Visit to a Chief's Son

1974
G
1h 25m

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

126

YOUR RATING

Adventure Drama Family

An American anthropologist and his son benefit from their experiences with an East African tribe.An American anthropologist and his son benefit from their experiences with an East African tribe.An American anthropologist and his son benefit from their experiences with an East African tribe.

Director
- Lamont Johnson
Writers
- Robert Halmi Sr.
- Albert Ruben
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

126

YOUR RATING

Director
- Lamont Johnson
Writers
- Robert Halmi Sr.
- Albert Ruben
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos3

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Trivia
The film was originally given an R rating in the US to the director's fury because of a brief flash of nudity in the underwater swimming scene. "Four frames of film in which a barely perceptible view of a 12-year-old boy's penis appeared in an underwater sequence gave my movie Visit to a Chiefs Son an R rating until the objectionable subliminal flash was blown up to eliminate it. That my film, from its conception to its final cut an unabashed family, kids-and-animals-in-Africa picture, should have the same rating as The Exorcist is an obscenity symptomatic of our national disease of censorship," Lamont Johnson said in 1974. After re-editing, the film was given a G certificate.

Soundtracks
Visit To A Chief's Son (Main Titles)
Written and Performed by Francis Lai And His Orchestra, Arranged by Christian Gaubert

User reviews2

Featured review

5/10

70s oddity

Visit to A Chief's Son is a strange mixture of anthropology, travelogue, and social commentary. Beautifully filmed by Ernest Day, who went on to work on several James Bond films, it's the story of scientist Richard Mulligan and his attempts to get close to the Masai people of Kenya. His son, played by John Philip Hogdon in a commendably understated performance, gums up the works, and an educated-in-London Masai (Johnny Sekka) further complicates matters by messing with Mulligan's preconceived notions about 'the natives'. It's not very exciting, but it is an interesting and serious look at the pressures put on tribal peoples by modernism and progress. It would be nice to see the film in its proper aspect ratio as the TV print really doesn't do Day's work justice.