Walk on the Wild Side

This films is to New Orleans bordellos what "The Best of Everything" was to advertisement agencies and "Valley of the Dolls" was to Broadway hopefuls. Unlike those two "A" grade Technicolor soap operas, this film doesn't hide its garbage, and lacks the unintentional humor of those pot-boilers. The story surrounds a drifter (Laurence Harvey) who encounters the tough-talking Jane Fonda (as "Kitty Twist", a drag name if I ever heard one...) on his way out of Texas to New Orleans to locate his former lover (Capucine) and on the way, they encounter kindly Mexican diner owner Anne Baxter (!) who takes Harvey on as a hired hand after Fonda tries to rip her off. Capucine turns up in the "dollhouse", a bordello owned by the tough Jo (Barbara Stanwyck) who has more of an interest on her than a madame/* business relationship. Jo is so cruel that she can't even buy her legless husband a wheelchair, content to see him maneuver his way around on a wheeled plank instead. Harvey, determined to win his old love back, utilizes Kitty (convienantly now one of Jo's "girls") and Baxter for help to predictable results. You may need a shower after watching this perverse examination of degradation. Even with engrossing performances (although Baxter's casting as a Mexican lady is a bit eye-raising) this film never rises above its filthy bottom. Stanwyck's Jo certainly garners the most attention, unashamed to be playing an extremely vicious and possessive lesbian, only revealing tenderness in her character a few brief scenes with Capucine and her distaste for men in a dramatic explosion with her pathetic husband. The reason for his missing legs is never explained, only inferred. The 25 year old Fonda's character (supposedly under-aged) is not fully developed, while Capucine gives an appropriately restrained performance as a character pretty much dead in everything but flesh. Hero Harvey seems out of sorts in a role which required more subtle brooding. Somehow, he comes off as a gentleman on the opposite side of the tracks who decided to experiment with life by slumming.

Greatly enjoyed this B&W Film and the wonderful performances of all the leading actors. Jan Fonda,(Hallie Gerard),"The 7th Dawn", gave an outstanding performance jumping in and out of box cars on the railroad, sleeping in large conduit and being very very sexy, young and pretty. Hallie meets Laurence Harvey (Dave Linkhorn),"Welcome to Arrow Beach",'74, a drifter going on his way to New Orleans, La., to find his long lost sweetheart. Dave however, shares a night in the outdoors like a homeless person with his new found friend Hallie. The couple run into kind hearted Anne Baxter(Teresina Vidaverri),"Jane Austen in Manhattan",'80, who has a nice Spanish diner and helps the couple get on their way to New Orleans. Barbara Stanwyck,(Jo Courtney, "The Night Walker",'65 runs a brothel where Dave's girlfriend seems to have employment. This is a worthwhile Classic film to view along with fantastic acting!

With the Code still in place we could only hint about Barbara Stanwyck's alternative sexuality. Yet those are screaming hints about why Barbara is so obsessed with keeping Capucine at her bordello. Walk on the Wild Side is the kind of delicious trash that Hollywood loves to give us in the movie going public. Laurence Harvey who went from that noblest of Texan founders, William Barrett Travis in The Alamo to poor white trash lovesick Dove Linkhorn who's on his way to New Orleans to get his girl to marry him and live the life of a poor dirt farmer back in Texas. Traveling on the bum, he meets Jane Fonda, a teenager on the road as well. What I can't figure out is that Capucine who is Harvey's intended is a girl with artistic skills. She's a sculptress as well as a temptress and why she would want to waste her time on Harvey is beyond me. Even if she finds herself as Stanwyck's favorite at the bordello which is where she wound up, you've got to believe she would have married one of the well to do clients. It's happened before. Other reviewers who've read the original book by Nelson Algren mention that Harvey's character is not much more than a teenager himself. Clearly then Harvey is too old for the part. But as presented possibly Monty Clift or Paul Newman could have made more of the role. My guess is that Director Edward Dmytryk wanted a clearer contrast in age between Jane Fonda and Laurence Harvey because part of the story involves Harvey being framed for a Mann Act violation in transporting the minor Fonda. That is Anne Baxter with a very phony Latino accent as the truck stop owner who takes in Harvey and Fonda from the road and develops a thing for Harvey herself. That's a more serious error in casting. Why didn't Columbia try to get Katy Jurado for the part? Acting honors in this go to Barbara Stanwyck as Jo, the lesbian madam of the house whose Jones for Capucine drive this whole film. Her portrayal in Walk on the Wild Side is another crack in the once omnipotent Code. You've got to love Elmer Bernstein's jazz based score with the title tune that got Walk on the Wild Side it's only Academy Award nomination. It really does drive the pace of the film and underscores the emotions of all involved. For those who like their films deliciously trashy this is definitely your kind of movie.

