something wild ( 1961 film )
theatrical trailer for the 1961 drama something wild starring carroll baker and ralph meeker .
something wild (1961) - - (movie ciip) long way ...
something wild (1961) - - (movie ciip) everyone is ...
on the cinema horizon... something new... something unusual... something wild !
something wild was a 1961 independent rape and revenge film, starring carroll baker and ralph meeker and directed by jack garfein, who was baker' s husband at the time .
the film debuted on december 23, 1961, and received an uneven critical response. jonas mekas wrote in film quarterly that the film was the
most interesting american film of the quarter; it may become the most underestimated film of the year .
sadly, after its initial failure, garfein never directed another film. our loss. but we do have this film, available all over now, and something wild is a treasure .
was a mostly - unwelcome shock. schufftan, who won an oscar® for 1961' s
during their 14 - year marriage, the actress carroll baker and the writer, director, and acting teacher jack garfein produced two children and one film. the film, 1961' s
something wild ,
was independently financed and released through united artists, primarily on the strength of ms. baker' s marquee value .
accompanied only by aaron copland' s score, rape victim mary ann (carroll baker) has wandered to the manhattan bridge, where she meets mechanic mike (ralph meeker), in director jack garfein' s something wild, 1961. >
rape victim mary ann (carroll baker), who still hasn' t told anyone, hops the train at kingsbridge, in the bronx, gets woozy and bails at 103rd in upper manhattan, in director jack garfein' s something wild, 1961 .
the extras: no extras for something wild (too bad we couldn' t get a short interview or commentary track with miss baker) .
rape victim mary ann (carroll baker), who still hasn' t told anyone, hops the train at kingsbridge, in the bronx, gets woozy and bails at 103rd in upper manhattan, in director jack garfein' s something wild, 1961. >
something wild is a 1961 independent sexual abuse drama film directed by jack garfein and starring carroll baker, ralph meeker and mildred dunnock. the film follows a young new york city college student (baker) who, after being brutally raped, is taken in and held captive by a mechanic (meeker) who witnessed her suicide attempt on the manhattan bridge .
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something wild (1961 film )
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ann (carroll baker), brought home by a cop after fainting on the train, the day after she' s been raped, finds mother (mildred dunnock), who still doesn' t know, fraught with her own concerns, in something wild, 1961. >
garfein directed two other films. one was the 1961 independent film, something wild, which starred baker as a young rape victim held captive by the man who rescued her from suicide. the film includes an aaron copland score. it was panned by many u. s. critics, even though he was hailed as an american ingmar bergman. his documentary the journey back chronicles his return to auschwitz .
the movie received an uneven critical response. jonas mekas wrote in film quarterly that the film was the
most interesting american film of the quarter; it may become the most underestimated film of the year .
something wild
remains a unique cinematic curio and an object lesson in what a potential black hole for good intentions and stimulating collaboration that american independent feature filmmaking remains .
“something wild? ” oh, how i would have preferred that original manic pixie dream girl from 1986, melanie griffith, who drives that awesome car and teaches jeff daniels how to enjoy life .
in 2007, the film was screened at new york' s ifc center, billed as a
lost indie film classic .
the honest energies of ms. baker, mr. meeker, mildred dunnock as mary ann' s mother, and future edith bunker jean stapleton in a memorably bizarre cameo, gives
something wild
a few other saving graces. when mary ann embarks on one of those ubiquitous' 60s movie - city wanders, á la catherine denueuve' s in
repulsion ,
julie christie in
billy liar
and rod steiger' s in
the pawnbroker ,
for a contemporary new york audience
something wild
becomes something fascinating .
the score for the 1961 film was by the distinguished american composer aaron copland, who in 1964 re - used some of its themes in his symphonic work
music for a great city .
the original film score, taken from private session recordings preserved by the director, was released on cd in 2003 .
the score for the 1961 film was by the distinguished american composer aaron copland, who in 1964 re - used some of its themes in his symphonic work
music for a great city .
the original film score, taken from private session recordings preserved by the director, was released on cd in 2003 .
why did i watch this 1961 movie? because kim morgan’s excellent blog, sunset gun, told me it’s a masterpiece. she makes several important points that seem pretty plausible :
one of the most striking elements of something wild, jack garfein’s psychologically complex examination of trauma and attachment, is the 1960s new york city its distressed characters inhabit. shot by eugen schüfftan, an oscar - winning german cinema…
jack garfein had made his debut as film director with end as a man (1957). he formed a company, prometheus productions, with his wife carroll baker. it obtained film rights to mary ann the first novel of alex karmel, published in 1958. karmel and garfein wrote the script, and united artists agreed to finance. it was originally called something wild in the city .
championed it, writing that the movie was the
most interesting american film of the quarter; it may become the most underestimated film of the year .
