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Walk on the Wild Side

1962

A side of life you never expected to see on the screen!

At the Doll House, a 1930s New Orleans bordello, Hallie is the main attraction both for clients and for Jo, the madame. Her comfortable if tedious life is disrupted by the arrival in town of Dove Linkhorn, her true love of three years before who is now searching for her. When Linkhorn learns the truth of her profession he triggers a chain of events involving a number of people, including the young Kitty with whom he travelled from Texas and who is now the Doll House newest recruit.

Laurence Harvey Capucine Jane Fonda Anne Baxter Barbara Stanwyck Joanna Moore Richard Rust Karl Swenson Don Barry Juanita Moore John Anderson Ken Lynch Todd Armstrong Sherry O'Neil John Bryant Kathryn Card Barbara Hines Patricia Tiernan Florence Wyatt Elaine Martone Virginia Holden Paul Maxey Chester Jones Ted Jacques Lillian Bronson

Alternative Titles

La gata negra, La Rue chaude, Anime sporche, Auf glühendem Pflaster, Прогулка по беспутному кварталу, Pelos Bairros do Vício, 神女生涯原是梦, 황야를 걸어라

Genre

Drama

Themes

Song and dance Dazzling vocal performances and musicals Show All…

Theatrical

20 Mar 1962

USANR

USA

20 Mar 1962

TheatricalNR

114 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by ele 🪷 ★★★½ 1

there’s a parallel with jane fonda’s character and her cigarettes that I loved: when she was down on her luck at the beginning and had to smoke hand rolled cigarettes, she would lick them so they would stick, and then when she gets her act together and has enough money to buy actual cigarettes, she still licks the sides of them before she smokes them. I live for little details like that.
also the fact that barbara stanwyck plays a lesbian brothel owner honestly makes this movie unmissable if you ask me.
Review by Sean Baker 1

Jane Fonda's 2nd film role is as accomplished as one of a seasoned pro. Everything about her performance is awe-inspiring. Gorgeous B&W cinematography by Joseph MacDonald. Also, the approach to the subject of sex work is quite progressive for 1962.
Watched the Arrow Video Blu-ray
- 4K restoration from Sony Pictures
- Original lossless mono audio
- Commentary by critics Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan
(which is GREAT1)
- Interview with historian and critic Richard Dyer
- Interview with Pat Kirkham, co-author of Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design
- Interview with director Edward Dmytryk
- Stills Gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Scott Saslow
- Illustrated collector’s booklet with new writing by critics Lee Gambin and Eloise Ross.
Review by nora ★★★ 1

there’s a masterpiece buried in here somewhere and it probably starts with revolving the story around conniving cat jane fonda and lesbian brothel owner barbara stanwyck instead of the blandest straight couple of all time, and also not casting anne baxter as a latina woman
Review by ALISTAIR LEACH ★★★ 6

I've always had a funny feeling that Lawrence Harvey was proto Jude Law, this really enforces it. I find it funny that Jude was born 29 December 1972 in Lewisham and Lawrence died 25 November 1973 (aged 45) Hampstead, London, U.K, 11 months apart and a couple of miles, as you wouldn't imagine a cross over.
So Lawrence goes to New Orleans to find his ex lover Capucine, who is now working in a bordello run by BARBARA F'ING STANWYCK, who lusts after her. Lawrence meets a destructive young thing, who is Jane Fonda, who is the best thing in this, and she follows along and they all end up at the Bordello....
Capucine, looks weirdly like a young Joan…
Review by Nora MacIntyre ★★★ 2

Barbara Stanwyck playing a lesbian is just *chef's kiss*
Review by Fint ★★★½ 2

That Walk on the Wild Side was a troubled production is evident in the end result. Director Edward Dmytryk bristled over producer Charles Feldman's casting of his girlfriend Capucine in the central role, and ultimately gave up final cut on the picture, weary of the producer's interference. The minimally talented Capucine insisted on being dressed in the latest Pierre Cardin, despite the film being set in the 1930s. The script details of prostitution and lesbianism were hacked back to a insubstantial sliver by the Production Code. Anne Baxter was trying to hide her pregnancy from everyone. Jane Fonda made no friends by constantly deferring to her acting coach. Laurence Harvey and Capucine hated each other. And everyone hated Laurence Harvey.…
Review by Sara Clements ★★★½ 1