This is one of those films that is so odd and so unusual, especially for it's time, that it must be viewed at least once. However, it isn't really good enough (or bad enough) to emerge as an all-time camp classic. If the film has accomplished anything, it's giving the world the wonderfully jazzy and seductive title song...still in use today by singers and even figure skaters! The much-lauded title credits are also interestingly done, but modern (i.e.-younger) viewers may wonder what the fuss is about in light of the more sophisticated imagery that contemporary films offer. Drifter Harvey (34, but continuously referred to as a boy!) runs into Fonda (considered a juvenile though she was 25!) and they head to New Orleans for their own purposes. He's looking for a long lost girlfriend. She wants to get a job or sleep her way into riches or both. They stop at a cafe run by the most hilariously miscast person in all eternity. Baxter (in a black Halloween wig) growls her lines in a "theek" Spanish accent and parades around in ridiculous ethnic dresses. As always, she tries to give a classy, meaningful performance, but she was defeated from the moment she was cast. Harvey finally meets up with the old squeeze (Capucine), only now she is the plaything of and sometimes prostitute for lesbian bordello madam Stanwyck. In retrospect, this casting doesn't seem so strange, but for the time it must have been stunning! Everything is so veiled and toned down, one can't really get a grip on all of the sexual shenanigans, but Stanwyck makes it clear how she feels...especially at the end. Capucine (apparently photographed through a wool sweater) is very detached as she should be, but also hard to understand with a heavy French accent and what seems to be a cold? Only some of her dialogue can be understood. Still, she is lovely to look at, especially in a Grecian-style gown with chiffon wrap. Fonda is just plain hot. Her figure was at it's all time peak and she works it all over the place. Harvey and Baxter (the two most miscast people in the film) were used because the producer was also their agent. He may have made a little dough off of them, but it sunk his picture. The music adds a lot to the film, but after a while it seems odd that the bordello band seems to know only two songs!! This film gives Swenson a bit meatier a role than he was used to and Rust makes a very menacing henchman, but it's unreal that Moore, an Academy Award nominee just two years earlier is relegated to the tiny part of a maid! Racial inequality at it's finest.

An itinerant Texas dirt farmer searches for his lost love discovered now working in a New Orleans brothel where she is the "favorite" of the madam of the house. Much has been written about the superb opening and closing credits and the jazzy music and stunning b/w photography but this film also expertly captures a time (Depression)and place and mood and has a totally engaging story (pared down from Nelson Algren's large novel)and a wonderful cast with Laurence Harvey, Barbara Stanwyck, Anne Baxter, a young Jane Fonda and the goddess-like Capucine as the center of attention. Various biogs of these stars say it was not a happy production but the finished product is highly polished.

This movie has a number of memorable scenes and performances. The problem is the major miscasting of Laurence Harvey in the lead. If Rod Taylor or Chuck Connors had been cast as Dove, the film could have worked. As is, Harvey views the tawdry world into which he's plunged with a curious affected distance rather than shock or wonder or contempt. The result for the viewer is one gigantic disconnect. Still Cappucine, Stanwyck, and Fonda make this one worth watching at least once.