what a powerful and disturbing and mysterious film. [ spoilers abound below. ]
something wild was an independent film, financed by garfein and baker themselves. they had some heavy - hitters on board. saul bass did the opening credits sequence, a jarring and flashy urban collage, throwing us into the over - stimulated atmosphere of urban life, the elevated trains plunging into tunnels repeatedly, a clear sexualization of the landscape .
multitalented artist, he is the author of two both politically and artistically challenging films that did not spare hollywood’s conservatism and led to censorship. in the strange one (1957), he tackled the question of racism in america. as a jewish holocaust survivor, he was deeply shocked by the segregation at his arrival in the us and he fought for the right for african - american actors to be featured in the film. the strange one was also censored by the motion picture production code for general “homosexual overtones”, and “excessive brutality and suggestive sequences [ that ] tend to arouse disrespect for lawful authority”. in his second film, something wild (1961), derived from alex karmel’s novel mary ann, he similarly tackled the studios’ conventions by formally depicting rape. the film, starring garfein’s then wife carroll baker, was later described by garfein as a metaphor for his spiritual journey. the film also raises questions of race and class in america. something wild features an original score by aaron copland, the title sequence by saul bass, and the photography by eugen schüfftan .
also, for credit sequence completists ,
something wild
contains perhaps the rarest and arguably one of the best title sequences from frequent alfred hitchcock and otto preminger collaborator saul bass. a tightly constructed mesh of urban images, intersecting lines, cutting tempo and motion, bass' s titles set up the film better than the story ultimately acquits itself .
the blu - ray something wild arrives from criterion with artwork created using a still from the film, when mary ann has a panic attack on a train. although the scene is one of the film' s more memorable moments, it doesn' t work nearly as well as a still image as it does in the film itself, and as a piece of imagery, it' s a bit boring. the one - disc release comes in criterion' s standard transparent scanavo blu - ray case, and inside there is a fold out booklet featuring an essay on the film by critic sheila o' malley .
warner archives has brought it out in a limited edition dvd (sold on amazon), and i can’t put it more plainly: seek out this extraordinary film. while comparisons can be made with other films, most obviously with roman polanski’s repulsion, those comparisons post - date the film’s release, showing something wild ‘s pioneering spirit. while watching it, i got impressionistic flashes from literature or fairy tales. bluebeard’s castle. hansel and gretl. sleeping beauty. all of those terrifying stories of entrapment, and lost innocence. of love being interchangeable from jealousy and a desire to control. of helplessness. something wild is one of the most understanding, harrowing, and insightful portrayals of rape’s aftermath that i have ever seen in cinema .
something wild (1961) has nothing to do with the similarly titled well - known 1986 jonathan demme film. in fact before the list of criterion new releases arrived, i frankly confess that i had never even heard of it. how can anyone now claim to have an encyclopedia knowledge of cinema that may have been possible in the limited - release era of the mid - twentieth century, but unlikely today even with secondary sources that the internet now provides? however, this particular film is a real discovery and criterion again deserve full credit not just for their usual excellent restoration quality but making available again an estimable work of the past that has become unjustly neglected over the years .
conclusion although the quality of criterion' s releases has never flagged, the opening of new libraries to licensing deals has led to some higher - profile releases as of late, including dr. strangelove, blood simple, and punch - drunk love. there' s nothing wrong with that - - for my money, blood simple ranks among the best blu - ray releases by any label in 2016 - - but something wild is a refreshingly undiscovered gem. bursting with relevant sociopolitical commentary and incredibly powerful thanks to carroll baker' s stunning lead performance, this is a film that deserves to be rediscovered. on the strength of the film alone, much less the small but strong supplemental package, something wild enters the dvdtalk collector' s series .
the film broke boundaries by showing a rape and portraying its emotional aftermath for the protagonist .
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
in september 2010, a tribute to garfein was presented in los angeles at the ucla film and television archive at the billy wilder theater which featured screenings of the two feature films he directed, 1957' s
the strange one
and 1961' s
something wild ,
which stars his ex - wife carroll baker, as well as the documentary
a journey back
in which he returned to his childhood home and revisited auschwitz. a similar event is scheduled for march 20 & 21, 2011 at the film forum in new york city hosted by foster hirch, another at the bfi in london, hosted clyde jeavons, and in tel - aviv, jerusalem, and haifa .
to say this film is less objectionable than the others of its era is, in the end, not to give it many accolades at all. i stick with my earlier position: rape should not be depicted onscreen, as it leads to (at best) such a deeply conflicted portrayal as something wild and (at worst) an awkwardly titillating depiction of female pain and debasement .
the film was never released on dvd or home video. it was shown at new york' s ifc center in early 2007, billed as a
lost indie film classic .
