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Wild
America
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There is a brief sing-along to Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" and a glimpse of a hippie enclave (nude bathing discreetly included), but we can all be merciful that Wild America spares us the obligatory Wonder Years-style summary of the swinging '60s reduced to a blazing hail of stock-footage clichés (Vietnam, bra burning, JFK, The Beatles...). Nonetheless, the zeitgeist of that era does seem to register, even in a sleepy Arkansas town, for three adventurous lads who dream of hitting the road and becoming wildlife documentary filmmakers. The personalities of these brothers are deftly differentiated within a few moments of the opening scene: Mark (Devon Sawa) is a Hemingway-type wanderer, Marty (Scott Bairstow) is a womanising narcissist, and Marshall (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), the youngest, is a dreamer. Marshall is also the narrator – but, again mercifully, his reminiscences have none of the treacly, overstated wistfulness that we have grown to hate in recent cinema and television. In fact, just about everything in Wild America, from rude gags to sentimental clinches, is handled with a very pleasing tact, economy and lightness of touch – attributable, without doubt, to William Dear, an underrated director of action-comedies including the splendid If Looks Could Kill (1991). Wild America is based on the true story of the Stouffer brothers, although the usual biopic meddling shapes some details to fit movie convention and leaves others – such as the boys' remarkable ability to get great footage in total darkness with only a flashlight – handily unexplained. Despite this evident contrivance on every level, the film is effortlessly involving, humorous and touching, particularly in its portrait of the stern but loving Marty Sr (Jamey Sheridan). This a shameless boys' own story – in which men stride forth to conquer the world and women stay at home looking good while gladly sacrificing their dreams and hard earned cash. Fortunately, Dear and writer David Michael Wieger build up a large enough store of all-round humanism to transcend this old-fashioned ideology. Wild America is tremendously entertaining, and a modest delight. © Adrian Martin September 1997 |
