Queering Cinema: 'Take a Walk on the Wild Side'

In 1962, the then-ubiquitous Laurence Harvey led a cast that included four female powerhouse actors in a film that would push the boundaries of queer representation onscreen. "Walk on the Wild Side" co-starred two Hollywood veterans, Barbara Stanwyck and Anne Baxter, as well as rising stars Jane Fonda and Capucine.

While the film did move the gay needle ever so slightly, especially in portrayals of same-sex desire onscreen, the experience proved topsy-turvy for all involved, with actors, producer, and director in a constant battle of egos and differing creative styles. Upon the film's release, the critics would prove to be even cattier than all the alleged on-set outbreaks.

Three of the films five movie stars were admitted or rumored bisexuals: Harvey, Stanwyck, and Capucine. Fonda has spoken skittishly about her female affairs: "Frankly, I've probably done everything."

The film was loosely inspired by the 1956 Nelson Algren novel "A Walk on the Wild Side," a Depression-era tragic-comedy about a Texas drifter and the messy misfits he encounters on his way to finding his great lost love. Adapting the book was the brainchild of Charles Feldman, an agent turned producer. The director hired for the job (who turned it down several times) was Edward Dmytryk, who had "Crossfire" and "The Caine Mutiny" to his credits.

Dmytryk's career was on a downward spiral. In the '40s he was considered a maverick, but the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) would change that. Led by zealot Joseph McCarthy, the committee was created to root out the Communist influence, especially in Hollywood. Dmytryk was a leftist and member of the Communist party during WWII and become one of the "Hollywood Ten," who refused cooperation with HUAC. He was imprisoned and did an about-face, cooperating with the committee, naming names and, as a result, destroying careers and lives. Many in the industry never forgave him for his actions. It's interesting to note that Elia Kazan, who arguably did more damage to his fellow artists, saw his career thrive after his decision to name names.

The "WOTWS" script would need to get past the Production Code, which barred even the idea of homosexuality. But the recent studio push to pass William Wyler's 1961 film version of Lillian Hellman's lesbian tragedy The Children's Hour" (starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine) led to a chipping away at an already-weakening censorial board.

Many writers attempted to pen the script, including playwright Clifford Odets, but it would eventually fall to John Fante ("Full of Life" with Judy Holliday), Edmund Morris ("The Savage Guns"), and an uncredited Ben Hecht ("The Front Page"). The narrative lean was already lurid, and Feldman kept trying to sneak soft-core porn scenes back in, with Dmytryk negating them (along with the cast).

The movie's plot follows Texan farmer Dove Linkhorn (Harvey) on his way to New Orleans to seek out his lost love Hallie (Capucine). Dove encounters the wild, headstrong Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda) and the two decide to travel together, stopping off at a café run by Mexican Teresina Vidaverri (Anne Baxter), from whom Kitty steals. Teresina, crushing on Doug, gives him work and helps in his search for Hallie, which eventually leads him to a French quarter bordello known as the Doll House, run by steely Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck). Jo has a hold on Hallie and seemingly controls her life. Feeling threatened, Jo will do anything she must to hold onto Hallie.

Many in the "Walk on the Wild Side" cast were represented by Feldman (something that by law can no longer happen today), including his protégée, Capucine, who would often be seen about town with him. (She would later vehemently deny rumors of an affair.) The French bombshell had a lucrative modeling career before gaining international fame when Feldman cast her in the 1960 biopic of Franz Liszt, "Song Without End," garnering her a Golden Globe nomination. Liszt was played by Dirk Bogarde, who notably starred in the groundbreaking, gay-themed British film "Victim" in 1961. Bogarde denied his own homosexuality for the entirety of his life.

Capucine, on the other hand, never really hid her attraction to women, and when interviewed by writer Boze Hadleigh for what would eventually become his book, "Hollywood Lesbians," she admitted her sapphic leanings. "Yes, I have had romantic or sexual liaisons with women, and one or two with men." She also stated that the great loves of her life were all female. Capucine would go on to appear in Blake Edwards' "The Pink Panther," as well as play a lesbian in "Fräulein Doktor" in 1968. Her life came to a tragic end when she jumped to her death from her 8th floor apartment in Switzerland in 1990 (the same year Stanwyck died).

Stanwyck, one of the great stars of the Hollywood Golden Age, daringly took on the role of the lesbian madame. The legendary actor was publicly closeted, like all gay/lesbian movie stars at the time, yet she became the first American actress to portray a lesbian character in a feature film. And the movie was the first, in Hollywood, to openly feature lesbianism. Admonished by Louella Parsons for accepting the role, Stanwyck responded, "What do you want them to do, get a real madam and a real lesbian?" The actress was at a point in her career where no role could hurt her.

Just how overt the gayness is in the film is completely up to the viewer. I've read many accounts of people who say the film was so straight-washed to appease the censors that it's almost impossible to sense any feeling between the two women. I disagree. I think Jo's desire and love for Hallie is quite overt, and obvious from the very first scene between the two, as is Jo's contempt for her physically challenged husband – she recoils from him in a key moment. Hallie, on the other hand, doesn't quite return the feelings, but seems content in the protected, lucrative world she is set up in. She's even asked, by Jo not to visit the Doll House – to basically stop prostituting herself. And Jo's fierce determination to hold onto Hallie, no matter the consequences, shows how much she wants to possess her. (I never said it was a healthy crush.) Sure, as some have pointed out, if Jo had been allowed to be more open, it might have been a watershed moment, but Stanwyck managed to sneak in enough, via her glances, that things are spelled out pretty plainly.

