Review of Wild Thing (1987) by Allan C — 07 Jul 2013

Brilliant filmmaker John Sayles collects a paycheck on one of his screenwriter-for-hire gigs with this film about a child who witness his parents killed by a drug dealer and dirty cop, who is then left orphaned and is raised as alomost a feral child by a crazy homeless lady.

Although most of John Sayles script doctor/yeoman jobs to finance his much smarter independent films are quite entertaining ("The Howling," "Alligator," and the original "Pirahna" to name a few) this one is pretty weak.

I can only guess that what ended up on screen did not reflect Sayles original scrip. However, there are some seeds of interesting, though imprbable, story about a Tarzan-type figure living in the city as something of an urban legend, but the finished film is dull, lacks any mystery or interesting characters.

There are a few good actors on hand, including Kathleen Quinlan as Jane and Maury Chaykin and Robert Davi as the bad guys which make it almost watchable.