The Wild and the Willing

I am prompted to offer this review of The Wild and the Willing by what I think is its undeserved user rating on this site. While the film has its shortcomings it does offer some good entertainment for those who enjoy the atmosphere of the play hard-work little milieu of young 1960's university students. The banter and dialogue of especially the first half is good as well as the characters and motivations of many of the leads - the bright angry working class boy who fits right in but is forever feeling guilty about it; the good looking girls seeking that superior male meal ticket while being abruptly dismissive of lesser types wanting their company; the emotionally unsatisfied wife of a cold academic looking for comfort in younger male students and many others. And this is probably where it runs off the rails a bit in the second half with the relationship between the wife and the working class student being rushed and not quite plausible in its sudden intensity given he has been happily dating a young Samantha Eggar. The dramatic finale of the prank is also a little overblown. Overall this site's user rating of 6 is too low for a film that has many enjoyable attributes not least the acting of Ian McShane, Virginia Maskell, Samantha Eggar and others. I would clearly list it in the upper 7's.

Knighthood-seeking university professor "Chown" (Paul Rogers) is married to "Virginia" (Virgina Maskell) who has a penchant, after the tiniest bit of persuasion, for his student "Brown" (Ian McShane). He is quite a compelling character who lives life on the edge and makes friends easily. When things come to a bit of an head, "Brown" and his friend "Phil" (John Hurt) decide that they are going to fly their rag flag from the top of the tower of the school - but might that be one risky venture too far for this man? I suppose it is trying to show us a clash of cultures and classes, but the undercooked writing is just too pedestrian and the acting doesn't ever allow the thing to catch fire. That's a problem with a film where lust, envy and forbidden romance is crucial to the characters' development, and though Rogers proves a safe enough pair of hands, the others only present us with something that could just as readily have been produced by the students the cast are trying to represent. It's perhaps not fair to be too critical, we have moved on considerably from the racist and ageist toxicity depicted here from 1962, but McShane, Hurt and a few other familiar faces just can't imbue this with any sense of reality. It scratches the surface of so many topics, but that's about the disappointing height of it.

Ian McShane (in his screen debut) is a brilliant student who makes friends easily among his peers, but has no respect for the university. He makes passes at his master's wife, indulges in pranks, and thoroughly resents the hidebound attitudes of the class-ridden institution. But is it their snobbery or his?

Producer Betty Box has gifted director Ralph Thomas with an astonishing troupe of young performers, including John Hurt (also in his big-screen debut), Jeremy Brett, and Samantha Eggar. Thomas has responded by offering a very workmanlike screen adaptation of Laurence Dobie & Robert Sloman's play, opened up nicely, with Lincoln standing in for the fictional academic town. Thomas' typically middle-brow work doesn't offer much in the way of surprising revelation, save that the lower classes must pull up their socks as well and the upper set. Still, the performances are melancholic, Lincoln is very photogenic, and the story of a man who grows up a little too late is a good one.

It's the days when university was quite special, where the students that attended liked to revel, a pint of bitter in Ye Olde Crown, making locals squeal and frown, boys and girls were kept apart, not on the level. But like today some found their way to go astray, as their hormones opened other doors for play, on this occasion it's the wife, of a lecturer in strife, who entices Harry through, her porch doorway. More high jinks leads to a climb up Lucy Tower, where poor Phil decides to mimic a rain shower, and cascades down to the floor, his ascent turns into pour, and the life of Harry continues, as dour.

Ian McShane's debut film has him playing a scholarship university student, Harry Brown, who has a high opinion of himself and comes unstuck by taking too many risks.

As a plot, The Wild and the Willing is dated and a bit forced, but the interest these days is in the cast - top billed are Paul Rogers and the ill-fated Virginia Maskell, but we also have McShane (best known these days for Lovejoy and Deadwood), John Hurt (here not really displaying the qualities he would in The English Civil Servant, The Elephant Man, and 1984), Johnny Briggs (Coronation Street's Mike Baldwin), and Jeremy Brett (probably the screen's best Sherlock Holmes).

So the film is watchable and has interest because of its cast, but it isn't really a classic. If you like the usual story of shenanigans at university with a macabre twist, then you'll probably like this. If not, just enjoy some youthful performances from actors you'll know much better from their later work.