"Wild Palms" (1993) TV mini-series

Directors:

Kathryn Bigelow
Keith Gordon

Writer:

Bruce Wagner (writer)

Release Date:

16 May 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A multi-national corporation attempts to take over America while small pockets of resistance hold out against rampant technology.

Plot Keywords:

Corporation | Eye Gouging | Rhinoceros | Cyberpunk | Illuminati

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 3 nominations

Cast

James Belushi	...	Harry Wyckoff
Dana Delany	...	Grace Wyckoff
Robert Loggia	...	Sen. Anton Kreutzer
Kim Cattrall	...	Paige Katz
Angie Dickinson	...	Josie Ito
Ernie Hudson	...	Tommy Lazlo
Bebe Neuwirth	...	Tabba Schwartzkopf
Nick Mancuso	...	Tully Woiwode
Charles Hallahan	...	Gavin Whitehope
Robert Morse	...	Chap Starfall
David Warner	...	Eli Levitt
Ben Savage	...	Coty Wyckoff
Bob Gunton	...	Dr. Tobias Schenkl
Brad Dourif	...	Chickie Levitt
Aaron Michael Metchik	...	Peter

Runtime:

300 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

City Hall - 200 N. Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Trivia:

The Friends' "prayer, "O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;/ The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won" is the first two lines of Walt Whitman's "O Captain My Captain" while the Synthiotics prayer "The wind is old and still at play / While I must hurry upon my way,/ For I am running to Paradise" is from W.B Yeats "Running to Paradise."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The rear-view mirror in Harry's corvette appears and disappears from scene to scene.

Quotes:

Coty Wyckoff: [to Josie Ito] When you killed your daughter, your pulse never rose above normal. We're alike in that way, but my crimes will be grander, I assure you. One day I will put out the sun, and make bare every womb that ever was.

Movie Connections:

References One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Best CYBER-Noir Dialogue EVER

The real credit for WILD PALMS should go to Bruce Wagner and his flowing, prosaic dialogue. It's like classic Film Noir crossed with cyber-speak, doused with a fifth of Single Malt Scotch and set on fire. There are so many clever, nimble phrases that are turned on their axis and spun into something entirely different.

Examples:

"Mystery loves company."

"Do you know how much it hurts to be SHOT IN THE CHEST??"

"You're no General! You're a pimp with the wings of a bat!"

"You've got quite a mouth on you! Take care someone doesn't take a needle and sew it up."

"Weak dog! You stillborn calf! YOU MAKE ME VOMIT!"

Granted the whole package is a little hard to take in all at once - it's one of those things that becomes more interesting the more you watch it. And for everyone who argues it ends with a whimper, not a bang, well, you may be right, but I posit that The Senator, Harry's real lineage, The Go Chip, and the Mimezine are all besides the point. Enjoy it for one of the campiest, cleverest, most intelligent scripts ever written for television.(Thank You Bruce Wagner) This is a project that is not only entertaining to watch, but a JOY to listen to. It's FUN.