Yet they are legit expressions of The Human Condition. Fandango helps you go back to the movies with confidence and peace of mind. This FAQ is empty. 36 of 40 people found this review helpful. But almost the same ‘non-PC’ situation crops up in Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish comedy ¡Átame! Her offer of a ride back to his office results in a lunchtime motel rendezvous—just the beginning of a capricious interstate road trip that brings the two face-to-face with their hidden selves. Film Editor: Carl Lerner and as lucid as ever about his film work. This question came to me while watching Something Wild, a little sleeper from the mid 80s from Jonathan Demme about a seemingly typical 80s NY businessman, Charlie (Jeff Daniels) who gets whisked away by a 'free-spirit' "Lulu" (Melanie Griffith). Their reunion is not conventionally romantic, but it’s as moving as the one at the end of On Dangerous Ground. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Boasting loads of quirky charm, a pair of likable leads, and confident direction from Jonathan Demme, Something Wild navigates its … Something Wild Trailer: A straitlaced businessman meets a quirky, free-spirited woman at a downtown New York greasy spoon. As Mary Ann doesn’t explain her actions in dialogue, we must stretch to understand why she chooses to drop out of school. The Japanese films Manji, Moju and In the Realm of the Senses are far more extreme in their depictions of depraved relationships. Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Charles Watts, Clifton James, Doris Roberts, Anita Cooper, Tanya Lopert. She abandons her books in the park and rents a filthy room in a boarding house. Keep track of your favorite shows and movies, across all your devices. Check out 'Come Play,' 'Spell' and Barbara Crampton's favorite horror heroines, Final girls, scream queens and the fiercest femmes, A selection of our favorite big-screen whodunnits, Find safety procedures announced by your theater, Tyler Posey realizes he's on his own in an exclusive clip from 'Alone,' now on FandangoNOW, What to Watch on FandangoNOW: ‘Train to Busan Presents: ‘Peninsula,’ ‘The Craft: Legacy’ and More, This Week in Movie News: 2 ‘Fast & Furious’ Movies 2 Go After ‘F9,’ Joaquin Phoenix is Napoleon for Ridley Scott. People find companionship and love in any number of ways, and many don’t ask anybody else for permission to break the rules. (5305wild), Visit DVD Savant’s Main Column Page An innovative concert movie for the rock group The Talking Heads. Something Wild entered new territory for near-mainstream moviemaking in 1960. It’s completely opposed to the soft-hearted city Valentine montage that begins Woody Allen’s Manhattan. At this point we feel like we're suddenly plopped into a pulp fiction piece, with the ex-con bad-ass going to town against the would-be rebel and his girl gone awry. Now feeling increasingly alienated by the harsh and impersonal city, Mary Ann makes a sudden and radical change in her life. Use the HTML below. When artists depict ‘depraved’ relationships, it’s often to put forward radical ideas of how alienated people relate to one another. A successful, ego-maniacal architect who has spent a lifetime bullying his wife, employees and mistresses wants to make peace as his life approaches its final act. She finds a job at Woolworth’s but is ostracized by the other shop girls when she refuses to socialize. The New York Times called it ‘shattering’ but also terrible and tedious. The film’s real strength comes when the lonely Mary Ann and Mike struggle to communicate in the confined space of Mike’s room. Ralph Meeker most often plays brutal tough guys with a convincing sadistic edge; here he’s an urban working slug halfway to becoming a Morlock. It’s a tough character to play, as Mike clearly wants something better and has few ways of expressing himself. Summary: A straitlaced businessman meets a quirky, free-spirited woman at a downtown New York greasy spoon. me a copy of your review by email. Any ‘normal’ picture would break up this horror-ordeal with scenes of a clean-cut New York detective slowly working his way toward a rescue. Packaging: Keep case Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo. Somewhere back East (or in London), the Actors Studio legend Jack Garfein had found favor with the review. I like it so much, I bought it when a CD was offered a few years ago. Something happens in the relationship — he desperately needs somebody to care for, to share a life with him. Screen Reader Users: To optimize your experience with your screen reading software, please use our Flixster.com website, which has the same tickets as our Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com websites. For those who are tired of spoon-fed tripe by the studios, it's an excellent escape into one of the most unconventional (but most pleasantly genre-tastic) of the past 25 years. UA was experimenting with a few art pictures foreign and domestic, occasionally hitting the jackpot with something audience-pleasing and racy (Never On Sunday) but mostly breaking even. