Writer-director David Lynch’s 1990 American black comedy romantic crime film Wild at Heart won the Palme d’Or best film award at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, and stars Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as newly released convict Sailor Ripley and his girlfriend Lula Fortune.
Sailor and Lula ignore the rules of Sailor’s probation and set out for California. But Lula’s crazed mother Marietta (played by her real-life mom Diane Ladd) just can’t stand the thought of Lula being with Sailor. So Sailor and Lula unwittingly become young lovers on the run from a variety of weirdoes whom Marietta has hired to kill Sailor.
And the duo are also being doggedly pursued by gaunt detective Juana Durango (Harry Dean Stanton). Sailor and Lula witness a young woman dying after a car accident, which is a bad omen.
There’s a clutch of astonishing performances from all the cult cast in this dark and dangerous thriller-cum-love-story which tops even Lynch’s Blue Velvet for wildness, though perhaps not quite for accomplishment.
Lynch frequently dazzles the eye in cinematographer Fred Elmes’s images, though he doesn’t quite manage to stir the blood like he does in Blue Velvet, even if he spills enough of it.
Cage and Dern are excellent, giving some of their best, most committed work, really going for it, and Ladd is great in her psychotic turn, and gained Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globes and Oscars.
Lynch’s screenplay is based on the 1990 novel by Barry Gifford, who recalls: ‘All kinds of journalists were trying to cause controversy and have me say something like ‘This is nothing like the book’ or ‘He ruined my book’. I think everybody was disappointed when I said ‘This is fantastic. This is wonderful. It’s like a big, dark, musical comedy.”‘
Also in the iconic cast are Willem Dafoe, Isabella Rossellini, Crispin Glover, J E Freeman, Grace Zabriskie, Calvin Lockhart, Freddie Jones, John Lurie, Jack Nance, David Patrick Kelly, Marvin Kaplan, W Morgan Sheppard and Sherilyn Fenn.
Early test screenings for the film had poor reactions, with the strong violence perceived by some as being too much, so Lynch reluctantly pared down a graphic torture scene, which he later regretted: ‘That was part of what Wild at Heart was about, really insane and sick and twisted stuff going on.’
The film was completed only the day before it premiered at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival to wild cheering afterwards from the 2,400-seat audience. But at the awards ceremony when Jury President Bernardo Bertolucci announced the film had won the Palme d’Or, the jeers almost drowned out the cheers, with film critic Roger Ebert leading the jeers. Later he wrote: ‘Lynch likes the box office prizes that go along with his pop satires, so he makes dishonest movies like this one.’
So the Palme d’Or prize was considered a controversial decision and the film continued to divide opinion on release, with decidedly mixed reviews from critics. But over time it has come to be viewed much more generally favourably.
It grossed $14 million against its $10 million budget.
The cast are Nicolas Cage as “Sailor” Ripley, Laura Dern as Lula Pace Fortune, Willem Dafoe as Bobby Peru, J E Freeman as Marcellus Santos, Crispin Glover as Dell, Diane Ladd as Marietta Fortune, Calvin Lockhart as Reggie, Isabella Rossellini as Perdita Durango, Harry Dean Stanton as Johnnie Farragut, Grace Zabriskie as Juana Durango, Sherilyn Fenn as girl in accident, Marvin Kaplan as Uncle Pooch, W. Morgan Sheppard as Mr. Reindeer, David Patrick Kelly as Dropshadow, Freddie Jones as George Kovich, John Lurie as Sparky, Jack Nance as 00 Spool, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Buddy, Frances Bay as madam, Peter Bromilow as hotel manager, Frank Collison as Timmy Thompson, Sheryl Lee as the Good Witch, Charlie Spradling as Irma, and Koko Taylor as Zanzibar singer.
David Lynch made way too few films, just ten in all those years: 1977 Eraserhead, 1980 The Elephant Man, 1984 Dune, 1986 Blue Velvet, 1990 Wild at Heart, 1992 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, 1997 Lost Highway, 1999 The Straight Story, 2001 Mulholland Drive and 2006 Inland Empire.
© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,644
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