulge any moment of lust or rage he feels, revealedeffectively in the way he terrorizes a young vagabond couple the group meets onthe road. The scene where Griffith sidles up to the young woman like the bigbad wolf as she dances in a cantina has become a classic amongst '70s t.v.movie fans. Shatner and Reed get some great scenes together as they grapplewith the morality of the situation, both clearly relishing the chance to playsome intense adult drama, and Gortner gets a darkly amusing drunk scene afterhe allows Sam to corrupt his morals.
However, the most interesting thing going on Pray For The Wildcats is the way itsubverts the norms of the biker genre. Usually, these movies are about youngsocietal outcasts hitting the road and trying to be free as they deal withresentment and violence from the older generation. In this film, it's the older"respectable" members of society who are the bikers. They're lookingfor freedom in their own ways but they're also running from their own mid-lifecrises or at least the consequences of what they've done. Another novel twist:it's the older generation terrorizing the younger one in this film instead ofvice versa, with Sam coveting their youth and freedom even as he punishes them fornot submitting to his whims.
In biker movie fashion, there's also some excellent footage of the men (or at least their stunt riders) cruising through the atmospheric Mexican desert. Director Robert Michael Lewis stylizes these moments in the groovy travelogue style utilized in biker movies but the ever growing darkness of the mens' quest is reflected in Fred Myrow's musical score, in which jazz and rock motifs curdle and grow edgier as the story progresses. Elsewhere, the infidelity subplot continues back home, depicted in a well-acted scene between Dickinson and Gary that plays out in a way you might not expect.
In short, PrayFor The Wildcats deserves its rep as a cult classic of the t.v. movieworld. Its fusion of masculine mid-life crisis and biker movie elements istotally unique, the star-studded cast is guaranteed fun for fans of old-schoolt.v. and there's a genuine and sometimes surprising dark mood beneath the soapoperatics here.
Blu-Ray Notes: after decades in home video limbo, this title has been revived on blu-ray and DVD by Kino Lorber. The blu-ray was viewed for this write-up and it boasts a nice, crisp remaster. Also included on the disc is a commentary track by Amanda Reyes and Bill Ackerman.