Spencer Jones, in a 2017 article for The Advocate, wrote, "Jo appears incapable of loving anyone, but is prepared to move heaven and earth for Hallie." I would argue she's deeply in love with Hallie, but must remain on her guard for her own survival.

Stanwyck was raised old school when it came to any discussion of sexual orientation. In that same Hadleigh book, "Hollywood Lesbians," the icon angrily tosses the writer out of her home when she feels his questions about her marriage to Robert Taylor (another closeted star) was "arranged." Up to that point in the interview, she's quite careful and cagey about discussions of sexual orientation and pretense in Hollywood. Defending Rock Hudson's closetedness, she admonished Hadleigh, "You have to understand that being the biggest star he had the most to lose."

It's interesting to note that Stanwyck's Wikipedia page is super-careful to paint her as straight, even though her lesbianism was an open secret among Hollywood insiders of the time.

In Hadleigh's book, Capucine confessed of Stanwyck, "She did not flirt with me, I'm not sure if she even liked me, she was very businesslike. I think at that time, she had a lady friend, and she was not looking for someone else. And being such a big star, so known to everybody in Hollywood, she would have to be very careful."

By 1962, Jane Fonda had already bowed on Broadway and starred in her first film, the romantic comedy "Tall Story," where she played a college cheerleader in search of a husband opposite Anthony Perkins (closeted but known to be gay in the industry). In 2019, Fonda revealed that both she and director Joshua Logan were in love with Perkins! Her role in "WOTWS," the petulant street kid turned prostitute Kitty Twist, would prove just how eclectic Fonda could be onscreen, even this early in her career. Her feral performance received the lion's share of the few positive notices.

"All About Eve" star Anne Baxter would round out the famous female names in the cast. Her performance is often dismissed because she was cast as a Mexican character. Casting actors outside of their ethnicity was something done quite often in those days. Contextualizing, Baxter imbues her character with a warmth and sweetness that provides a nice tonic to the icy, selfish, and downright nasty behavior of most of the other characters. It's interesting to note that producer Feldman insisted on a meeting before filming began. Baxter wrote in her autobiography, "Intermission," "I burned inwardly. What the hell did they think – that I had turned into a cow?"

Other notable cast members included future TV star Joanna Moore, who is wonderful as Miss Precious, a singer/prostitute, and the brooding and handsome Richard Rust as one of Jo's muscle flunkies, Oliver.

The film's lead, Laurence Harvey, was at the zenith of his career, having garnered an Oscar nomination for "Room at the Top" in 1959, opposite Simone Signoret (who won Best Actress), and co-starring in two of 1960's biggest hits, John Wayne's "The Alamo," and "BUtterfield 8," opposite Elizabeth Taylor, who won her first Oscar for that film. Harvey would also make one of the most daring and controversial films of the '60s the same year as "WOTWS," "The Manchurian Candidate," with Frank Sinatra.

Harvey's sexual orientation has always been in question. He was married thrice, but his relationships with men were an open secret. There were widespread rumors of affairs with actors like Robert Wagner. George Jacobs, author of "Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra" (he was his valet), alleges that Harvey "often made passes at him" and that Sinatra had no issue with it, although Sinatra's nickname for Harvey was "Ladyboy."

The Lithuanian-born British actor was purported to be difficult to work with both in film and theatre, and his performances were not well respected by his peers. But it's impossible not to give the actor credit for the above-noted turns, as well as his work in John Schlesinger's "Darling," with Julie Christie and Dirk Bogarde, in 1964. During filming of "WOTWS," Harvey did not get along with either Fonda or Capucine. Fonda was resented because she, along with her "creepy" acting coach, were constantly trying to better the scripts. Capucine, via Feldman, requested nine days of retakes so her part could be improved. Capucine allegedly challenged Harvey's manhood during kissing scenes, prompting him to shoot back, "Perhaps if you were more of a woman, I would be more of a man. Honey, kissing you is like kissing the side of a beer bottle." It's been claimed by some sources that all the on-set tension caused Dmytryk to resign. Whether that is true or not, it is a fact that Blake Edwards was brought on board to shoot additional scenes.

One of the most exciting aspects of the film was the mesmerizing Saul Bass opening credit sequence, where a black cat struts about proudly and then gets into a primal catfight. The bluesy score, by Elmer Bernstein, is evocative and sensual. Later in the film, the Oscar-nominated title song is sensually sung by Brooke Benton.

A surprise box office hit, "Walk on the Wild Side" was virtually decimated by the critics. Bosley Crowther, the chief NY Times critic who would be fired in five years for his "out-of-touch" negative review of "Bonnie and Clyde," tore every aspect of the film to shreds, saving his most stinging vitriol for the cast: "As the heroine, the tall, thin actress who calls herself Capucine is as crystalline and icy as her elegant mononym. Laurence Harvey is barely one-dimensional as the dimwitted Texas tramp and Miss Stanwyck is like something out of moth balls as the madame known as Jo. As a girl guttersnipe, Jane Fonda is elaborately saucy and shrill (a poor exposure for a highly touted talent), and Anne Baxter is wasted in a weak role. Edward Dmytryk's direction makes you wonder whether he read the script before he started shooting. If he did, he should have yelled."

One must wonder about personal attacks in reviews and what it says about the critics who poison-pen them. An interesting footnote: Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed, whose own sexual fluidity has been debated ad nauseam, wrote his famous counterculture song, "Walk on the Wild Side," after he was asked to compose the score to a musical version of the original novel. The song became one of the most defiant queer anthems of the 20th century.

Watch the title sequence from "Walk on the Wild Side":