The Summary for this unviewed documentary was based on reviews.
       As noted in the 8 May 1974 Var review, producer-director Eugene S. Jones was known for his work as a television news correspondent and producer for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). He was also a photojournalist and a combat photographer during the Korean War and for the Marine Corps during WWII, where he was wounded several times according to the 1989 Victor J. Croizat book Across the Reef: The Amphibious Tracked Vehicle at War. Similarly, Jones’s wife and co-producer, Natalie R. Jones, had also earned a reputation as a film journalist. The couple achieved critical acclaim for their 1968 feature-length documentary A Face of War (see entry) that followed the 7th Marine Regiment during the Vietnam War. That project left Eugene S. Jones twice wounded. The Joneses reportedly filmed Two Men of Karamoja with 16mm Éclair cameras on location at the 557 square mile Kidepo Valley National Park in Karamoja, Uganda. According to production notes in AMPAS library files, a crew of five filmmakers shot the footage over the course of eight consecutive months in Karamoja, but the production took over three years to complete. The 18 May 1974 NYT review added that filming ended in 1973.
       In a 24 Mar 1975 LAHExam article, the Joneses noted that Natalie initiated the idea of the documentary because of her love of animals and their interest in colonization. The couple interviewed nearly sixty pairs of park wardens, British nationalists being displaced by their African counterparts. The Joneses stated that the militaristic and volatile Ugandan president at that time, Idi Amin, forbade them to film the ever-present army troops that were stationed in the park. The soldiers were reportedly not kind to the filmmakers even though Natalie saved two men’s lives from an overturned jeep at one point during production. During an early phase of filming, the couple was detained by Sudanese rebels and were held hostage at gunpoint. After their release, chief warden Iain Ross speculated that the men were unsettled by the novelty of seeing a white woman for the first time. The Joneses also recounted an experience that helped them realize the location was not as remote as it appeared: an old African man approached them with an issue of Time, inquiring why the U.S. was waging war in Vietnam.
       An 8 Apr 1974 Box news item announced that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) had changed the documentary’s R-rating to PG in response to the Joneses appeal. The 20 May 1974 Box review noted that the change was made “without any apparent cuts,” as the reviewer stated that the film depicted a Karamojong drinking blood from a freshly slain animal, and a human birth.
       While the picture opened in New York City 15 May 1974 as Two Men of Karamoja, the title was changed to The Wild and the Brave for its Los Angeles, CA, opening the following year, on 12 Mar 1975. According to production notes, the title was changed to “avoid potential audience confusion over the word ‘Karamoja.’”
       Although the documentary was widely hailed, many reviews, including the 8 May 1974 Var, expressed disbelief that the film was a true representation of cinema verité and speculated that the exchanges between Iain Ross and Paul Ssali had been coached by the filmmakers.
       As annonunced in the 31 Mar 1975 DV, the film won the 1974 Christopher Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature Motion Picture. It was also nominated for an Academy Award in the category Documentary (Feature).