Something Wild (1961)
Directed by: Jack
Garfein.
Written by: Jack
Garfein and Alex Karmel based on the book by Karmel.
Starring: Carroll Baker (Mary Ann
Robinson), Ralph Meeker (Mike), Mildred Dunnock (Mrs. Gates), Jean Stapleton
(Shirley Johnson), Martin Kosleck (Landlord), Charles Watts (Warren Gates),
Clifton James (Detective Bogart), Doris Roberts (Mary Ann’s Co-Worker).
Jack
Garfein’s Something Wild has an appropriate title – this really is a rather
crazy film. I was going to say that they don’t make films like this anymore,
but that would imply there was a time when something like this was common – and
it really is not. It takes a view of sexual assault – and the lasting impact it
leaves – that is shockingly modern – and something even today you would be
unlikely to see in a movie. And then, about half way through the film, it
twists itself completely – and becomes a totally different thing. And yet, the
two halves complement each other in a strange way – without the first half, the
second half would never have been possible. It also doesn’t hold your hand and
explain to you how to feel about any of this. It’s a really surprising,
interesting, weird film. I’m not sure it entirely works – but then again, it
does so many interesting things, I’m not sure it also has to work.
The film
stars Carroll Baker as Mary Ann Robinson. Baker got her big break in Elia
Kazan’s scandalous Baby Doll – which caused an uproar at that time, and when
viewed today is still, well, weird. She was clearly marketed to become a sex
symbol – but Baker wanted to do more complicated roles – and Something Wild,
which was written and directed by her then husband Jack Garfein, was an example
of that type of film. And what a daring film it was.
In the
film, Mary Ann is an innocent, sheltered young woman, who when walking home one
day, is dragged into an alley and raped. The rape is not graphic – but it
certainly is disturbing – focusing on Mary Ann’s cross as it dangles around her
neck and onto the ground. She never got a look at the face of her rapist – and
in the aftermath of the rape, she kind of spins out of control. She abandons
everything about her life – her home, her schooling, etc. – and moves into a
seedy apartment, and takes a job at a department store, where her co-workers
think she is stuck up. Really though, she’s struggling with how to deal with
the fact she was assaulted. She doesn’t know what to do, where to turn, who to
trust – and so she basically completely shuts down. She only really allows
herself any real emotions when by herself in her little apartment.
This is a
surprisingly complex view of the aftereffects of rape – she is suffering from
PTSD, before we really had a term for that. Her actions are normal for someone
in her situation – even if they are the type that would be “questioned” by the
justice system if she ever went that route, which she does not. And then, about
half way through the film, the whole thing shifts. If you think this is going
to be “just” a film about a young woman dealing with being raped – that changes
with the emergence of Mike (Ralph Meeker). He is a weak, pathetic little man –
who “saves” Mary Ann from committing suicide, and brings her into coming to his
apartment – and then won’t let her leave. He doesn’t assault her, doesn’t force
her to do anything – except, of course, not leave the apartment. A bond between
these two deeply damaged people begins to form. Is this Stockholm Syndrome
(again, before we had a term for that)? Or is it something more complicated?
The film
was directed by Jack Garfein – who co-wrote with Alex Karmel, based on Karmel’s
novel. It was the second – and last – film of Garfein’s directing career, which
is a shame. This is a complex film – that takes its time in the first half, so
that the second half somehow feels more logical than realistic it should. The
first half is almost a matter-of-fact drama – with Baker magnetic, even as she
doesn’t say very much as she is basically shutdown emotionally from the rape.
The second half introduces Meeker – who delivers an equally wonderful
performance. Mike is a pathetic man – a sad, damaged man. He makes drunken
lunges at Mary Ann – but she fights him off (he isn’t trying too hard). He
tells her, sadly, that “You’re my last chance” – and while he never really
explains why, somehow that is enough of an explanation in itself. Mike is a man
who desperately wants love – wants a connection – and cannot figure out why he
cannot form one with anyone.
The film
is remarkably well made. The first half has a lot of scenes on the streets of
New York – which are made to look desolate, barren, bleak, harsh and
unforgiving. The second half is completely different – almost all within the
confines of that apartment. They look completely different – but are equally
great. As far as whatever the “message” of the movie is – I’m not sure it
really has one, other than that somehow these two deeply damaged people find a
way to work together. The film doesn’t moralize at you – and doesn’t tell you
how to feel. It doesn’t even really give you an idea of what will happen after
the film ends – how long this tenuous “relationship” can actually last. Nobody
is cured here, there is no real conclusion or end statement. You’re left
confused.
All this
probably explains why audiences initially rejected the film – and critics
weren’t much kinder. The fact that Garfein abandoned movie work to focus on the
theater didn’t help much either – had he gone on to become a great filmmaker, as
this film certainly implies he could have been – this film would have been
rediscovered long before it has been. But now it’s here – and you really should
see it. Something Wild indeed.
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