Did Barbara Stanwyck know she was playing a lesbian
Review by ncgraham ★★★

"feel like pure shit, just want her back"—me whenever Jane Fonda wasn't onscreen
Review by sakana1 ★★ 25

Jesus christ. Where to begin? This is spectacularly bad, and not in a fun way. For almost two hours, it takes itself unbelievably seriously, as do all of the character (except for Kitty Twist — blessings upon Jane Fonda for making her scenes watchable). Everyone spends all of their time making earnest speeches as romantic music plays (or blood flows because: tragic love!), saying things like "Thinkin's no good, only feelin' is!" Just imagine that sort of tripe about 4059 more times, and you begin to get a sense of how impossibly terrible Walk on the Wild Side is.
And, on top of everything else, a movie that is sometimes pointed to as the first major studio picture to have…
Review by Richard Chandler ★★½ 8

"It's a big city full of lost girls."
From Canadian-born journeyman Edward Dmytryk comes the tepid Walk on the Wild Side, rather loosely inspired by the 1956 Nelson Algren novel of same name. Following his father's death, pietistic Texas hayseed Dove Linkhorn (Lawrence Harvey) hits the road for Depression-era New Orleans in search of lost love Hallie Gerard (Capucine), only to very slowly discover that she is now an upscale call girl in a grand French Quarter bordello. Owing to an implied, sapphic partnership with eagle-eyed house madam Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck), Hallie enjoys a privileged status by doubling as something like an artist in residence. Even in the face of this favored standing, Hallie is a churlish and frankly…
Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★★ 2

Cinematic Time Capsule
1962 Marathon - Film #5
”You think I’m justa tramp, don’t you?”
A lovelorn loverboy goes in search of his missing angel only to discover that she’s transformed into a hip-slingin’ daughter of Satan.
It’s an overly melodramatic affair with a couple of relatively uninteresting leads, but what makes the movie watchable are the outstanding supporting performances.
Including Jane Fonda as spunky roustabout vagabond on the make. And the incredible Barbara Stanwyck as a conniving purveyor of pleasure and the first American actress to portray a lesbian character in a feature film.
If this movie contained a whole lot more of the two of them it would have been a whole lot better.
BONUS POINTS for those fantastic opening and closing credit sequences by Saul Bass and featuring what has to be the slinkiest black cat ever filmed.
”Oh Dovey, you better get in line”

Cinematic Time Capsule - 1962 Ranked
Review by pirateneckbeard ★★½

Kind of bland and tries to hard to be cool and sexy. Plays out overly dramatic like a soap opera taking place in New Orleans. Jane Fonda's character and performance is pretty over the top. I like Anne Baxter but do concede some awkwardness with her playing a Latino. Laurence Harvey didn't really do much for me with his forlorn acting. I do think that this looks good but I didn't really like the ending and Barbara Stanwyck's actions making very little sense to me. So I'm fine with walking on this side thank you very much.

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Where to watch

Walk on the Wild Side

Synopsis

A side of life you never expected to see on the screen!

Cast

Director

Producer

Writers

Original Writer

Editor

Cinematography

Assistant Director

Production Design

Set Decoration

Title Design

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Makeup

Studio

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Alternative Titles

Genre

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Releases by Date

Theatrical

20 Mar 1962

Releases by Country

USA

20 Mar 1962

Popular reviews

Where to watch

Walk on the Wild Side

Synopsis

A side of life you never expected to see on the screen!

Cast

Director Director

Producer Producer

Writers Writers

Original Writer Original Writer

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Production Design Production Design

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Title Design Title Design

Composer Composer

Songs Songs

Sound Sound

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup Makeup

Studio

Country

Language

Alternative Titles

Genre

Themes

Theatrical

20 Mar 1962

USA

20 Mar 1962

Popular reviews

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Director

Producer

Writers

Original Writer

Editor

Cinematography

Assistant Director

Production Design

Set Decoration

Title Design

Composer

Songs

Sound

Costume Design

Makeup