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Wild at Heart (1990)
In writer/director David Lynch's R-rated neo-noirish lovers-on-the-run road film - it
was a cult arthouse romance film and the winner of the Cannes Film
Festival's Palme d'Or; it was based on the 1990 novel by Barry
Gifford, part one of a series of Sailor and Lula stories, entitled Wild
at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula. It was basically a
vengeful and violent pursuit film filled with double-crossing characters
- a psychopathic, vindictive homicidal mother (to avoid complicity
in her own crimes) had hired various sleazy assassins to pursue
after two fugitives - her passionate 'wild at heart' daughter accompanied
by her ex-convict paroled lover. Imagery and dialogue often made
references to "The Wizard of Oz."
The violent, sex-drenched film, Lynch's follow-up to Blue
Velvet (1986), was originally threatened with an X-rating,
until Lynch toned it down. Some of the most explicit erotic scenes
were not included in the final cut, including an orgasm with
Lula describing it as being ripped open by an animal, and another
in which she proposed oral sex on Sailor's face ("Take a
bite out of Lula"). See Sex in Films
for uncensored version
- during the opening title credits,
a simple wooden stick match ignited and became a blast furnace
of blazing heat, emphasizing one of the film's themes - pyromania; it
told about two sex-crazed, star-crossed lovers who went on the
run westward from North Carolina
- the two lovers were:
- Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage),
a 23 year-old, an Elvis-loving bad-boy, who claimed his snakeskin
jacket was "a symbol of my individuality and my belief in
personal freedom"
- Lula Pace Fortune (Laura Dern), a sex-loving,
blonde, horny, 20 year-old southern girl, Sailor's girlfriend,
nicknamed "Peanut"; she described to Sailor how she had been sexually abused and raped
at age 13 by her father's business partner "Uncle Pooch" (Marvin
Kaplan) - and had an abortion
- Note: according to Lula's deranged and domineering
mother Marietta Fortune (Best Supporting Actress-nominated Diane
Ladd, Laura Dern's real mother), Lula's father Clyde had allegedly
died in a self-immolating suicide, although in reality, he was
murdered by her mother's hired gangster-friend Marcello Santos
(J. E. Freeman). Her cackling mother was complicit and witnessed
the killing. Lula's mother Marietta was compared to the Wicked
Witch by Lula, and Sailor called her a "piece of white trash." Marietta
feared that since Sailor had been a "driver" for Santos,
he would know "too much" - that Clyde's death was homicide
and that she was responsible.
Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage)
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Lula Pace Fortune (Laura Dern)
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Marietta Fortune (Diane Ladd)
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- the film opened in Cape Fear in southeastern NC, where
Sailor and Lula were at a dance hall. Sailor was confronted in the
dance hall's restroom by switchblade-wielding, African-American hired
killer Bob Ray Lemon (Gregg Dandridge), who had been paid by Lula's
crazed, monstrous, vindictive and obsessed mother Marietta Fortune
to attack him and wrongly accuse him of propositioning Marietta: ("Crazy
f--kin' bad boy, tryin' to f--k your girl's Mama!"). Sailor
immediately fought back against the false accusation and viciously
killed Bob Ray in public view, and subsequently was charged with
manslaughter.
- [Note: The truth (revealed later) was that Marietta
had drunkenly attempted to seduce Sailor in the men's restroom in
the dance hall: ("Sailor boy! How'd you like to f--k Lula's
Mama?...Lula's Mama would like to f--k you"), but he rejected
her. Humiliated, Marietta became fixated with jealousy over Sailor's
interest in Lula and took revenge. She threatened Sailor: "I'm
gonna cut your balls off and feed 'em to ya." She immediately
hired Bob Ray Lemon to keep Sailor away from her daughter. After
Bob Ray's death, Marietta warned and reprimanded Lula that she must
never see Sailor again: "And you know you aren't, and I mean
are not gonna see him ever. End of story."]
