Au bout de la nuit

I had never seen 'Something Wild' and I tuned in late on TCM last night. Perhaps I shouldn't review this at all, but I was taken by the 85% of it I saw. Already I feel stupid. This is a very compelling movie with some of the best actors around N.Y. at the time. Two wounded people. One of whose wounds are very apparent and the other more mysterious. It's a love story, but one I've never quite seen before. Two people very vulnerable and troubled who come together in odd circumstance, but find a sort of destined relationship based on gentleness, safety and mutual need. What starts out as claustrophobic becomes a safe place, a room of one's own. Carroll Baker made some of my favorite films of that time, and her then husband Jack Garfein, who co- wrote and directed, brings a tragic personal biography to his work. Ralph Meeker, a very fine actor who never got the roles and acclaim he should have is superb in this as a character I've never seen before in any film. Yes, a lot of time is spent in one shabby room, but that is what its about, isn't it? Mildred Dunnock? Well there was never anyone like her. Aaron Copeland contributed a magnificent score and the cinematography is seamless with the story. Enigmatic ending, perhaps, but that's life. I found it perfectly true to the characters.

This movie is somber, downbeat, and really really weird. Many women hate this movie because of the ending. And for good reason. I guess you can say this is the kind of movie that leaves one with a bad taste in the mouth. It is the kind of movie where you want to scream at the characters--"what the hell are you doing?" But this film is hypnotic in its strange way. The performances are terrific, and the locations are stunning. They may not have been viewed that way 40 years ago, but today it is a kind of museum piece, very accurately capturing the atmosphere of New York City in the early Sixties. There is an excellent score by Aaron Copland, which was later released as "Symphony for a Great City." Since this was a low-budget movie, one really has to wonder how much he was paid to score this film. You also have to wonder why this movie was such poison for everyone associated with it. The author of the novel never wrote anything significant again. The director, Baker's hubby, faded away. Baker divorced him and Ralph Meeker hit the skids. Something Wild has many tragic dimensions, for both its characters and its stars.

I remember watching this movie when i was in grade school and getting reprimanded by parents for viewing an"adult" film. I have seen it through various stages of my life and still find it intriguing. Both Mike and Maryann are not endearing characters and have many physical and psychological problems. When I say they deserve one another;I don't mean it in a harsh way, but rather a statement of practicality. We are not shed too much light on their past, but know it is affecting their present. Only with the help and love of each other can they survive their all too bleak future. The filming in black and white certainly adds to the dreariness of their situations. They are not "people" persons, but seem to have respect and commiseration for one another. Though Mike (RalphMeeker) seems to be controlling and possessive, it is something Maryann unconsciously needs. He builds her stamina and literally sharpens her survival skills. Maryann had problems before the rape as seen in flashbacks of her school and home life. Mike seems to be more mysterious, living a desolate and pitiful existence..only confiding to her that she is his last chance. It is only through their incredible acting that you forgive their shortcomings.

Actually, New York,New York is the real star of SOMETHING WILD. Carroll Baker is lovingly lit throughout the whole picture(thanks to Director and then husband Jack Garfein)amidst the alternate squalor and splendor of America's greatest city.

The brutal rape of Miss Baker's character within the first 5 minutes of the movie is depicted with surprising frankness for its time. One can almost smell the sweat of the predatory thug who, without saying a word, viciously violates her. This scene is all the more harrowing in that there is no music soundtrack provided. Yet another example that The Hays Code was becoming by 1961 an historical document not reflecting the current mood of what the North American movie public was indeed mature enough to view on the silver screen.

I really enjoyed the kitchen sink realism of this picture, from the cattiness of the girls at Woolworth's against fellow worker Miss Baker(Doris Roberts nails her part for all it's worth) to the good natured slovenliness of Jean Stapleton's next door neighbor in the tenement slum.

Ralph Meeker(every man's meat&potatoes actor)is Carroll Baker's 'knight in shining armor' in this movie. Rescuing Miss Baker from a leap into despair and the briny deep, he then proceeds to hold her captive in his castle,or in this case a barren basement bed and...bed. "Mike" is an auto mechanic and yet he has no phone,no radio, and just one light bulb that illuminates the entire room. However, away from the elbow grease of his job, "Mike" likes to spend his hard earned money bending his elbow at the neighborhood bar. We see the staggering evidence on more than one occasion and poor Carroll, already victimized earlier now has to confront yet another man turned beast.

Of particular notice is Carroll Baker's wardrobe throughout this flick. She wears light-colored dresses and matching white pumps which, with her soft, flowing blonde hair, enhances her already luminous presence on screen. This is all the more striking in black & white,particularly during the location shots along the sleazy store fronts of 42nd St. Only at the movie's end does she wear a dark print dress and jet black high heels. Likewise in BABY DOLL, Miss Baker wore white until the final reel,after her climactic encounter with Eli Wallach,in which she then donned a black dress.

Parallels may be drawn between the two movies, but SOMETHING WILD is as valid today as a subway token. Some days you are lucky to find a seat,while on others you better hold on to the overhanging strap.

Rate this *** out of **** stars.

An offbeat, oddly moving film in which Carroll Baker plays a young victim of rape. Although the crime goes unnamed in this 1961 movie, the pain and anguish suffered by Baker's character, Mary Ann, are candidly as well as sensitively handled. And while the film can only hint at Mary Ann's thoughts (unlike the book on which it was based), Baker gives a touching performance as the victim who tries to deny the crime by erasing all physical traces of it, and then seeking to lose herself in the jungle of New York City, only to find herself trapped in the apartment of a supposed Good Samaritan played by Ralph Meeker. The film's second half is weakened by the sketchiness of the characters' motivations, but the actors help to fill in the gaps. Legendary American composer Aaron Copland has added a grand (perhaps too grand) musical score; Eugen Schüfftan's crisp black & white cinematography and the extensive use of New York City locations add to this drama. Directed by Jack Garfein (Baker's then-husband), who co-wrote the script with Alex Karmel, author of the 1958 novel "Mary Ann."