Rating: 
Summary: Guilty pleasure!
Review: "A Walk on the Wild Side" is a well made, intriguing soap opera set in sultry, steamy New Orleans. When the audience sees the opening credit sequence in which a sensuous black cat is photographed in closeup as it prowls along sidewalks and alleys of the Big Easy, viewers are hooked. This startling and ingenious introduction as well as the juicy end credit sequence were conceived by the brilliantly inventive graphic artist Saul Bass. The rather sordid plot revolves around a good-looking Texas drifter named Dove, superbly underplayed by Laurence Harvey, who hitchhikes his way to New Orleans in search of his long lost love, Hallie. Hallie is portrayed by the elegant and ravishing Capucine. (Capucine bears an uncanny resemblance to both Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. No wonder everyone was crazy about her!) Enroute to the Big Easy, Dove encounters a runaway juvenile delinquent, Kitty, performed with sass and vigor by Jane Fonda. She tags along with Dove until he leaves her behind after he discovers that she is a thief and a liar. Following an anonymous tip, Dove locates Hallie who is living and working in a high-class brothel. At first he does not realize that she has followed a primrose path. When he does find out, he is understandably shocked. Eventually he forgives her and proposes marriage. Complications and tragedy follow. The cast of " A Walk on the Wild Side" are uniformly excellent. Barbara Stanwyck is especially memorable. She gives a fearless, ferocious performance as the calculating, possessive lesbian madam, Jo, who is hopelessly infatuated with Hallie. Other palatable ingredients in this movie: the solid direction by Edward Dmytryk; the crisp, evocative black and white photography of Joe MacDonald; and the bold, brash jazz score composed by the great Elmer Bernstein. No it's not Shakespeare, but "A Walk on the Wild Side" is a very watchable, well-crafted, guilty pleasure.
Rating: 
Summary: A True Classic
Review: A must see--and own. I highly recommend for your library. Harvey, Fonda, Standwick,and Capuccini are all great! Will keep you on the edge of your seat. The soundtrack is superb. You will want to see it again and again! A bit of a tear-jerker.
Rating:
Summary: A True Classic
Review: A must see--and own. I highly recommend for your library. Harvey, Fonda, Standwick,and Capuccini are all great! Will keep you on the edge of your seat. The soundtrack is superb. You will want to see it again and again! A bit of a tear-jerker.
Rating: 
Summary: Stranger comforts . . . . . . . .
Review: Best title [and end-title] to date! The great catfight between the too real alleycats, but that's Saul Bass! It's close to Blanche "Streetcar" country - a lurid and rique tale of our hero {the not forgotten "Prince" Laurence} looking for and finding his lost beloved - Capucine {another tragic end in real life} ensconced in a well-run brothel [Barbara Stanwyck as the madam - a GREAT, chilling performance]. Along the route he meets the young drifter, Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter ["interesting casting"], and other various persona from the lower depth - almost another reflection of Orpheus-Euridyce....... Quite bold for the relatively conservative Blue Velvet Kennedy era, fairly effective today as a period piece. Excellent theme song too! DVD restoration in wide screen would do the titles proud!
Rating:
Summary: Tame by today's standards, but...
Review: I was pretty young when I first saw this movie on television on a late show. The musical score and the tragic conclusion stayed with me. I own the video now a good 25+ years later, and it still affects me the same way. I have always been a fan of Barbara Stanwyck, and her performance here does not dissapoint. Despite Mr. Harvey's and Ms. Baxter's seriously contrived "accents" (texan and mexican respectively), the movie is very watchable. If you like the "old school" way of movie making, back when a little something was left to the imagination, then this movie is a good addition to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the DVD?
Review: I wish this movie would be released on DVD. I would buy it for the soundtrack alone. Elmer Bernstein does the music, and it is fabulous, but to-date Varese Sarabande (who owns the rights) see no need to release the soundtrack on CD. I wish womeone would release this movie on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the DVD?
Review: I wish this movie would be released on DVD. I would buy it for the soundtrack alone. Elmer Bernstein does the music, and it is fabulous, but to-date Varese Sarabande (who owns the rights) see no need to release the soundtrack on CD. I wish womeone would release this movie on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: DOVE & the "DOLL HOUSE".....