- Sailor served almost two years
of a prison term in the Pee Dee Correctional Institution. When he
was released from prison, Lula disobediently and happily picked
up Sailor in her black 1965 Ford Thunderbird convertible. They
drove to a room at the Cape Fear Hotel to make passionate love.
Sailor proposed breaking his parole and heading westward with Lulu
to California to escape Lula's domineering mother
- back for a night of dancing on the Cape Fear dance
floor, Sailor fought off a suitor who inappropriately approached
Lula, and then serenaded her with Elvis' "Love Me": (Lyrics:
"Treat me like a fool Treat me mean and cruel But love me Wring my
faithful heart Tear it all apart But love me (won't you love me?)...").
Later during further hot love-making in their hotel room, he vowed
that he would only sing his favorite Elvis love song: "Love
Me Tender" to his future wife
- the next morning, she told him she had visions of
the Wicked Witch of the East flying in. He responded: "The way
your head works is God's own private mystery." As they smoked
cigarettes in bed, Lula told him: "You remind me of my Daddy,
you know. Mama told me he liked skinny women with breasts that stood
up and said 'Hello'."
- Lula's persistent mother Marietta hired two others
to hunt down and retrieve Lula and get rid of Sailor:
PI Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton), Marietta's Part-Time Boyfriend
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Evil Gangster-Assassin Marcello Santos (J. E.
Freeman)
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- Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton), a level-headed
but weary-looking private detective, Marietta's part-time boyfriend
- Marcello Santos (J. E. Freeman), a cold, menacing,
and evil criminal gangster/assassin, another
of Marietta's boyfriends; he had helped Marietta get rid of her
husband Clyde by setting him on fire (a fact known by Sailor); Santos'
secondary goal was to also eliminate Farragut
A Plot to Murder PI Johnnie Farragut
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Santos' Decadent Crime Mob Boss "Mr. Reindeer" (W. Morgan Sheppard)
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Mr. Reindeer's Accomplice: Voodoo Woman Juana (Grace
Zabriskie)
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- during their early search for
the fugitives, Santos contacted his mysterious, decadent crime
mob boss "Mr. Reindeer" (W. Morgan Sheppard);
he was pictured on the toilet with a topless dancer
and then with two topless handmaidens or valets
- "Mr. Reindeer" then communicated (via
a symbolic reference to two 'silver dollars' or two hits) to an unseen
voodoo woman, his accomplice - handicapped Juana (Grace Zabriskie)
who walked with a cane, and two other killers: Reggie (Calvin Lockhart)
and Dropshadow (David Patrick Kelly). Their job was to eliminate
two individuals: (1) PI Farragut (to prevent him from learning more
about their dubious and illicit criminal activities), and (2) Sailor;
Marietta became worried that Farragut was endangered
- after Sailor and Lula entered New Orleans and had
sex in their hotel room, she complimented him on his love-making
skills, with a Wizard of Oz reference: "Sometimes,
Sail', when we're makin' love, you just about take me right over
that rainbow. You are so aware of what goes on with me, I mean,
you pay attention. And I swear, baby, you got the sweetest c--k.
It's like it's talkin' to me when you're inside. Like it's got
this little voice all its own. Oh, you get right on me."
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in the back of a night-club bar known as Robbie's
in New Orleans during their fugitive flight, Sailor recalled and
described to Lula (in order to excite her) an especially memorable
sexual encounter he once had as a 'bad boy' with Irma (Charlie
Spradling) when he was visiting his cousin, Junior Train, in Savannah
- in response, Lula urged him: "Jesus, honey! You
more than sort of got what you come for. Uh, oh. Baby, you'd better
run me back to the hotel. You got me hotter than Georgia asphalt." Sailor
replied: "Say no more, but go easy on me, sweetheart. Tomorrow
we got a lot of drivin' to do." After another bout of feverish
love-making, Lula speculated: "Wouldn't it be fabulous if we
someway stayed in love for the rest of our lives?...It'd make the
future so simple and nice."
