Wild at Heart (1990)

Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.

Director:

David Lynch

Writers:

Barry Gifford (novel), David Lynch (screenplay)

Stars:

Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicolas Cage	...	Sailor Ripley
Laura Dern	...	Lula
Willem Dafoe	...	Bobby Peru
J.E. Freeman	...	Santos
Crispin Glover	...	Dell
Diane Ladd	...	Marietta Fortune
Calvin Lockhart	...	Reggie
Isabella Rossellini	...	Perdita
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Johnnie Farragut
Grace Zabriskie	...	Juana
Sherilyn Fenn	...	Girl in Accident
Marvin Kaplan	...	Uncle Pooch
William Morgan Sheppard	...	Mr. Reindeer (as W. Morgan Sheppard)
David Patrick Kelly	...	Dropshadow
Freddie Jones	...	George Kovich

Storyline

Lula's psychopathic mother goes crazy at the thought of Lula being with Sailor, who just got free from jail. Ignoring Sailor's probation, they set out for California. However their mother hires a killer to hunt down Sailor. Unaware of this, the two enjoy their journey and themselves being together... until they witness a young woman dying after a car accident - a bad omen.

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Plot Keywords:

avant garde | surrealism | domineering mother | forbidden love | nonlinear timeline | 

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Taglines:

A film by David Lynch

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

17 August 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

David Lynch's Wild at Heart

Filming Locations:

243 South Santa Fe Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$14,560,247

Company Credits

Production Co:

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Propaganda Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Two distinct references to American thrash metal are made in the film: first, the band that plays in the club where Sailor and Lula go dancing is Powermad, who were from Minneapolis. The 2nd occurs very late in the film when a gang member wears a Metallica shirt.

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Goofs

When Sailor leaves Lula, and Lula cries out "SAILOR!!!" in close-up, the image is reversed. Lula's hair is normally "waved" to her left, but in this shot, her hair is "waved" to her right.

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Quotes

Sailor: [Sailor talking about Lula's Cousin Dell] Too bad he couldn't visit that old Wizard of Oz, and get some good advice.
Lula: Too bad we all can't baby.

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Crazy Credits

The ending credits play over footage of Sailor singing "Love Me Tender" to Lula, rather than a black screen.

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Alternate Versions

To avoid an X-rating in the USA, David Lynch added a smoky haze and spark impact to the shots where Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe) shoots himself with a shotgun and blows his head off. The second shot has the same smoky haze on it to hide the chunk of his head flying though the air. The effect made the removal of his head from his body less clear and muted the blood and gore and got the movie an "R" rating. The uncut version was released outside the USA, but since the David Lynch-approved DVD came out in the U.S. (the shot was altered there), the censored transfer has been used on worldwide DVD releases as well, while most of the versions with the bloodier version of the scene have gone out of print. Oddly enough, the more graphic version is still shown in TV airings in the U.S. on the Sundance Channel.

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Connections

Referenced in Bertolucci Tells Us All (2004)

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Soundtracks

Chrysanthemum
Performed and Arranged by Shony Alex Braun
Courtesy of Impromtu Records

User Reviews

This whole world is Wild at Heart and crazy on top

Wild at Heart begins with an arresting scene of bloody violence by one of the two lead characters, Sailor Ripley, and this immediately grabs our attention. After this he hooks up with his lover, Lula, who he fiercely protects, and goes on a bizarre road trip into the deep south of the states, while avoiding Lula's mother, played with passion by a deservedly Oscar-nominated Diane Ladd, who has an obsessive hatred for Sailor. They meet an assortment of weird people, especially Bobby Peru, and also Perdita Durango, who has appeared recently in a film with her name as the title, also written by Barry Gifford. It is classic David Lynch, with a homage type theme to the Wizard of Oz. It has the sensuality and eroticism later seen in Lost Highway, the violence and gore, the head sequence after the bank robbery being graphic, and a general uneasiness throughout. But it is a darkly humorous and transfixing piece.