Review of Something Wild (1961) by Mac B — 06 Sep 2014

Oddball independent film, which was rate during the time this film was made, telling story of Carroll Baker coping with a vicious rape and then meets Ralph Meeker at a low point when she was contemplating suicide, but Meeker ends up being not such a great guy either.

I think this film had some art house aspirations, but seems more along with lines of a Doris Wishman "roughie" though it does it well and with some strong and compelling performances far better than you usually see in most films of this ilk.

If you buy the roughie comparison, this film actually predates Russ Meyer's "Lorna" by three years, which is widely considered to be the first roughie. But that aside, this film stands on it's own as a tough little film with some fairly over-the-top melodrama that ends up working surprisingly well.

Aaron Copland composted he film's music and Saul Bass created the live action title sequence.