- meanwhile, "Mr. Reindeer" complied
and carried through with Santos' request to eliminate PI Farragut,
causing Marietta to go crazy with fear for hiring him - she painted
her entire face with red lipstick, and called Farragut to announce
her arrival in New Orleans the next evening. However, it had already
been arranged with Mr. Reindeer's henchmen Reggie, Dropshadow and
Juana to capture and kill Farragut in New Orleans. He was assaulted
in his hotel room, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered (a gunshot to
the back of the head) by the group led by Juana
- during their continuing car journey westward somewhere in rural Texas (on
a metaphoric "Yellow Brick Road"), Sailor and Lula came upon an ominous
car accident - and a dying and bloody car wreck victim Julie Day
(Sherilyn Fenn) who was confused and complained about "sticky
stuff in my hair" (unaware that she had blood in her hair),
and that she couldn't find a bobby pin, her wallet or her purse before
she collapsed and died in front of them
Perdita Durango (Isabella Rossellini), Juana's Daughter
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Perdita's Hitman-Boyfriend Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe)
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- in Big Tuna, TX, Sailor spoke to an old associate
- bleached-blonde Perdita Durango (Isabella Rossellini), Juana's daughter
- who confirmed to Sailor that Marietta and Santos had together
conspired to immolate Lula's father, and that they believed Sailor
knew of their crime. Perdita was the Mexican mistress of psychotic,
hot-headed ex-Marine and no-good weirdo-hitman Bobby Peru (Willem
Dafoe) (with rotten teeth)
- after their repeated bouts of sex together, Lula
revealed her pregnancy and morning sickness to Sailor on a note.
He promised he wouldn't let things get any worse
- in a tense sequence while Sailor was away, Bobby approached
Lula in her motel room, and deduced that she was pregnant (he viewed
'morning sickness' throwup on the floor); he sexually threatened
and assaulted Lula after crudely taunting her, and then demanded
that she say: "F--k me!" But then after groping her down her entire body and
her weak whispering of the two words, he humiliated and pushed
her away: ("Someday honey I will — but I gotta get goin'"). As he left,
Lula clicked her red-slippered heels together multiple times (another
Oz reference) and burst into tears
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afterwards without Lula's knowledge, Bobby urged Sailor
to join him to rob a feedstore in Lobo, TX, by convincing Sailor that
he needed "easy money" now that Lula was pregnant: "Really could set you
and that little lady up good." Sailor agreed: "That kinda
money will get us a long way down that Yellow Brick Road." Sailor
was unaware that it was part of Bobby's plan (in concert with "Mr.
Reindeer") to make sure that he didn't survive the robbery due to
a "bad accident" (by providing him with a gun loaded with blanks)
- Lula became suspicious that Sailor was speaking
to "black angel" Peru: "This whole world is wild at
heart and weird on top. I wish you'd sing me 'Love Me Tender'. Oh,
I wish I was somewhere over that rainbow."