i had not seen or even heard of jack garfein’s something wild before criterion announced its release. i think my experience will apply to many viewers since the film was essentially dropped from circulation shortly after its initial, disappointing theatrical run. a screening would pop up here and there, but for the most part the film has not been seen in decades. it’s a shame, since the film is a masterpiece of claustrophobia and ambiguity, but thankfully we can all watch it whenever we want now. i think most viewers will be as shocked and pleasantly surprised as i was .
an enjoyably
arty
headscratcher, something wild didn' t do a thing back in 1961 for mainstream critics who attacked it for its deliberately open - ended dramatics and its intense method sensibilities. based on the novel, mary ann, by alex karmel, something wild was an indie effort by screenwriter and director jack garfein and his big, reluctant hollywood star carroll baker to break away from the glossy ,
safe
mainstream fare that was being offered to the baby doll sensation. both members of the famed actors studio, where they met and married, garfein and baker may have had a limited budget, but that didn' t stop them from employing top - notch talent for this shoe - string production. renowned composer aaron copland was engaged for the stirring soundtrack; german cinematographer eugen schüfftan, of lang' s metropolis, gance' s napoléon, and rossen' s the hustler fame, was hired for the starkly evocative lighting, and designer saul bass, whose credit sequences for films like anatomy of a murder and psycho were considered works of art in and of themselves, shot something wild' s brilliant opening credit scenes .
another aspect often discussed in connection with yojimbo is its theatricality. the film is not only very carefully and often artificially choreographed, but the hero of the film also functions as something like a director who prepares and directs the plot towards his intended total destruction of the town. at least, until his antagonist appears in town and complicates issues .
to start off, let’s not mistake this for the 1986 jonathan demme film with the great soundtrack .
to get the party started, i have as usual typed up a brief introduction to the film .
after yojimbo, we will be watching a fistful of dollars in august. for the full film club schedule and information about the availability of the films that we watch, see the film club page .
final thoughts: a strange mix of realism and dreamy symbolism, played out in a sweltering, grimy new york city. carroll baker' s portrait of a psychologically tortured rape victim is one of the most honest, vivid ones i' ve seen within that category, and ralph meeker, excellent as well, pulls off the impossible task of making his shadowy character both charismatically intriguing and repellent―two performers who were sadly undervalued during their careers. sure to piss - off the most dogmatic of the woeful
politically correct
set (they don' t enjoy anything), something wild' s strange, illogically romantic spiral down into violence and madness, and eventually love (?), surely marked it as one of the most unusual dramatic offerings of 1961... and within that context, it' s still quite arresting today. i' m highly, highly recommending something wild ―a must - see for fans of the stars and this genre. paul mavis is an internationally published film and television historian, a member of the online film critics society, and the author of the espionage filmography
was all that heavyweight talent, filtered through a storyline and performances saturated in the method (which some critics by 1961 were already disparaging as clichéd and overrated), thought by critics to be too much firepower aimed at subject matter that could be viewed by the impatient as either sophomoric and illogical, or even worse, simply pretentious? it' s hard to say, but clearly, the makers of something wild deliberately left quite a bit of the movie ambiguous for the viewer to ponder and chew over (and perhaps never get, quite frankly)... and a lot of mainstream u. s. critics didn' t like that approach back in 1961. perhaps it was the clash of something wild' s two halves―baker' s assault and subsequent retreat to the flophouse, and then her imprisonment by meeker―with their contrasting tones and aims that grated against the critics. the first half of the film creates a unforgiving semi - documentary exploration of the aftereffects of a rape on a young girl, and her resulting extreme behavioral change, while the second half employs an increasingly tense, dream - like, studio - bound flavor that pits baker and meeker against each other in strange dance of repulsion and attraction in meeker' s little basement studio apartment .
anyone who has ever listened to women expressing their frustrations about misogyny and sexism will likely pick up on one thing very quickly: most women share some common ground in the kind of harassment, discrimination, condescension, and assault they' ve experienced, regardless of age. something wild is a perfect illustration of this perpetual, depressingly familiar struggle, a razor - sharp drama about a woman who is raped and slides into a depression before getting pulled into a second sexual power struggle. it is as emotionally uncompromising about the trauma its protagonist endures as one would expect from a modern movie, yet the film is over 50 years old, released and forgotten by united artists back in 1961 .
i was clicking through the channels for a movie to watch this morning and came across tcm and something wild. from the second i started watching, which was right after the rape scene, but it was clear what had just happened to her, i was drawn in to the end. this was an amazing and heartbreaking film. it made a huge impression on me. so much so that i had to look it up on the internet to learn more about it. carroll and ralph are awesome. i am going to get this film…
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referred to as
a lost indie classic
, the film was screened at the ifc center in new york in 2007, and was released on dvd by mgm through their limited edition series in december 2011 in celebration of the film' s 50th anniversary. in october 2016, the criterion collection announced a re - release of the film slated for january 2017, marking the film' s debut on blu - ray .
