Cult Film Club: Wild Side
A ranting Christopher Walken, Joan Chen getting it on with Anne Heche - what's not to like about Donald 'Performance' Cammell's final film?
Donald Cammell was the co-director of the mighty Performance. His collaborator was Nic Roeg who went on to have a remarkable career in motion pictures - he directed such essential films as Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Bad Timing, Eureka and Castaway.
Cammell was significantly less successful. Relocating to America, the Scotsman made a good living from rewriting gigs and optioning screenplays. But despite - or perhaps because of - befriending Marlon Brando, he had a hard time securing directing gigs. Indeed, in the 26 years between the release of Performance and his untimely death, Donald Cammell made just three further films.
Cammell being Cammell, all of these pictures have something to recommend them. Even Demon Seed, in which the exquisite Julie Christie is raped by a super computer, has its merits. For many critics, Cammell's best post-Performance picture is White Of The Eye, the unnerving tale of a loving wife (Raging Bull's Cathy Moriarty) who realises her husband (An Officer And A Gentleman's David Keith) has become a serial murderer. Wild Side, however, is also very good, featuring as it does an astonishing powerhouse performance from Christopher Walken.
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