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Criterion performed the remaster itself, bringing out the full beauty of Schüfftan’s images and boosting the soundtrack back to full brilliance. Well, probably because most people who watch the very typical romantic comedies probably don't watch it for the same reasons that those who love Something Wild do. Director and co-writer Jack Garfein is a concentration camp survivor who became a prominent member of New York’s Actors Studio. Who gives guys like him a chance? Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com. View production, box office, & company info. Meeker’s movie roles rarely showed his range as an actor, and this show is an exception. Meeker starred in the original Picnic on Broadway, something we wish had been recorded on film. Collect bonus rewards from our many partners, including AMC, Stubs, Cinemark Connections, Regal Crown Club when you link accounts. the scene at her mother's) that there's more than meets the eye. After writing up an earlier MOD disc release of the 1961 movie Something Wild, I received a brief but welcome email note from its director: “Dear Glenn Erickson, Search for "Something Wild" on Amazon.com, Title: 1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 113 min. Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan The only sanity available is in caring relationships… which can take any form. The Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray of Something Wild is the most welcome disc of the New Year. The man is not condemned and the woman is not considered a victim. For even more, visit our Family Entertainment Guide. Instead, Garfein shows Mary Ann’s mother whining at a weary civil-servant cop, who does his best to cut through the mother’s hysterical demands. Download the TV Guide app for iPhone, iPad and Android! All three make up such a terrific combo here.It's crazy, it's awkward, it's a rip-roaring time, and it's even got heart too. Master Class with Jack Garfein is an actual taped lecture by Garfein from 2014, focusing on the actor’s technique. The cop is played by Clifton James, a fine actor from independent ’60s pictures who later become famous as a cartoonish cop. Even though the film is an unadulterated farce, to some degree based on Don Quixote, audiences in 1990 rejected it on grounds of misogynistic sexism. Free (& Subscription) Games for All Platforms: New & Upcoming, Best of 2018: Film Awards and Nominations, Music title data, credits, and images provided by, Movie title data, credits, and poster art provided by. That’s a predictable reaction, but it misses the film’s point altogether. Blu-ray rates: The sight of two lovers on the subway cheers her as she skips on the way home. Garfein’s gritty images of ugly NYC streets are different than Jacques Tourneur’s expressionist pools of black, but the effect is the same — Mary Ann clearly feels alienated from herself, that there’s something sick about her. The way Mike and Mary Ann get together is not a ‘meet cute’ that anybody would endorse. He made his name with his stage play End as a Man, an unflinching drama about evil doings in a military school. Although Baker hadn’t continued with similar roles, she was still typed as a sex object. We aren’t surprised that audiences didn’t go for Something Wild. Griffith is in one of her very best, not acting too precocious or annoying, and conveying in the little bits of 'regular' Audrey (i.e. Photo Credits: Netflix; Pop TV; Robert Viglasky, Hartswood Films; Fred Hayes/Disney+, Fox, PopTV; Bettina Strauss/Netflix; Nicole Rivelli/Amazon, Netflix, Frank Masi/Apple, Disney, Jasper Savage/Hulu; Diyah Pera/CW, Matthew Daddario and Lana Parrilla Are Playing Lovers in. Written by Original Music: Aaron Copland The swarthy landlord (Martin Kosleck) cheats her on the rent. Directed by Jonathan Demme. By contrast Something Wild is humane and gentle with its emotionally crippled couple. Rack up 500 points and you'll score a $5 reward for more movies. When the cheap MOD disc came out five years ago, I was almost depressed — it was a cheap encoding of some wretched flat transfer from the 1990s, and even the soundtrack was dull. The only Normal in this marvelous movie is the unpredictability of life. When she regains her freedom she doesn’t run to the nearest policeman. Columbia produced a 1958 movie version called The Strange One starring the play’s major discovery, actor Ben Gazarra. Now it looks and sounds great. It may feel pretentious here and there, but it doesn’t compromise itself with a conclusion that clears up all issues and returns the world to ‘normal.’ I’ve always felt deeply moved by Garfein’s brand of subjective filmmaking, which approaches everything through human observation.