It's obvious that none of the other reviewers has read the book on which this disasters is supposedly based. I've read the book, it's one of my favorites. This movie is very disloyal to the book and it's a big disappointment. No wonder Nelson Algren didn't even want to attend the premiere. The only things about this movie that are true to the book are the characters' names (except Jo, who's not even in the book) and some of that plot elements. Someone mentioned the absurdity of Dove being referred to as a boy and Kitty being referred to as a minor in the film. That's because in the book, Dove is 17 and Kitty is 16. Hallie is biracial. Oliver is not disabled, but there is a disabled character in the book. Teresina is perhaps the only character that's closest to the book. But the plot elements that surround the character in the film are slightly different than the book. What I'm trying to say is that, if you're going to base a movie on a book, at least maintain most of the basic elements. Don't change the story, add new characters or combine existing ones. This movie is a hack job and I would love to see a version that's true to the book. That would be a much better movie, one worth seeing.

I haven't seen this movie in 40 years. Being 8 years old the first time I watched this curious flick I did not know the meaning of camp. Watching this movie last night I realized this is classic camp. Stanwyck plays what is considered to be the first out lesbian in a major film and Fonda (never more beautiful) plays an underage bad girl headed for the "doll house." This was Fonda's second movie and she was actually 25. Most reviews mention her overacting. I thought she actually gave the movie energy. Capucine underacts as much as Fonda overacts and she is quite boring and wooden. The best one could say about her performance is she has great cheekbones. Anne Baxter (in a part that should have been played by Rita Moreno) isn't as bad as other reviewers have stated, although her wig is a little distracting. Laurence Harvey has a lot of sex appeal and presence while doing very little. Look also for Joanna Moore(Tatum's mom) as one of the "dolls". The French Quater sets are right out of Streetcar. As a matter of fact, the whole movie plays like Tennesee Williams. I believe the song was nominated for an Oscar, rightfully so, since the score was beautiful. Hollywood should do a remake. Maybe Fonda in the Stanwyck role?

Have you ever seen a film and wondered if maybe the producers picked names at random for the various parts? This is how I felt when I watched "Walk on the Wild Side"...a strangely cast film if I've ever seen one! First, British actor Laurence Harvey plays an American. Second, American actress Anne Baxter plays a Mexican-American! And, the French actress Capucine plays Harvey's love interest who lives in New Orleans. All very odd choices to say the least...and I don't know why they didn't just hire folks more suited for the parts. Clearly this is a case where the casting choices were inexplicable! As for the story, Harvey plays Dove Linkhorn (wow...what an odd name)...a man who has been hitchhiking and riding the rails to get to New Orleans to find his lady love, Hallie (Capucine). He doesn't find her until well in to the movie...after which he's made the acquaintance of a couple other ladies. Kitty (Jane Fonda) overacts horribly here...and she later became a marvelous actress but certainly NOT in "Walk on the Wild Side"! Teresina (Baxter) is better....though her strange Mexican accent is out of place. Regardless, the two fall for him...but he's loyal to Hallie. Sadly, however, Hallie turns out to be a high-priced call girl and she evidently stopped waiting for Dove. What's next? See the film if you'd like. The most interesting thing about the film is Barbara Stanwyck, who plays a woman who appears to be a lesbian (though she is married to a man). This was something pretty shocking back in 1962 and was apparently the first time an more overtly lesbian character was in an American mainstream movie--but it still isn't 100% explicitly stated. The rest of the movie has its moments and the plot is interesting. But the lack of subtlety, miscast characters and the general depressing nature of the plot make it a hard sell and take away from the story. In fact, I'd love to see a re-make of this picture, as the general plot is pretty unusual...but the execution, well, it's less than stellar.

I have not seen this film in decades and to be honest, I had no idea Stanwyck's character was a lesbian (I was too young to get it), but Jane Fonda's child prostitution disturbed me then. I am giving this film one star, because IMDb does not offer ZERO stars. Barbara Stanwyck is one of the greatest actresses of all-time, but offers the worst performance of her career, in this turkey. What is perhaps worst of all, is there is not a single character, you can care about except Teresina Vidaverri (Anne Baxter). I know there are people who like the opening of this film and the jazz score, but I did not. The worst part was the death of Capucine and the abrupt ending (Perhaps a happier ending might have improved the film). Basically it was depressing from start to finish, and the only reason I sat through it, was I thought it had to get better (It did not). As I analyze this film more, I realize it is simply the worst film I have ever seen.