The Wild Life Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

The Wild Life Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 23, 2021

Art Linson's "The Wild Life" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include audio commentary by exclusive new video interview with star Ilan Mitchell-Smith; audio commentary recorded by writer/critic/podcaster Mike 'McBeardo' McPadden and author/disc jockey Ian Christe; and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

It's casual

Cameron Crowe’s contribution and the many obvious and not so obvious similarities between Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Wild Life make it quite easy to speculate that the latter was conceived as a sequel to the former. (For what it’s worth, Ben Stein is one such high-profile speculator who is on record claiming that The Wild Life ought to be considered precisely that kind of a project). But I am unconvinced that Art Linson agreed to direct The Wild Life with the clear understanding that he was supposed to follow the steps of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I believe that The Wild Life genuinely wants to have an identity of its own, but it does not seem to have a clear understanding of how to acquire it. However, I am unconvinced that the film is clueless either. How is this possible? There is a two-fold problem: Crowe’s screenplay, and the fact that Fast Times at Ridgemont High does not leave any room for further exploration of the same themes that defined the existence of its characters.

The main trouble with the screenplay is that it appears to be rehashing familiar characterizations. A quick look at Sean and Chris Penn’s characters, for instance, is enough to at least consider taking Stein’s claim seriously because the two essentially complete each other. Naturally, this means that Penn imitates a lot of what made his brother’s stoner memorable, but while operating in a different environment. Also, the narrative construction is very, very similar. Indeed, just like in Fast Times at Ridgemont High colorful events are used to document a transition towards a supposedly more mature level of existence where everyone is beginning to see the world from a new angle. While the transition occurs, once again there is plenty of outrageous fun, sex, and a few sobering disappointments as well.

Here’s the crucial difference between The Wild Life and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which ironically happens to be the reason why the former struggles to produce a unique identity as well -- the funny in The Wild Life does not function as a smoke screen, it is very much the story. Yes, there are hints of something more in the random speeches Eric Stoltz’s character produces before he moves into the fancy apartment complex, but even then the main objective is crystal clear -- living the wild life and experiencing as much of the excitement that comes with it as possible. The ‘more’ turns out to be simply the occasional silly and harmless disappointments that teenagers experience while engaging each other, like being publicly rejected, getting played, or simply earning a big black eye from a lousy brawl.

When all is said and done it feels like a challenge to identify a couple of good reasons to argue why The Wild Life ought to be remembered. (This is most definitely not the case with Fast Times at Ridgemont High). To be perfectly clear, there isn’t a shortage of hilarious scenes that make the film attractive, but this is the type of material that is present in every other teen comedy that emerged from the ‘80s and early ‘90s. It does not feel like it is part of something bigger and more meaningful that can leave a lasting impression.

The soundtrack features original music by rock icon Eddie Van Halen, as well as classic tunes by the likes of Steppenwolf (“Born to Be Wild”), Bananarama (“Wild Life”), Little Richard (“The Girl Can’t Help It”, “Heebie, Jeebies”), Prince (“Dirty Mind”), Jimi Hendrix (“Foxy Lady”), and Billy Idol (“Do Not Stand in the Shadows”), amongst others.

*Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray release of Wild Life is dedicated to the loving memory of author, critic, and film commentator Mike ‘McBeardo’ McPadden.

The Wild Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Wild Life arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. Unfortunately, it is even more problematic than the one the studio used for the first release of Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Delineation and depth range from mediocre to very poor, which is why large portions of the film essentially look like upscaled material. Also, there is a lot of that very distracting smearing that is common on older masters that emerge from the studio's vaults, which frequently makes the visuals look even worse. Colors are difficult to judge because while some primaries appear stable, plenty of supporting nuances are destabilized by the degraining and sharpening adjustments that have been applied to the master. Unsurprisingly, the darker footage does not have proper shadow definition, and backgrounds routinely collapse. Image stability is good. A few tiny dirt spots and blemishes can be seen, but there are no distracting large debris, cuts, warped or torn frames to report. All in all, the current master has a very distracting digital appearance that makes it quite difficult to enjoy the film. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Wild Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track performed great on my system. Indeed, clarity, sharpens, and depth were very good, plus whenever the music became prominent dynamic intensity was quite impressive. The overall balance was great as well. I did not detect any age-related imperfections or encoding anomalies to report in our review.

The Wild Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for The Wild Life. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Radio Spots - a few vintage radio spots for The Wild Life. In English, not subtitled. (5 min).

• Walk the Wild Side - in this new video interview, co-star Ilan Mitchell-Smith recalls how he was cast to play the character of Jim Conrad and what it was like to work with Art Linson and the rest of the cast members during the shooting of The Wild Life. In English, not subtitled. (15 min).

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by writer/critic/podcaster Mike 'McBeardo' McPadden, author of Teen Movie Hell, and author/disc jockey Ian Christe. It is a good commentary with plenty of interesting, and accurate, observations about the unique characters Cameron Crowe has introduced over the years, the tone and vibe of the films that are based on his screenplays (with some very interesting comments about the characters in John Hughes' films), the use of music in The Wild Life, some of the similarities and differences between The Wild Life and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, etc.

The Wild Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is very difficult not to compare The Wild Life to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, perhaps even impossible, and once you do it, it becomes crystal-clear that the latter is a vastly superior film. You can still have a good time with The Wild Life, but the truth is that it is just like all the other easily forgettable teen comedies that emerged from the '80s and early '90s. (One thing The Wild Life has and the other teen comedies don't is that killer soundtrack the late Eddie Van Halen created for it). Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an old and regretfully quite problematic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. However, it has a very nice audio commentary that was recorded by writer/critic/podcaster Mike 'McBeardo' McPadden and author/disc jockey Ian Christe. If you have to have the release in your collection, I would recommend that you consider picking it up only when it goes on sale.