Something Wild
A complex exploration of the physical and emotional effects of trauma, Something Wild stars Carroll Baker, in a layered performance, as a college student who attempts suicide after a brutal sexual assault but is stopped by a mechanic (Ralph Meeker)—whose kindness, however, soon takes an unsettling turn. Startlingly modern in its frankness and psychological realism, the film represents one of the purest on-screen expressions of the sensibility of the intimate community of artists around New York’s Actors Studio, which transformed American cinema in the mid-twentieth century. With astonishing location and claustrophobic interior photography by Eugene Schüfftan, an opening-title sequence by the inimitable Saul Bass, and a rhythmic score by Aaron Copland, Jack Garfein’s film is a masterwork of independent cinema.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New, restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Jack Garfein, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Garfein and critic Kim Morgan
- New interview with actor Carroll Baker
- Behind the Method, a new interview with scholar Foster Hirsch on the Actors Studio
- Master Class with Jack Garfein, excerpts from a 2014 recording of one of the director’s world-famous lectures on acting technique
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Sheila O’Malley
New cover by John Sellards
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New, restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Jack Garfein, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Garfein and critic Kim Morgan
- New interview with actor Carroll Baker
- Behind the Method, a new interview with scholar Foster Hirsch on the Actors Studio
- Master Class with Jack Garfein, excerpts from a 2014 recording of one of the director’s world-famous lectures on acting technique
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Sheila O’Malley
New cover by John Sellards
Cast
- Carroll Baker
- Mary Ann
- Ralph Meeker
- Mike
- Mildred Dunnock
- Mrs. Gates
- Jean Stapleton
- Shirley Johnson
- Martin Kosleck
- Landlord
- Charles Watts
- Warren Gates
- Clifton James
- Detective Bogart
Credits
- Director
- Jack Garfein
- Screenplay by
- Jack Garfein
- Screenplay by
- Alex Karmel
- Based on the novel Mary Ann by
- Alex Karmel
- Music composed and conducted by
- Aaron Copland
- Cinematography by
- Eugen Schüfftan
- Credits by
- Saul Bass
- Produced by
- George Justin
- Art direction by
- Richard Day
- Art direction by
- Albert Brenner
Edition introduction to Something Wild
A scene from Something Wild
