The surprising thing about watching this 1962 film 50-years later is how hard it pushed the censorship of the day.
Toned down from Nelson Algren's novel, the whole thing involves a number of people attracted to characters who are not attracted to them.
Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda) and Dove Linkhorn (Laurence Harvey) team up on the road as they head to New Orleans. Jane Fonda is arresting in a figure-clinging dress, and although she fancies Dove, he fancies a woman called Hallie (Capucine) in New Orleans. Along the way they encounter Teresina (Anne Baxter) running a roadside café. She also fancies Dove but he still only has thoughts for Hallie.
The rest of the film revolves around the Doll House, a brothel in New Orleans run by Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck).
Dove and Kitty end up at the Doll House where we find that Jo also fancies Hallie who really doesn't seem to fancy anyone. Other characters are introduced with suggestions of various sexual appetites with the oddest being Schmidt, Jo's ex-husband who has lost both legs. He still fancies her, but...
On it goes until the whole thing comes to a head back at Teresina's café.
Seeing this group of glamorous and vital actors has added piquancy knowing most of them have now gone; some too young: Laurence Harvey at 45, Anne Baxter and Capucine both at 62.
To star in the film, Anne Baxter took time out from her life on an Australian cattle station, where she lived for four years. It still seems about the most random thing any well-known Hollywood actress ever did. She married an American who bought the property in the Barrington Tops area of NSW. She wrote a book about the experience called "Intermission'', full of insights into Australian rural life. She was a good story teller; the few anecdotes about movie-making included in "Intermission" show that she could have written a book about Hollywood to rival Niven's "The Moon's a Balloon", which came out around the same time.
Along with a brilliant title sequence, the film has a great score and song by Elmer Bernstein. 10-years later, Lou Reed came up with a song of the same name that nailed the concept more succinctly (apparently it was also kick-started by Algren's novel).
Although more of interest for the stars these days, "Walk on the Wild Side" would no doubt still burn up the screen if anyone made a faithful version of the novel today.
Toned down from Nelson Algren's novel, the whole thing involves a number of people attracted to characters who are not attracted to them.
Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda) and Dove Linkhorn (Laurence Harvey) team up on the road as they head to New Orleans. Jane Fonda is arresting in a figure-clinging dress, and although she fancies Dove, he fancies a woman called Hallie (Capucine) in New Orleans. Along the way they encounter Teresina (Anne Baxter) running a roadside café. She also fancies Dove but he still only has thoughts for Hallie.
The rest of the film revolves around the Doll House, a brothel in New Orleans run by Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck).
Dove and Kitty end up at the Doll House where we find that Jo also fancies Hallie who really doesn't seem to fancy anyone. Other characters are introduced with suggestions of various sexual appetites with the oddest being Schmidt, Jo's ex-husband who has lost both legs. He still fancies her, but...
On it goes until the whole thing comes to a head back at Teresina's café.
Seeing this group of glamorous and vital actors has added piquancy knowing most of them have now gone; some too young: Laurence Harvey at 45, Anne Baxter and Capucine both at 62.
To star in the film, Anne Baxter took time out from her life on an Australian cattle station, where she lived for four years. It still seems about the most random thing any well-known Hollywood actress ever did. She married an American who bought the property in the Barrington Tops area of NSW. She wrote a book about the experience called "Intermission'', full of insights into Australian rural life. She was a good story teller; the few anecdotes about movie-making included in "Intermission" show that she could have written a book about Hollywood to rival Niven's "The Moon's a Balloon", which came out around the same time.
Along with a brilliant title sequence, the film has a great score and song by Elmer Bernstein. 10-years later, Lou Reed came up with a song of the same name that nailed the concept more succinctly (apparently it was also kick-started by Algren's novel).
Although more of interest for the stars these days, "Walk on the Wild Side" would no doubt still burn up the screen if anyone made a faithful version of the novel today.