John Savage: ACTORS & Skin

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Actor John Savage got his start in the 1969 film The Master Beater. Th soft X film has been commercially unavailable since its heyday in grindhouse theaters in the early 70's. I attempted to find a copy, but without much success.   The exploitation film didn't hurt Savage's career however, as he worked steadily through the 70's in some of the years most successful films.

Some of Savage's early films included:  Bad Company, (1972) The Deer Hunter, (1978) and Hair. (1979)  Savage also had a brief turn in the TV show Gibbsville and in the late 1970s, Savage performed in the Broadway production of David Mamet's play American Buffalo.

Gibbsville (1976-1977)

The 70's also marked the first of Savage's nude scenes with The Killing Kind in 1973.  The Killing Kind was actually the fist film of Savage's that I saw thanks to a late night airing on TCM.  I think it was around 2013 when I saw the film and was drawn into the story, and through Savage's performance.

Hair: (1979)

It was after seeing The Killing Kind that I tracked down more of Savages movies, eventually seeing his turns in Hair and The Deer Hunter.  Not only an excellent actor, Savage has such a uniquely beautiful face.  He can play the wide eyed innocent, as well as more sinister characters with equal believability. 

The Killing Kind (1973)

'When They Made the Mistake of Letting Him Out, She Made the Mistake of Letting Him In.'

1973's The Killing Kind starts with a rather disturbing scene of a gang rape.  Savage plays Terry Lester,  and although he was not involved with initiating the assault, he friends force him to participate.  Terry actually sort of freezes, until his friends push him on top of the victim and pull down his jean shorts and yell at him to go for it.  

Terry ends up serving a prison term and the film picks up after he returns home after being released. Terry ends moving into his mother's boarding house. Terry's mother Thelma (Ann Sothern), runs a boarding house primarily for elderly ladies and Terry and Thelma have a relationship of unusual intimacy. You can check out caps from the film in the NUDE section below.