Tiger Walks, A (film) A drunken truck driver accidentally permits a mistreated tiger to escape from captivity while the circus wagon is undergoing repairs in a small country town garage. This animal, never out of captivity, escapes into the countryside, hungry, frightened, and incapable of coping with this new way of life. Julie, the young daughter of the local sheriff, realizes that the gathering hordes of local hunters, the Army, and her father’s deputies will kill the tiger, who does not belong in the wilds but back in captivity. She succeeds in winning over her father, who decides to send for a tranquilizer gun located in a nearby city in an effort to capture the animal peacefully before it is killed by an aroused and panic-stricken community. In the end, the animal is spared and returned to the only life it knows, at the local zoo. Released on March 12, 1964. Directed by Norman Tokar. 91 min. Stars Brian Keith (Pete Williams), Vera Miles (Dorothy Williams), Pamela Franklin (Julie Williams), Sabu (Ram Singh), Kevin Corcoran (Tom Hadley), Peter Brown (Vern Goodman). One of the highlights of this film is the truly extraordinary supporting cast, which featured such favorites as Una Merkel (Mrs. Watkins), Connie Gilchrist (Lewis’ wife), Frank McHugh (Bill Watkins), Edward Andrews (Governor), Doodles Weaver (Bob Evans), Jack Albertson (Sam Grant), Arthur Hunnicutt (Lewis), and Hal Peary (Uncle Harry). This was Sabu’s last film role. With sets built at the Disney Studio in Burbank, things got a little exciting during filming when at one point the trained tiger leapt through a sheet of plate glass that had been placed between him and the camera. But the trainers soon had him back under control before anyone was injured. Because of the serious subject matter and the unflattering look at small-town life, the film was only moderately successful. Released on video in 1986.
