Bless the Beasts and Children Reviews

Six young men who set out to free a herd of buffalo scheduled to be shot the next day. They see some of the animals slain and are determined to save the remainder. In doing so, they learn something about themselves. All of the boys are "losers" at the private school they attend and thus identify with the fate of the doomed animals. An ensemble piece from start to finish, it's difficult to single out one particular actor for comment. Kramer killed no animals for the film but purchased stock footage and shot his sequences around the purchased scenes. Ostensibly in Arizona, much of the movie was made in the lonelier reaches of Santa Catalina Island, in areas never before seen on film. After a series of critical failures, Kramer took his eyepiece and his family and moved to Seattle, Washington. A superb score that was better than the title song (sung by The Carpenters) which garnered an Oscar nomination but lost to the theme from SHAFT.