teresa – i definitely needed to own it myself. it’s such a rare film, so rarely shown .
the relationship between the would - be suicide mary ann and the garage mechanic mike is something wild, indeed. something weird, too. what to make of a relationship which takes place in a dreary basement apartment, between a traumatized rape victim and a sometimes violent, sometimes solicitous man? what to make of a connection that starts when mike locks mary ann in the apartment, then continues through to a drunken attempted embrace and a shocking high heel to the eye socket, certainly the most memorable and horrifying moment in
was not released until 1961, it was filmed some time before that, possibly as early as 1959. it was schufftan' s evocative cinematography of new york, from its lonely, cavernous streets, to the impersonal and formidable skyscrapers, to the seedy neighborhoods, which gave
it would be nice to be able to say that the response to
something wild
upon its release was polarized, but in truth, outside of europe it was uniformly panned. as the united artists catalogue has changed hands over the years, the film has virtually vanished from repertory screens. until now, that is. starting today, ifc center will run a new print of ms. baker' s and mr. garfein' s collaboration for one week .
the criterion collection edition: while i didn’t get into it in the review above, jack garfein is one of the earliest members of the actor studio where many actors famous for “method” acting started their careers. something wild brings many of them together and is a supreme example of this particular theory of acting. the criterion supplements cover this aspect in great detail .
trevor, thanks for those links. the o’malley piece is an especially good read. i had already found the morgan piece, linked from a more critical discussion of the film i read (urltoken), but even in this one the author is somewhat cautious and wonders about possibly judging the film unfairly. the more negative responses among critics when the film was released and as described was the audience reaction to the copeland requested screening also were not generally ones where people found something problematic about the presentation of the material .
carroll baker was married to director jack garfein at the time they made this film (they divorced in 1969) .
the extras four supplements are included. the first two are interviews. first, director and co - writer jack garfein (26: 47) sits down with critic kim morgan (who runs the blog sunset gun) to talk about his history working with lee strasberg and elia kazan at the actors studio, how he came to make something wild, and the film' s recent re - appreciation among modern viewers (in part spurned by morgan herself, who programmed the film on turner classic movies in 2010). garfein' s insight on the end of the film is fascinating, as his point of view on a key character' s motivation differs from mine (and perhaps the common interpretation), yet the outcome is the same. he also has a strong rapport with morgan thanks to the relationship they formed after she selected the film for tcm. this is followed by an illustrated audio interview with carroll baker (15: 01), in which she discusses her career leading up to and beyond something wild, including working with kazan on baby doll, kissing clark gable, and finishing off with the carpetbaggers. baker is candid and funny, and the piece will be fun for fans of her work .
up until recently, it was virtually un - see - able. not released on dvd, let alone vhs, and rarely screened. kim morgan, when she guest - programmed an episode of turner classic movies for critics week, chose something wild as one of the two films she would present. so it is out there, if your radar is up for it .
as sheila o' malley says in the booklet included in the criterion collection dvd, the film is full of
evocative silences .
some people will probably find the film unbearably slow and quiet. others will consider it well ahead of its time or akin to a foreign film. the photography is like a postcard of early 1950s new york city .
i had never seen this movie before today. i saw it on the tcm schedule, but after the film was shown, so i missed seeing it. i saw intrigued by the synopsis tcm gave of the film and really wanted to see it. i looked on my libraries website for a possible vhs or dvd of it - they did not have it. looked on the net for it, but could not find a film showing of it online. and then i looked and found the entire film on youtube. youtube has a treasure trove of movies. i watched the film and found it to an excellent film– contrary to the critics negative reaction to it–then, in 1961 - and even now - by current movie critics on rottentomatoes. read about the film on wikipedia to get the background of the film and the making of it. baker, meeker and dunnock were excellent - and stapleton and roberts were in fine form also. i found the story of mary ann’s trauma tremendously realistic and beautifully and honestly portrayed - the film was way ahead of it’s time concerning the rape and the aftermath. what i had some trouble with is the ending of the story–that she actually marries the man who saved her and lives in that rundown basement apartment with him–i do understand it but don’t see it as realistic. otherwise, the movie was excellent and the cinematography and musical score wonderful .
