A Review by Dr. Joseph Suglia
Added 11/7/2009
Donald Cammell's beautiful and poetic WILD SIDE concludes the path that he began with Nicolas Roeg in 1969. I am referring, of course, to their directorial debut, the magisterial PERFORMANCE. As in PERFORMANCE, the principal characters mirror one another at crucial points---the rogue undercover cop (Steve Bauer), the vampirelike money launderer (Christopher Walken), his bewitching wife (Joan Chen), the banker/prostitute (Anne Heche) all perform a round-dance in which each partner takes on the other's identity, is attracted to the other because s/he sees in him/her a reflection of his/her own self. The fascination with homoeroticism, as in PERFORMANCE, could be taken on its own terms; more profoundly, it touches upon the film's Cammell's tireless obsession with finding similitude in difference.
Homosexuality is the love of the same. Homosexuality is a metaphor in the film for difference-in-similarity, similarity-in-difference.
As in PERFORMANCE, the dialogue in this film is highly lyrical and stylized.
Every scene in this film is essential. Shame on the MPAA for forcing Cammell to censor his film (the film is now attributed to his psuedonym, "Frederick Brauner"). To all those who read these words: Search for the director's cut of this film---which is available through amazon.co.uk. Even the so-called "uncensored version" (in America) is a truncated version.
Without a knowledge of PERFORMANCE, the significance of THE WILD SIDE will be lost on the viewer.
Someday, Donald Cammell will be celebrated as one of the greatest directors in film history. His films are PERFORMANCE, DEMON SEED, THE WHITE OF THE EYE, and THE WILD SIDE.
Dr. Joseph Suglia
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So Bad It's Almost Good
Added 10/9/2005
Who cares about the boring lesbo stuff...the skinny, rat-faced Heche is nothing to look at, the other one is, but so what? The reason to watch this flick, of course, is Walken...who parades around in Hawaiian shirts, silk dressing gowns with black socks, Coke bottle glasses, a fright mask wig, and Cuban cigar - sometimes all at once. The plot is presposterous, the best scene - and truly a great laugh - is in the hotel room: gun-wielding, condomed Walken in aforementioned get-up, bending undercover cop chauffeur over sofa, screaming prostitute Heche, walked in on by Chen who looks at Walken and says "whore" His line: "It's not what it looks like.....I can't believe I'm paying for this"
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More mild, than wild, but Anne Heche did look fairly good.
Added 6/1/2004
This strange mix of money, lesbian sex, and a plot that (at times) was a little hard to follow, did feature a fairly decent looking Anne Heche (Ellen Degeneres' former girlfriend, and I could see why) and Joan Chen, who have a few fairly steamy scenes together (too bad Ms. Chen didn't show more). The always strange Christopher Walken and Steven Bauer flesh out (pardon the usage) story, such as it is. I give it four stars for Heche, who can't really act, but did look good; I might have given it five, if Chen had shown more, other than that, ok, but not great. [Supposed to be the unrated edition, but I'm not so sure].
3 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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Wild Side
Added 2/27/2004
The only edition available on DVD is apparently the R-rated one which does not contain the hot scene with Heche and Chen.
19 out of 19 people found this helpful.
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Call me . . . ????
Added 2/13/2004
The provocative Anne Heche made a reputation in Hollywood due to her affairs with high profile comedians on her climb to the top. Few know that Heche was briefly Steve Martin's girlfiend before she was Ellen's, and despite her evident ability and attractiveness, a certain pall fell over her persona, as a real life heartbreaker (even before Ellen). She has hence been cast generally as a heavy, if not fem-lesbian, and even a twisted type.
All of which makes her heady performance in Wild Side the more exciting. As the reviews tell you, the film is uneven. Yet, it has moments of brilliance from all the players. Walken is wickedly funny in his absurd role, Bauer is often convincing, and Chen is her usual, magnificent self.
But Heche carries the film. The brief post-rape phone call scene on the kitchen counter is a high art, convincing
and sensitive, and she has rarely looked better than in the brocade (did I get the spelling?) kimono she wears in the following scenes.
But, it is the romance with Chen that is worth the price of the disc (although any cuts other than the director's should be universally outlawed on DVD, at least). Let's face it, these women are gorgeous, and even better together, au natural. As close as mainstream Hollywood has gotten (or may ever get) to XXX sex. But, the power of the justly celebrated scene arises from Heche's elegant portrayal of her character's seduction. The film will probably endure, despite its many flaws, as the most revealing testimony to her notable, if not major, talent. Sexy and worth watching.
11 out of 11 people found this helpful.
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Avoid This Version......
Added 7/13/2009
This is just a rehash of the old Lion's Gate version that was cut beyond belief. If you really want to see this film there is an affordable "Director's Cut" available from Tartan Video in England and available from Amazon.UK. All you need is a DVD player that can play PAL (a surprising number of low-end DVD players will do the conversion). You can google your model and see if it will handle PAL broadcast format. You can order the Brit DVD here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Side-DVD-Christopher-Walken/dp/B000050GOU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1247449628&sr=8-2
Just don't bother with any of the current US releases.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Wild Side - no, actually mild side....
Added 6/3/2009
This title is not the original theatrical release of Wild Side. The original release was 111 minutes and the runtime of the DVD is slightly more than 90 minutes.
The transfer is acceptable - however the chaptering was poorly done.
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so patchy that it fails to hang together
Added 5/13/2009
Boy am I sorry that I bought this version. I had no idea that so much of it was cut that the story barely makes sense. The characters seem incomplete, some of the best scenes are simply not there, and you get little sense of the geography in which they are operating. Who on Earth would have produced this incomplete version? Who would ever want it this way? Incredible.
As for the acting, Walken and Chen save it, but only to a degree (i.e. not a one-star rating). They are both accomplished actors who can evoke entire personalities and environments in simple gestures and body language, and their characters appear reasonably complete. However, the script is so poor that not even they can get beyond it and so much of it comes off as making less than cogent sense. Heche, unfortunately, is pretty bad, for the most part failing to achieve a coherent and believable character. She is quirkily beautiful and has her moments in the film, but doesn't quite pull it off in a manner of speaking. OK, she is an ambitious young banker in debt to a corrupt boss and she decides to moonlight as a hooker. Steven Bauer is also pretty bad as her dirty-cop antagonist.
The plot is also badly uneven. Not only is there no clever secret to discover - no subtle double entendres or a hidden pattern revealed later - but the sudden transitions of the characters identities make no sense and don't add to the plot. Thus, Heche and Chen "discover" they are in love - it's just there to titilate and comes off as unbelievable and kind of stupid.
Not recommended.
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