Wild Side *** (1995, Christopher Walken, Joan Chen, Anne Heche, Steven Bauer, Allen Garfield) – Classic Movie Review 2934

Take a Walken on the Wild Side.

Director Donald Cammell’s bizarre, disturbing, challenging last film from 1995, restored as the ‘director’s cut’ in 2000 with the help of Frank Mazzola, the original film editor, gets to grips with his regular theme of sexual domination and power. Wild Side (1995) is advertised as ‘from the creator of Performance’.

Christopher Walken and Joan Chen star as a Los Angeles couple, hoodlum Bruno Buckingham (Walken) and Virginia Chow (Chen). But Bruno turns to bank worker/ night-time hooker Alex Lee (Anne Heche) for comfort, and then Heche and Chen’s characters get involved. Walken’s chauffeur Tony (Steven Bauer) is also one of Heche’s clients, who rapes her before revealing himself as an undercover cop and involving her in his plan to bring down Walken’s Bruno.

This sordid hotbed of weirdness exerts a fairly strong hold, with brio displays of acting in difficult circumstances, plus some compelling scenes, but it is also quite extreme and tacky. Walken is great in one of his most extravagant performances, typical of him, but more so. The cinematography by Sead Muhtarevic is impressive and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s new score for the restored film is an asset.

Also in the cast are Allen Garfield, Adam Novack, Zion, Richard Palmer, Randy Crowder, Marcus Aurelius, Michael Rose and Lewis Arquette.

Wild Side was originally released in a 96-minute butchered version, emphasising its sexual elements for the American porn market. The director’s cut runs 111 minutes.

It was made for $3,500,000 by Wild Side Productions Inc, Channel Four Films, Millennium Films, and Mondofin B V.

Donald Cammell committed suicide by gunshot in Hollywood on April 24 1996, apparently after this movie was recut against his wishes. It was only his fourth feature film in 25 years.

Frank Mazzola died on January 13 2015, aged 79. He began his career as a child actor, with parts in films including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Always in My Heart, Casablanca and The Boy with the Green Hair. After an extra role in Elia Kazan’s East of Eden, Mazzola worked in the most high-profile film of his career, Rebel Without a Cause, playing Crunch, providing technical assistance and advising director Nicholas Ray on rebellious teens.

Anne Heche (May 25, 1969 – August 12, 2022) starred in Donnie Brasco (1997), Volcano (1997), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), Return to Paradise (1998), the remake Psycho (1998), Birth (2004), Spread (2009), Cedar Rapids (2011), Rampart (2011), and Catfight (2016).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2934

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