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in contrast to these attempts to fully ground the spectacularised events of buffalo bill’s wild west in something like historical verisimilitude and direct experience, altman’s movie makes us wonder whether the cody it presents was on the western frontier at all, and certainly has little interest in constructing a complex interior world or set of motivations or destinies for this character. altman’s is a roaming but static situational film that contrasts significantly with the incident - filled and constantly progressing narratives of pony express and buffalo bill. as altman somewhat disproportionately claims of his motivations while making the film: “we weren’t seeking to involve the audience with the main character at all”. [ 24 ]
once circumstances bring mary ann together with mike (ralph meeker), a lonely mechanic who thwarts mary ann' s suicide attempt, the film becomes a single - set filmed play. ms baker and mr. garfein met at lee strasberg' s justifiably famous
theater laboratory ,
the actor' s studio, the famously clichéd question of which was is, of course ,
what' s my motivation ?
and that' s precisely the question that
something wild
begs in its latter half .
you probably are right about lee’s list. the reason i was surprised is that i always thought of him as something of a contrarian, but as i said it’s actually a very familiar looking list. but perhaps i just don’t know enough of lee’s work to really know him. apart from the bad 25 documentary, i think that the last film i actually saw from him was the 1996 film girl 6. for fairly obvious musical reasons .
just as we’re ready to be released from mary ann’s misery, by either her death or salvation, something wild morphs into something truly daring. mary ann is saved from suicide by mike (ralph meeker), and it would have been so easy for the filmmakers to caricature him as a white knight, either as the sexless simpleton or the sensitive stud, and to have him restore mary ann’s trust in society. and garfein plays with this expectation of the audience’s, expanding the film’s sense of space. the interior of mike’s apartment, clearly a stage, is open and roomy, offering pointed reprieve from the cramped, hot stickiness of mary ann’s plight in the boarding room and the five - and - dime .
early in something wild, mrs. gates (mildred dunnock) is telling her daughter to be careful outside, the neighborhood is going to pot: “honestly, i don’t know what’s going to happen to this neighborhood, ” she says. “honestly, you can’t even go out on the streets alone at night. ” her daughter, mary ann (carroll baker), who, unbeknownst to her mother, was raped the night before on her way home belligerently scowls: “why? what could happen? ” no spoiler here, but at the end of the film the question comes back. mrs. gates simply says, “what has happened? what has happened? ” mary ann’s simple reply: “what’s happened has happened, mother. ” viewers may have the same question as mrs. gates as garfein’s beautifully ambiguous film comes to a close. we know the chronology that got us from a to b to c, but we cannot help but ask the same question mrs. gates asks. the tantalizing but inconclusive answer is in the title: something wild. garfein’s long underseen film is finally getting its due today in a new blu - ray edition from the criterion collection .
the rape scene encapsulates the brilliance of something wild, which takes a highly politicized atrocity that outsiders can’t hope to understand, humanizing it with a mercilessly empathetic devotion to detail. this rape scene is chaste by contemporary standards of on - screen violence, but garfein and baker offer us something more illuminating than gore: intimacy. when the rapist pulls mary ann’s dress up, we see the flesh along the side of her body as it’s poked by a rock, and the suffering and humiliation of mary ann’s violation become painfully explicit. another astute and heartbreaking image follows: the rapist stands up when he’s finished, and steps on pages that have scattered out of mary ann’s schoolbooks. the association is unmistakable, as she’s been treated by this interloper as something to be used and discarded like trash .
like if a lame version of warhol went to film school then released an unfortunate first feature with an unfortunate aaron copland soundtrack .
is highly interesting film. the movie' s peculiarities seem a reflection of mary ann' s psychological disorder and chaos while repressing her emotional pain. it' s an amazing performance and a deeply impacting, and often painful, film experience. this criterion
i had heard tcm was showing it! it’s such a unique harrowing film. so glad you got to see it again .
the film was very influential also outside of japan, where its violence was similarly embraced. it would be impossible (or at least unwise) to list all the remakes and films that have been directly influenced by yojimbo, but the best know direct remake is probably sergio leone’s critically acclaimed a fistful of dollars (1964, starring clint eastwood). almost a shot - by - shot remake transported into an old west setting, the film is notorious for having been unauthorised. following the film’s release, kurosawa famously wrote to leone: “signor leone, i have just had the chance to see your film. it is a very fine film, but it is my film. since japan is a signatory of the berne convention on the international copyright, you must pay me. ” (quoted from galbraith). a lawsuit followed, but the issue was ultimately settled out of court with kurosawa and toho receiving 15% of all sales of leone’s film. it has been estimated that kurosawa actually made more money from a fistful of dollars than from his own film. we will be watching a fistful of dollars in our film club next month .
behind the method: in this 20: 56 supplement, historian and super - fan of the actor studio foster hirsch, author of a method to their madness, walks us through the history of method acting, from stanislavski’s work in turn of the century moscow, to the actor studio, which began in new york city in 1947 and from which marlon brando, montgomery clift, and james dean erupted. garfein and baker were part of the actor studio almost from the start. hirsch has been a champion for something wild for years (he attended the initial run in 1961), and he considers it one of the best films to come from the actors studio. it’s a nice supplement, though not much here will be new to folks who have even a light knowledge of the actor studio and method acting until hirsch starts to look at something wild as a particular example. fortunately, that segment takes up almost half of the running time. he highlights baker’s performance in particular, calling it a “pure method performance, that is what is worked for at the studio. ” he proceeds to analyze some of her scenes .