Review: It's been said that nobody deliberately sets out to make a bad movie. Based on a novel of the same name and with character names like Dove Linkhorn and Kitty Twist, "Walk on the Wild Side" kind've makes me wonder. Set in the "early thirties", it tells of Texan Dove (Laurence Harvey) on the road to New Orleans to find his lost love, sculptress Hallie (Capucine). He hooks up with been-around runaway Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda). They meet good-hearted cafe owner Teresina (Anne Baxter---with a not very convincing Mexican accent) and Dove discovers Kitty is a thief so he ditches her. Teresina gives Dove work and helps him with a newspaper ad to locate Hallie. After a suspicious phone call (that sounds like Kitty) tips Dove off to Hallie's whereabouts, he finally finds her. She's living off brothel owner/vice queen Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck) and works in Jo's "Doll House" in the French Quarter. But good ole boy that he is, he doesn't catch on. Kitty turns up as a new "doll" and things begin to unravel leading to scandal and tragedy. The performances are rather good even if Capucine seems a bit too classy and patrician to be a fallen woman. The dialogue is ripe and I loved one line a drunken street preacher shouts at Capucine, "You hip-slingin' daughter of Satan!" I can't really call this a bad movie. I enjoyed it despite the obvious plot contrivances and recommend it to those who enjoy somewhat trashy but interesting melodramas. The title sequences by Saul Bass are cool and Brook Benton sings the title song performed in the "Doll House". For some, this will be a good DVD find.
Rating:
Summary: DOVE & the "DOLL HOUSE".....
Review: It's been said that nobody deliberately sets out to make a bad movie. Based on a novel of the same name and with character names like Dove Linkhorn and Kitty Twist, "Walk on the Wild Side" kind've makes me wonder. Set in the "early thirties", it tells of Texan Dove (Laurence Harvey) on the road to New Orleans to find his lost love, sculptress Hallie (Capucine). He hooks up with been-around runaway Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda). They meet good-hearted cafe owner Teresina (Anne Baxter---with a not very convincing Mexican accent) and Dove discovers Kitty is a thief so he ditches her. Teresina gives Dove work and helps him with a newspaper ad to locate Hallie. After a suspicious phone call (that sounds like Kitty) tips Dove off to Hallie's whereabouts, he finally finds her. She's living off brothel owner/vice queen Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck) and works in Jo's "Doll House" in the French Quarter. But good ole boy that he is, he doesn't catch on. Kitty turns up as a new "doll" and things begin to unravel leading to scandal and tragedy. The performances are rather good even if Capucine seems a bit too classy and patrician to be a fallen woman. The dialogue is ripe and I loved one line a drunken street preacher shouts at Capucine, "You hip-slingin' daughter of Satan!" I can't really call this a bad movie. I enjoyed it despite the obvious plot contrivances and recommend it to those who enjoy somewhat trashy but interesting melodramas. The title sequences by Saul Bass are cool and Brook Benton sings the title song performed in the "Doll House". For some, this will be a good DVD find.
Rating:
Summary: Meow! The Fur Flies in "Walk On The Wild Side"
Review: Last evening, I skipped the traditional televised holiday fare and watched Edward Dmytryk's "Walk On The Wild Side" (Columbia Pictures, 1962). Let's just say that the next time you're having friends over for melba toast and you're looking for the perfect over-the-top extravaganza to project on to the living room wall, this should be the featured attraction. Barbara Stanwyck is the lesbian owner of a New Orleans brothel known as "The Doll House." Glamorous Capucine (a 60's version of Garbo)is the most popular call girl since Holly Golightly and coveted by both her butch madame and a drifter named Dove (not kidding) played by the inscrutable Laurence Harvey. Add a youthful Jane Fonda (in her bulimic period) and a miscast Anne Baxter as a Mexican diner owner (cascading dark wig, inauthentic accent and all) and you've got one mesmerically curious flick. Oh, did I forget to mention that the entire thing kicks off with a title sequence in which two felines (one black, one white) engage in a vicious catfight punctuated by Elmer Bernstein's pulsating jazz score? Meow! They sure as hell don't make e'm like this anymore! - Mark Griffin ("Genre" Magazine)
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