Wild Thing

Hey, John Sayles wrote the screenplay -- that alone is a good reason to check out this little-remembered film. While other 80's films such as the Marc Singer classic "Beastmaster" and Christopher Lambert's "Greystoke" fit nicely into the hunky men in loincloths oeuvre, this one had a nice twist in that it gave the Tarzan legend a modern spin, and in addition threw in a sort of Robin Hood/Batman urban legend quality. All in all, an extremely interesting venture.

Taking cues from Batman and Tarzan, and throwing in a little of The Warriors for good measure and then sprinkling a bit of The Crow on top, this is a thoroughly enjoyable vigilante fable set in a barely recognsible to modern eyes New York.

Not a bad saturday afternoon cable flick. Probably based on the Tarzan mystique and infused with a little Batman - I got a kick out of seeing how a kid growing up in the streets builds his own weapons from junk he finds to overcome the bad guys and set the woman of his dreams free! Kathleen Quinlan pulls a Diane Fossey/Lois Lane and actually makes you want to save her too. Good music from the always interesting George S. Clinton who went on to do "Wild Things"!

Well, it is different.

I complain about movies that make no sense. I complain about movies that simply repeat other movies. The 2nd is no problem with this flick.

It's goofy, it's just a B movie, and it's not very deep but, if you're in the mood for such a tale, set in a world not far from what goofballs of the '80s found popular to imagine homeless people & homeless life being like, constructed around its own superhero, then you may find this entertaining.

Quinlan and Davi can act. Ignore that Knapper thinks the way to play ingenuous is to appear unable to act. Don't look for deeper humor than a joke about sex "hurting" because of the associated noises of the participants. Unless you find low-life hoods, after committing a murder and fleeing, taking care to put on their seatbelts, to be funny. Quinlan deserved an Oscar for making us believe she was romantically attracted to the Wild Thing. Why was there no sequel?

from the message board: "It was a bit outdated of course" what???

this is more than a Sat. afternoon special. Exremely well written if very low key there is a lot here if you look for it. Catch the cat companion/scout for instance. It not only could have been a comic book it should have been a comic book. The comic industry (as well as the film's publicists) missed the boat on this. One of the least know really great films. A great script by John Sayles is a strong point but the acting is good as well. Probably the best "super hero" film I've ever seen. Short on special effects but long on believability. This one's a keeper. I have never seen a DVD of this film but i used to own a VHS version. Good hunting