disturbing; at times mesmerizing and perplexing. m - g - m' s own m. o. d. (manufactured on demand) service of providing hard - to - find cult and library titles on discs has released something wild, the 1961 indie drama released through united artists, starring carroll baker, ralph meeker, mildred dunnock, martin kosleck, doris roberts, and jean stapleton. a harsh, uncompromising look at the aftermath of a vicious rape gives way unexpectedly to a strange, dreamy (and to some viewers, repellant) hostage / romance plot, shot on the seamy streets of new york, and featuring two remarkable performances by the lead actors. no extras for this black and white full - screen transfer .
the oldboy trailer looks interesting. i don’t think that i have seen the original, which is surprising as it seems like something i might enjoy. i guess i need to right this wrong one day. (or, to be honest, i should stop buying films and talk about watching films and spend at least half that time to actually watch something, and i might make some progress. )
criterion offer a new, 27 - minute, conversation between jack garfein and critic kim morgan recorded by criterion in new york in august 2016. in it, garfein discusses his work with the actors studio, the making of something wild, and his personal connections to the story of mary ann, the film' s protagonist. there is also an illustrated audio - only new (2016), 15 - minute, interview with actor carroll baker and she discusses the challenging role of mary ann in something wild. behind the method, is another 2016 interview recorded by criterion in new york. it is with scholar foster hirsch on the actors studio and runs 21 - minutes. the historian discusses the roots of method acting, director jack garfein' s importance to the actors studio, and why something wild is one of the most important films to come out of it. we also get a 40 - minute master class with jack garfein - excerpts from a 2014 recording of one of the director’s world - famous lectures on acting technique. garfein was one of the first directors invited to join the actors studio, and he studied under founder elia kazan and legendary coach lee strasberg, and, as a teacher there himself, was responsible for discovering actors ben gazzara and steve mcqueen, among others. the package also contains a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic sheila o’malley .
although a period film, and one possibly influenced by folk tales, the broad themes found in yojimbo are in fact fairly contemporary .
as for spike lee’s list of influential films for film students and film makes, i consider kung fu hustle a masterpiece. stephen chow manages to combine humor, cultural education, dance, romance, and martial arts into one coherent package. that’s quite an accomplishment .
released in 1961, only a little over half a year after the bad sleep well, yojimbo can be seen as something of a change of gear for kurosawa and the summation of ideas that he had begun to consider in his recent films. in the 19 films that he had directed preceding yojimbo, kurosawa had time and time again been concerned with the question how to live properly and responsibly, both on individual and social levels. he had documented the rebuilding of japanese society after the war, criticising and questioning many aspects of the ongoing reconstruction .
i think, instead, something wild and the other four films i’ve mentioned display an almost prurient fixation with tracing the destruction of female innocence. most of these films rely on an expressly innocent (and usually blonde) victim, often contrasted with other (cheap) women, like edith stapleton here. as a result, i return to the speculation i offered in last year’s post about two women and virgin spring: i believe this was film’s way of dealing with the sexual revolution — to offer histrionic cautionary tales rather than explore rape per se from the perspective of victims .
to be honest, i’d love to be able to cop to the charge of present - mindedness, and to embrace morgan’s reading. i trust her argument most for the film’s first half, in which we watch mary ann wrestle with her demons and refuse to tell anyone about her experience. but i felt increasingly pushed away from her during the second half of the film. for me at least, morgan’s position holds less water during that “entrapment and subjugation” part of the film in which mary ann and mike face off as captive and captor, a hour of screen time that concludes — crazily — with something resembling love between them .
mr. garfein had received critical accolades for his theater work and his film - directing debut, 1957' s
the strange one .
the film was released for the first time on dvd as part of the mgm limited edition collection in december 2011. in october 2016, it was announced that the criterion collection would be releasing the film for the first time on blu - ray and dvd on january 17, 2017 .
aaron copland did the moody score. filmed all over new york, stunningly, something wild feels independent. many of the shots feel “stolen”, carroll baker walking through times square, hailing a cab, or running across the street. it’s a gorgeous looking movie, and anticipates all of those great gritty independent films of the 1970s, shot on location in a new york so grimy and drab and dirty that you can smell the garbage through the screen .
