In 1870, 18-year-old Travis Coates is left in charge of his precocious 12-year-old brother, Arliss, 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 that renegade Apaches are in the area. When Travis joins Bud's 17-year-old granddaughter, Lisbeth, in a search for Arliss, all three are captured by a band of Apaches led by a Comanche. The boys' Uncle Beck Coates witnesses the scene and manages to wound the 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 Indians 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, 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.
Walt Disney bought the film rights to the novel in September 1961, prior to its publication in February 1962. The price was $25,000.[3]
Gipson was then hired to write the screenplay. He started in October at $1,250 a week.[4] Gipson was an alcoholic by this time and he was frequently incapacitated by rages.[5]
On June 14, 1962, Mike Gipson, Fred Gipson's son, found the Gipson family dog, the inspiration for Savage Sam, chained and clubbed to death in a shed behind the new family home. The next day, Mike returned to university in shock, and committed suicide that weekend. Gipson's wife would leave him a month after the premiere of Savage Sam.[6]
It was one of the first films from director Norman Tokar. Walt Disney said, "I got him from TV. I like young talent. When people get to be institutions, they direct pictures with their left hand and do something else with their right."[7]
Filming started August 6, 1962.[8] It was mostly shot around the San Fernando Valley.[9]
Critical reception
The film received poor reviews and fell short of box office expectations, paling in comparison with Old Yeller. According to Gipson's biographer, "criticized as clichéd and overdirected, the production was especially faulted for inconsistency with Gipson's tone".[10]
The Washington Post called it a "dogged, listless effort".[11]Los Angeles Times called it "action melodrama with a formula plot".[12] 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."[13]
^Looking at Hollywood: Walt Disney's Own Enchanted Kingdom Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Tribune 18 June 1963: a1.
^M.C.A. WILL DROP ITS TALENT OFFICE: Hollywood Giant Complying With Rule on Producers By MURRAY SCHUMACH Special to The New York Times. New York Times, 9 July 1962: 34.
