Walk on the Wild Side (1962)

IMDb plot summary: A man arrives in New Orleans searching for his former girlfriend, an artist who now works in a bordello.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Starring Laurence Harvey, Capucine, and Jane Fonda.

Walk on the Wild Side tells the story of a man returning back home to reunite with his girlfriend after spending the last few years taking care of his dying father. His girlfriend, however, moved on from him after he left and is now living and working in a brothel in New Orleans, and she is certain when he finds her that he won't want to be with her anymore. While the melodrama in this film is at extremely high levels, I found it captivating, and when I dug down as to why, I realized it was because most of the key players in this were women. Yes, our central protagonist is a man, but the women around him are fascinating, particularly the characters played by Barbara Stanwyck and Jane Fonda, who are just mesmerizing and I could watch an entire movie about just the two of them. That adds a new slant to what feels otherwise like a very familiar story and captivated me the whole way through. And while the story is tropey, it's not told badly by any means, just predictably. This is one I'd recommend if only to see some great performances from some great actresses.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Walk on the Wild Side > Frank

Walk on the Wild Side < The Black Cat

Walk on the Wild Side < Poltergeist

Walk on the Wild Side > Source Code

Walk on the Wild Side > The Recruit

Walk on the Wild Side > Wristcutters: A Love Story

Walk on the Wild Side < Phone Booth

Walk on the Wild Side < The Parent Trap (1961)

Walk on the Wild Side < Renaissance Man

Walk on the Wild Side < Chaos Theory

Walk on the Wild Side < Death at a Funeral (2007)

Walk on the Wild Side > 12 Years a Slave

Final spot: #1398 out of 3582, or 61%.