a complex exploration of the physical and emotional effects of trauma, something wild stars carroll baker, in a layered performance, as a college student who attempts suicide after a brutal sexual assault but is stopped by a mechanic (ralph meeker) —whose kindness, however, soon takes an unsettling turn. startlingly modern in its frankness and psychological realism, the film represents one of the purest on - screen expressions of the sensibility of the intimate community of artists around new york’s actors studio, which transformed american cinema in the mid - twentieth century. with astonishing location and claustrophobic interior photography by eugene schüfftan, an opening - title sequence by the inimitable saul bass, and a rhythmic score by aaron copland, jack garfein’s film is a masterwork of independent cinema .
description: a complex exploration of the physical and emotional effects of trauma, something wild stars carroll baker, in a layered performance, as a college student who attempts suicide after a brutal sexual assault but is stopped by a mechanic (ralph meeker) —whose kindness, however, soon takes an unsettling turn. startlingly modern in its frankness and psychological realism, the film represents one of the purest on - screen expressions of the sensibility of the intimate community of artists around new york’s actors studio, which transformed american cinema in the mid - twentieth century. with astonishing location and claustrophobic interior photography by eugene schüfftan, an opening - title sequence by the inimitable saul bass, and a rhythmic score by aaron copland, jack garfein’s film is a masterwork of independent cinema .
based upon alex karmel' s novel
mary ann ,
about a young manhattan student' s descent into despair after a rape and her subsequent re - birth of sorts ,
something wild
must have seemed like a safe bet for investors. ms. baker had earned both professional validation in the form of an oscar nomination and condemnation from various moralist organizations for the title role in elia kazan' s 1956 hothouse southern gothic oddity ,
baby doll .
first of all, i did actually see this film last summer but forgotten that i had. that was during my ambien days, when i needed to take that drug to fall asleep due to some uncompromising pain i had that made sleep impossible. i’m sure i fell fast asleep in the middle of the film, and can’t believe i did now that i’ve watched it again. only ambien could have made me fall asleep during this excellent film !
jack garfein: something wild in the city: this is one of my favorite supplements of the last several years. here we have film critic kim morgan interviewing jack garfein, now 86, for 26: 47 minutes. morgan begins by simply asking what made him want to be a director, and garfein explains how he lost his entire family in the holocaust and was himself 15 years old and only 48 pounds when he was released from a concentration camp. he couldn’t walk. he wanted to be an actor so he could deal with the feelings he’d been through without it hurting so much. garfein has a poetic sensibility, and hearing him talk about this film, in particular how its story has mattered in his own personal life with all of its inexplicable horrors, is fascinating .
as
something wild
moves toward an admittedly unpredictable ending, chockablock with teeth - gnashing histrionics and big scenes, it plays like a well - intentioned attempt by an experienced cast to bring to life script material that might best have stayed in the typewriter. mary ann and her mother' s repeating ,
what... has... happened... ?
to each other when they' re reunited late in the film is silly and self - conscious sub - arthur miller dialogue, no matter how earnestly the lines are spoken and no matter how completely unpacked in rehearsal each syllable must no doubt have been .
but
the strange one
mr. garfein' s film isn' t. though it ostensibly details a young woman' s search for identity and her struggles to trust and to love after a traumatic experience, the film is more an amorphous chronicle than a coherent, character - driven narrative journey .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
i see spike lee has brought out a list of his 100 essential films for aspiring film makers – yojimbo is there, along with rashomon and ran .
i suppose there are weapon based martial arts, so you could classify the fighting in the film as belonging to martial arts. but i still don’t think that the combat, as violent as it is, really is the centre piece of the film. sanjuro does most of his fighting with his wits .
the criterion collection has announced its slate for january, 2017, with offerings from howard hawks (“ his girl friday ”), rainer werner fassbender (“ fox and his friends ”), jack garfein (“ something wild ”), and ousmane sembène (“ black girl ”). check out the covers for the films below as well as synopses provided by the criterion collection. for more information on the special features and technical specs of each of these films, visit the criterion collection website .
tony williams is professor and area head of film studies at southern illinois university at carbondale, contributing editor to film international, author of james jones: the limits of eternity (rowman & littlefield, 2016), and co - editor with esther yau, of hong kong neo - noir (edinburgh university press, 2016) .
a complex exploration of the physical and emotional effects of trauma, “something wild” stars carroll baker (“baby doll, ” “the carpetbaggers”), in a layered performance, as a college student who attempts suicide after a brutal sexual assault but is stopped by a mechanic played by ralph meeker (kiss me deadly) - whose kindness, however, soon takes an unsettling turn. startlingly modern in its frankness and psychological realism, the film represents one of the purest on - screen expressions of the sensibility of the intimate community of artists around new york’s actors studio, which transformed american cinema in the mid - twentieth century. with astonishing location and claustrophobic interior photography by eugene schüfftan, an opening - title sequence by the inimitable saul bass, and a rhythmic score by aaron copland, this film by jack garfein (“the strange one”) is a masterwork of independent cinema .
