THE WILD LIFE (1984) - Cameron Crowe's FAST TIMES Quasi-Sequel - Coming on Blu-Ray

[AndyDursin]

THE WILD LIFE was a Universal flop that proved producer Art Linson couldn't direct, but it's an interesting failure with Cameron Crowe writing the script. In fact it comes off as a FAST TIMES quasi-sequel/follow-up with different names on the characters but the main protagonists more or less there several years later. They even threw in Chris Penn -- straining SO hard to be his own Spicoli substitute!

I bought the laserdisc -- a speckled mid 80s mess -- back in the day which, other than a recent MOD-DVD, was the last release of it. It's been prevented from appearing on prominent home video platforms because of the song soundtrack -- unless something has changed, my guess is Kino's disc will also be "rescored for home video", but it's better than nothing (and unlike FAST TIMES itself, it's hard to envision anyone paying the extra bucks to restore all the songs).

[Monterey Jack]

Never seen this, but the cast...

[AndyDursin]

It's both watchable and not very good -- not a total loss, but considering much of the creative team behind FAST TIMES was involved, the movie was a quickly forgotten fizzle.

Haven't seen it since I bought the laserdisc in college (a used copy that was already ANCIENT in 1995 lol), but I'm up for it. Just remember Chris Penn was SO annoying trying to "be his bro" in this film, and struck out miserably.

[Monterey Jack]

Hey, 80's Lea Thompson means I'll give this a shot in a future Kino sale.

[AndyDursin]

Exactly, I'm sure it'll be worth $10 for that alone!

[Paul MacLean]

Gotta be better than Pom-Pom Girls!

[AndyDursin]

It is! lol

I've never seen Crowe interviewed on this movie but I wonder if he wrote it as a FAST TIMES sequel and then changed the character names. Chris Penn isn't quite Spicoli but it's close. Same thing on the Lea Thompson and Eric Stoltz characters. You could've plugged in the Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold characters there, made a few alterations, and made it work.

It doesn't come off because Linson was in over his head as a director -- only credits on that end were this and the lousy Bill Murray bomb WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM. Great cross-section of young stars from the era though, plus the likes of Rick Moranis and Randy Quaid for good measure.

[AndyDursin]

Hmm, well, apparently this WASN'T meant to be a FAST TIMES follow-up -- was just pushed in that direction by the studio. The Ilan Mitchell-Smith character, come to think of it, is kind of like the ALMOST FAMOUS Crowe alter-ego in some ways.

http://www.theuncool.com/films/the-wild-life/

“The only movie that I’ve ever been a part of where the money guys `got it’ was The Wild Life.”

“I’m used to them not getting it. They didn’t get Almost Famous; they didn’t get Jerry Maguire; they definitely didn’t get Singles and Say Anything... was barely released. In many ways it’s a miracle that we’re even sitting here talking about my work in film, because the only stuff that wasn’t a battle for me was rock journalism.”

“It started out with good intentions but was marketed as a followup to Fast Times which it wasn’t. Director James L. Brooks was the only one who would talk to me after The Wild Life.”