The Wild and the Innocent (1959)

Absolutely Fantastic

A Masterpiece!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Audie Murphy never took an Oscar home, but he was an adequate actor. Some roles gave him more leeway to experiment, while others confined him to formulaic roles. Nevertheless, Murphy is thoroughly convincing as a wet-behind-the-ears young man named Yancy who has spent his entire life in the mountains with his trapper uncle and Native American wife. A rugged frontiersman and a crack shot with a rifle, he knows nothing about social customs. He knows nothing about women, prostitution, and little about the outside world. Co-writer & director Jack Sher and "Joe Butterfly" scenarist Sy Gomberg have fashioned a solid, unpretentious, offbeat western that happily doesn't cast Murphy as a gunfighter. Instead, he plays a man out of touch with reality when he get his first taste of city life on the frontier. Murphy does a good job of playing a naïve young man. "The Wild and the Innocent" isn't a town tamer western, a cavalry western, a revenge oater, or a wagon train chronicle. This Universal-International release could qualify as a coming-of-age saga. After Yancy's uncle is attacked by a bear one evening, Yancy must ride out by himself to sell their pelts. The owner of the General Store in the nearest town is leaving when Yancy catches him and he recommends that Yancy sell his furs in Casper. This means that he must ride two extra days. He encounters a liquor salesman, Ben Stocker (Strother Martin of "Cool Hand Luke"), when he is told to go to Casper. Stocker is a low-down, no-account, scoundrel, and he is responsible for driving the General Store manager away. Stocker has a good-looking daughter, Rosalie (Sandra Dee of "Gidget," who he tries to pawn off on Yancy. Yancy refuses all of Stocker's proposals, but Rosalie slips away from her terrible father. She wants to ride with Yancy and get herself a job in Casper. Initially, Yancy wants nothing to do with her, but eventually he lets her join him. Rosalie is as naïve about life as Yancy. When the two arrive in Casper, and they learn some important lessons about life and love. The town of Casper is ruled by the Town Marshal, Paul (Gilbert Roland of "The Bad and the Beautiful"), who owns and operates a bordello. He learns about Yancy's arrival after a rowdy cowpoke, Chip (Peter Breck of "Shock Corridor"), tries to rough him up, and Yancy baptizes Chip in a horse trough. Chip sloshes up out of the horse trough and tries to shoot Yancy, but his gun is too wet to fire. These two have a running feud throughout "The Wild and the Innocent" and they clash later during a dance on Independence Day. Chip challenges Yancy to a gunfight, but Yancy prefers to bodily attack Chip. Incredibly, Yancy stomps on Chip's hand and breaks it when the young galoot tries to shoot him. Meantime, Paul takes an interest in Rosalie and wants her all to himself. Yancy lays his eyes on a prostitute, Marcy (Joanne Dru of "Red River"), and he becomes infatuated with her. They get together, but Yancy wants her, but he must learn the hard way about the social stigma surrounding prostitution. Basically, Yancy is a man of considerable resource but no guile. While all this is going on, Rosalie gets a job in a whore house, but she doesn't want to work there. Eventually, Paul and Yancy clash. Yancy learns that Paul made the citizens breathe easier after he took over the duties of town marshal. Yancy topples Paul from power as the town boss, decides to leave Casper, and finds himself pursued by Rosalie. The opening and ending scenes serve as book markers. Jack Sher does a solid job of staging the bullet-riddled action. "The Wild and the Innocent" ranks as one of Murphy's better movies.

a gentler movie than most of Audie Murphy's westerns - he's a gosh-darn hillbilly man - who meets a plum dirty hillbilly girl - and cain't see thru the messy hair & filthy clothes to her Sandra Dee appeal - but at the town where they come to trade their furs - the sheriff there does see it - while the hillbilly boy is a smitten by the lady dressed in scarletthis was never gonna be a great movie - but it weren't even average - the story didn't generate any tension cuz of the long dry scenes - and cuz everything was so predictablethe chemistry between Audie and Sandra Dee showed considerable promise - while Gilbert Roland almost steals the movie as the suave latino sheriff

If you are going to have a prayer of enjoying this movie, you have to accept that Audie Murphy is playing a boy, about age 16 or so, so that his romance with Sandra Dee (playing the unfortunate daughter of some trashy folk) doesn't seem creepy. If you notice that Murphy looks every bit of 35, and Sandra Dee looks a young 16 or 17, you will be in trouble.The movie itself is intended to be strictly family entertainment -- as full of good-hearted humor and lack of dramatic conflict as a typical Disney film of that era. And that makes it an odd choice for Murphy -- who, even when playing innocents, tends to have a sense of danger about him. Poor Audie plays his role with a strain of irritability that makes one think, at any moment, he'll notice that Sandra Dee has a crush on him and go "Girls! Oh gross! Cooties!".The basic plot -- Audie goes to the big city (er, Casper Wyoming) to sell some beaver furs his pa has trapped. Sandra Dee hitches along, because Pa will try to trade her to somebody for furs or whiskey, and she might not like the guy. So Audie also tries to go find Sandra Dee a job, so she'll stop pestering him. The rest of the flick is how these innocents deal with the big bad world, including corrupt sheriff and dance hall owner Gilbert Roland. (Gilbert plays the role like he knows he is in a bad movie, and hopes to sleep through it.) If you like family friendly movies, and are unbothered about the concept of fancy dance hall women that looms large in this plot, this movie might work for you. If you are looking for a gritty western in the style of Ford, Boetticher, or Mann, run far, far away.

I saw this movie once years ago and always thought it had been made in black and white,which shows how long ago it was it was when my parents still owned a black and white set.I do remember really liking it though and had always wanted to see it again,finally i got the chance a couple of days ago and it was as good as i remembered . The Wild And The Innocent is an unusual little western and i cant say its like anything else I've seen before or since.Its a sort of tale about morals and the decisions that people might make in life and how easy it is to make the wrong ones,there is always somebody corrupt around the corner who will prey on those that are naive and will use them for their own advantage. Audie Murphy plays a young fur trapper named Yancy who goes to town reluctantly with a young runaway girl named Rosalie{Sandra Dee},and together they get into all sorts of trouble through their naivety towards town life.He wants to help Rosalie find a job,and then he can go his separate way,but its not that simple.Towards the end of the film he wisens up when he finally realises that the job Rosalie has been offered is more than what the job description says,and he must try to save her before its too late. The Wild And The Innocent is a charmingly romantic film which seems to be sadly forgotten,i think it needs to be shown more as I'm sure there are a lot of viewers out there who would really appreciate this little movie if they only knew about it.As one reviewer on here as commented you need to look at the era it was made in to really appreciate it. I love this movie and the ending makes it all worthwhile,ill give it 9/10