Something Wild (1986) Something Wild (1986)

Jonathan Demme's genre-shifting comedy/thriller, written by E. Max Frye, starring Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, and Ray Liotta. Released by Orion Pictures on November 7, 1986. Cinematography by Tak Fujimoto; music supervised by John Cale and Laurie Anderson; soundtrack assembled around David Byrne, Sister Carol, the Feelies, and a dense reggae cue line. 113 minutes.

The film is structured around a mid-film tonal pivot: it opens as romantic-comedy / road-movie and pivots into thriller when Ray Sinclair (Liotta) walks into a high-school reunion bar around the 52-minute mark. Demme's argument is that the rom-com and the thriller are the same film's two halves — that the consequences of a lifestyle change have to include the violence the lifestyle has been pretending isn't there.

See _Index for the wiki's contents. See Plot Structure (Something Wild) for the Two Approaches reading and Backbeats (Something Wild) for the beat-by-beat breakdown.

Cast

• Jeff Daniels — Charles "Charlie" Driggs
• Melanie Griffith — Audrey "Lulu" Hankel
• Ray Liotta — Ray Sinclair
• Margaret Colin — Irene
• Tracey Walter — The Country Squire
• Dana Preu — Peaches
• Jack Gilpin — Larry Dillman
• Charles Napier — Irate Chef
• John Waters — Used Car Salesman (cameo)
• John Sayles — Motorcycle Cop (cameo)

Credits

• Director: Jonathan Demme
• Screenplay: E. Max Frye
• Producers: Jonathan Demme, Kenneth Utt
• Cinematography: Tak Fujimoto
• Editor: Craig McKay
• Music: Laurie Anderson, John Cale
• Distributor: Orion Pictures
• Runtime: 113 minutes
• Release: November 7, 1986
• Budget: $7 million