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4.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Savage Girl remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly? Only if you have a massive soft spot for black-and-white jungle camp. If you need a movie to follow a straight line or have, you know, actual human behavior, you are going to hate this. It’s for the folks who like their cinema a little dusty, weird, and slightly broken. 🦍
There is a lot of staring into the middle distance in this movie. Characters stand around waiting for the plot to happen to them. It’s not exactly Around the World with Douglas Fairbanks in terms of pacing, that’s for sure.
Rochelle Hudson plays the jungle girl, and she mostly just looks confused, which is fair. Wouldn't you be? The star of the show is clearly the gorilla, played by Charles Gemora. I spent way too much time looking at the suit. You can see the zippers in some shots if you squint hard enough. It’s glorious.
Whenever the movie gets boring—which is often—they just cut back to the gorilla. He’s very protective. He grunts a lot. He throws people around like they’re made of cardboard. It’s arguably the most honest acting in the entire film.
There’s a scene near the middle where they’re walking through the brush, and the foliage looks like it was bought at a dollar store five minutes before shooting. It feels so small. Like the entire jungle is just a shed in the back of a studio. I kind of loved that.
It’s not as polished as The Little Giant. It feels like someone just pointed a camera at a set and hoped for the best. There’s a loose, clumsy energy to it that makes me think they were just trying to finish the day so they could go home.
If you watch it, pay attention to how the actors look at the gorilla. Sometimes they look terrified, and sometimes they look like they’re waiting for the guy inside to finish his cigarette break. It’s a toss-up.
Anyway, watch it for the absurdity. Don’t watch it for the story. You’ll be much happier that way.
