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• Ladies star!

  • RedRain
  • 12/6/12

  I've always been amazed at Laurence Harvey's career. He wasn't that good an actor but he managed to get roles opposite some of the best actresses in the world and this is yet more proof of that. Perhaps, his casting was to make the actresses more appealing to the audience? Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Fonda and Anne Baxter - all Academy Award winning actresses - are simply outstanding in this film. Harvey is window dressing. The breathtakingly beautiful Capucine is superb as the love interest for Stanwyck - a lesbian relationship in a film in the early '60s that was unheard of back then! (Interesting that Laurence Harvey was, in real life, bisexual and the overtones to this film must have unnerved him.) Stanwyck is the star here as the bordello madam trying to keep peace among her girls. Anne Baxter is terrific as a strong Mexican woman who befriends Harvey. Jane Fonda as a sex crazed young girl who has no future also excels in this film. I like this film a lot and it is because the women give such singular performances yet all manage to have their own stories told so well. Kudos to Edward Dymytrk for being able to exact such powerful performances from each of these ladies.

• Odds Are 6 to 1 Against Getting to Heaven

  • Bruce Reber
  • 12/22/11

  I taped "Walk On The Wild Side" 12/21/11 when it aired on TCM and watched it when I got home from work. The last time I saw it was in June of 2007 as part of TCM's Gay Images in Film festival. WOTWS is a very dark drama set during the Depression about Texas farmer Dove Linkhorn (Laurence Harvey in one of his best performances) making his way to New Orleans to meet his old flame Hallie (Capucine), and hooking up with earthy tramp Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda in one of her early roles) along the way. Dove arrives in the Big Easy to find that Hallie is working in a brothel called The Doll House run by lesbian madame Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck, very good in one of her final roles). Dove wants him and Hallie to pick up where they left off three years earlier, but she's unsure of her feelings toward him. Eventually, she and Dove end up together again, while Kitty goes to work as one of Jo's whores in The Doll House. Hallie tries to leave "the life", but Jo's determined to hold on to her. WOTWS ends up back at the cafe run by Mexican widow Teresina (Anne Baxter) where Dove and Kitty stopped early in the film. After being beaten by Jo's thugs, Dove is being taken care of by Teresina when Hallie shows up being followed by Jo and her Doll House gang. After trying to get the gun away from Jo's thug Oliver, Dove accidentally shoots and kills Hallie. Very stylish closing credits, with the black cat walking in front of the wall with the song (I don't know the title) playing with the lyrics "Odds are 6 to 1 against going to heaven". I would like to see "Walk On The Wild Side" on DVD soon.

• Walk on the Wild Side

  • Anne Wattsi
  • 3/8/10

  Not only is Barbara Stanwycks peformance great (she could play any part) but the music soundtrack is excellent. Jimmy Smith does a great job and I just love that cat and its walk. Capuccine is beautiful to look, but is she bi or just mixed up? Jane Fonda wishes she could look like that again too. Anyhow, it's a fantastic movie and the location, Bourbon Street, is nice to see if you've ever been there. A terrific movie to get lost in.

• Film Classic

  • Edythevanhopper
  • 11/16/09

  For Barbara Stanwyck fans, it was an important role in her career. Cast and director deserved more attention than they received.

• GLBTA Historical Film

  • ChaseQ
  • 7/18/09

  I wonder if the GLBTA (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Allies movement) realizes that Barbara Stanwyck was the first American woman actor to every play an openly lesbian character? Now that's historical. It also reveals how open-minded Stanwyck was. She plays a cat house madam, Jo Courtney. Jane Fonda plays a trashy gal who comes Jo's way sort of wanting to become one of her 'working girls'. This film is on VHS, when you can find it from the original release. It really needs to be on DVD because it's now become a very timely film with historical significance.

• Stanwyck a Lesbian Madam; Fonda a Hooker

  • Auntranett
  • 7/11/09

  The Doll House is where Jo Courtney, its lesbian madam (Barbara Stanwyck) has to deal with a reluctant tramp turned hooker, Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda). Yes, there are other characters and the plot is about a man searching for his lover, but my focus was on the performances of Stanwyck and Fonda, who do exceed all expectations. This is a 1960's classic due to both of the stellar performances. I highly recommend owning it. It was on VHS so those copies of the film can be bought at auction sites.

• Seeing this film............

  • alexanderson
  • 6/14/07

  Seeing this film one really faces art imitating real life; characters and performance not only are "square real" to everyday living people but drama and circumstances through simple dialogue draws a close thin line with real life people.....mostly those crucial life events that only who has lived through it can really make a story. Black and white presentation also heights drama and crude outcome becomes much more realistic. Its worth every minute of it......

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