about the reviewer: hello, fellow beavers! i have been interested in film since i viewed a chaplin festival on pbs when i was around 9 years old. i credit dvd with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. i currently own approximately 9500 dvds and have reviewed over 5000 myself. i appreciate my discussion listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running dvdbeaver. plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our amazon links .
ignored, misunderstood and poorly received by various moviegoers and reviewers at the time of its release in december of 1961, director jack garfein' s moody, decidedly offbeat something wild has belatedly come into its own after more than forty six years. based on alex karmel' s 1958 novel mary ann, this is the story of a young woman who is brutally raped while returning to her bronx home. unable to tell her repressive parents about her plight, she dramatically rejects her former and now despoiled existence and runs away from home, ending up in new york' s seedy lower east side. there she rents a room and gets a job at a crummy five - and - dime store. depressed and desperate, mary ann prepares to jump off a bridge into the east river when a passing stranger, a garage mechanic named mike, rescues her and takes her back to his basement apartment to recover. then things really start to get weird ...
i haven’t seen the film so i cannot judge it, but the idea of a film that is more than fifty years old and centrally about a woman who is first raped and then kept as a captive that was directed by a man and adapted from a novel written by a man makes me concerned about how the material might be handled. i, too, won’t get into spoilers but based on a summary of the plot i read there is at least one thing quite disconcerting about the ending. . i suspect this film might be one that would be a demanding watch and might be more an experience to examine the politics of the film rather than just its content. that might be an exercise worth doing, but i’m not convinced. it would be interesting to read more commentary about the film’s controversial content first, including a female point of view.
something wild is a 1961 independent sexual abuse drama film directed by jack garfein and starring carroll baker , ralph meeker and mildred dunnock . the film follows a young new york city college student ( baker ) who , after being brutally raped , is taken in and held captive by a mechanic ( meeker ) who witnessed her suicide attempt on the manhattan bridge . adapted from the novel mary ann by alex karmel , the film violated a number of hollywood conventions and taboos by showing an on-screen rape and brief nudity . the film featured a musical score by aaron copland and was filmed on location in new york city , which was rare at the time . director jack garfein was married to carroll baker when the movie was filmed . the director of photography , eugen schüfftan , was a noted german cinematographer and inventor of the schüfftan process , who won the academy award for best cinematography the following year for the hustler . referred to as " a lost indie classic " , the film was screened at the ifc center in new york in 2007 , and was released on dvd by mgm through their limited edition series in december 2011 in celebration of the film 's 50th anniversary . in october 2016 , the criterion collection announced a re-release of the film slated for january 2017 , marking the film 's debut on blu-ray . 
something wild is a 1961 independent sexual abuse drama film directed by jack garfein and starring carroll baker, ralph meeker and mildred dunnock. the film follows a young new york city college student (baker) who, after being brutally raped, is taken in and held captive by a mechanic (meeker) who witnessed her suicide attempt on the manhattan bridge. adapted from the novel mary ann by alex karmel, the film violated a number of hollywood conventions and taboos by showing an on-screen rape and brief nudity. the film featured a musical score by aaron copland and was filmed on location in new york city, which was rare at the time. director jack garfein was married to carroll baker when the movie was filmed. the director of photography, eugen schüfftan, was a noted german cinematographer and inventor of the schüfftan process, who won the academy award for best cinematography the following year for the hustler. referred to as " a lost indie classic ", the film was screened at the ifc center in new york in 2007, and was released on dvd by mgm through their limited edition series in december 2011 in celebration of the film's 50th anniversary. in october 2016, the criterion collection announced a re-release of the film slated for january 2017, marking the film's debut on blu-ray.
something wild is a 1961 independent sexual abuse drama film directed by jack garfein and starring carroll baker, ralph meeker and mildred dunnock. the film follows a young new york city college student (baker) who, after being brutally raped, is taken in and held captive by a mechanic (meeker) who witnessed her suicide attempt on the manhattan bridge. adapted from the novel mary ann by alex karmel, the film violated a number of hollywood conventions and taboos by showing an on-screen rape and brief nudity. the film featured a musical score by aaron copland and was filmed on location in new york city, which was rare at the time. director jack garfein was married to carroll baker when the movie was filmed. the director of photography, eugen schüfftan, was a noted german cinematographer and inventor of the schüfftan process, who won the academy award for best cinematography the following year for the hustler. referred to as " a lost indie classic ", the film was screened at the ifc center in new york in 2007, and was released on dvd by mgm through their limited edition series in december 2011 in celebration of the film's 50th anniversary. in october 2016, the criterion collection announced a re-release of the film slated for january 2017, marking the film's debut on blu-ray.