- during the aborted heist with Perdita serving as the
getaway driver, after Bobby had shot and seriously wounded the two
feedstore employees, he raced outside and was shot multiple times
by an alert police officer. As he fell to his knees, the wounded
Bobby experienced a startling suicidal death when he blew off his own
head with his sawed-off shotgun. Unharmed, Sailor surrendered and
was arrested by police, and knew he had let down Lula. He was sentenced
to serve a prison term (of almost six years). Marietta arrived at
the police station with Santos to fly Lula back home to North Carolina
- Lula wrote Sailor a note about keeping their baby
("our child") that would be named Pace, if it was either a boy or
a girl; in the meantime, she had relocated to Los Angeles
- in the final scene set almost six years later, Sailor
was about to be released from prison after serving his time, and was
due at the LA train depot at 6 pm; on the phone with Lula, the angry
and crazed Marietta was adamant that Lula not associate with Sailor
anymore: "Girl, what if I told you not to go?", but Lula threateningly
said that it wouldn't make any difference: "Mama, if you get in the
way of me and Sailor's happiness, I'll f--kin' pull your arms out
by the roots!" and she slammed the phone down; in Lula's living room,
she toppled a photograph of her mother when she splashed it with
her drinking glass - and it began to sizzle and melt (a reference
to Dorothy's elimination of the Wicked Witch of the West with water)
Upon His Release From Jail 6 Years Later
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Sailor Awaiting Lula's Arrival at LA Train Station
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Sailor Was Greeted by Lula and Son Pace
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- Sailor was greeted by Lula
at the train depot in Los Angeles, now with their infant child
named "Pace" (Glenn Walker Harris Jr.). After driving
off a short distance with them, Sailor decided that it was
a "mistake" to get together again with her and raise a family: ("He ain't
never known me, Lula, so there's not much for him to forget. And
not seeing each other for six years makes it next best to simple
for us, too. It's what makes sense, is all"). He referenced "The
Cisco Kid" and "Pancho" in
his decision to leave her, as he told Pace:
Oye, amigo. If ever somethin' don't feel right
to you, remember what Pancho said to the Cisco Kid: 'Let's went,
before we're dancin' at the end of a rope, without music.'
- his parting words to Lula were: "You've
been doin' fine without me, Peanut. There's no need to make life
tougher than it has to be." After kissing Lula, he left them
and walked away back to the train depot on foot, where he was surrounded,
assaulted and knocked out by nine gang members after he derided them
as faggots: ("What do you faggots want?")
- while unconscious, he received an hallucinatory visitation
from the Good Witch (Sheryl Lee): "Sailor Ripley. Lula loves
you," but Sailor felt he wasn't good enough for Lula: "But
I'm a robber and a manslaughterer. And I haven't had any parental
guidance," but was assured that even though he was 'wild at
heart,' Lula had forgiven him. She advised: "Don't be afraid,
Sailor....If you are truly wild at heart, you'll fight for your dreams." She
urged him to remain with Lula: "Don't turn away from love, Sailor.
Don't turn away from love." She threw him a kiss.
Sailor Knocked Unconscious by Gang
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Sailor's Hallucinatory Visitation by the Good Witch
(Sheryl Lee)
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Sailor Serenading Lula with "Love Me Tender"
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- Sailor apologized to his dumbfounded gang attackers
for calling them homosexuals: "You've taught
me a valuable lesson in life." The film
ended with an ironic, cliched happy ending, when Sailor had a change
of heart, ran back to Lula driving away in her convertible but stuck
in traffic, and told her: "I just met the Good Witch." He reunited with her - singing "Love
Me Tender" as he had earlier promised.
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Sailor and Lula's Love-Making at the Cape Fear Hotel
Decadent "Mr. Reindeer" In a Bathroom With a Prostitute-Dancer (Lisa Ann Cabasa)
"Mr. Reindeer" Ordering Two Hits on Farragut and Sailor
Hitman Reggie (Calvin Lockhart) for "Mr. Reindeer" - With One of the Silver
Dollars
Sailor and Lula in New Orleans
Irma (Charlie Spradling): "Oh, baby, what a bad
boy you are!"
Lula: "You got me hotter than Georgia asphalt"
Lula's Psychopathically-Crazed Mother Marietta
On Their Road-Trip - in San Antonio, TX
The Injured and Dying Car Accident Victim
Lula's Revelation to Sailor: "I'm pregnant"
Bobby Peru's Crude Sexual Taunting and Attack on Lula
Lula Clicking Red Heels Together After Bobby Peru's Attack
During Aborted Robbery, the Suicidal Death Scene of Bobby Peru
Sailor Arrested and Jailed For Heist
Marietta Retrieving Daughter Lula From Police Station After Sailor's Arrest
6 Years Later: Marietta to Lula: "What If I told you not to go?"
Toppled, Melting Picture of Lula's Mother
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