A loner. A legend. A hero.
This film always sounds made up when I describe it out loud.
Wild Thing (1987) is about a young boy who witnesses the murder of his parents, gets orphaned, and grows up savage in the wilds of the urban jungle. Also, he’s raised by a bag lady and eventually becomes a crime fighter.
Of course, much artful brooding and seeking of justice ensues.
It didn’t stick to the mainstream at the time, it’s not quite a superhero film and not quite street drama. It’s just doing it’s own thing. If it had come up in the 90s with something on the soundtrack by Filter, Puddle of Mud or Fronline Assembly, it might have made more of a ripple. Today, it mostly lives in the shadows.
Written by John (The Brother from Another Planet) Sayles and lensed on the mean streets of Montreal, this creative and oddball deep-dish mix of Tarzan and Batman was let loose in that 80s twilight before this genre had a built-in audience. But you can see a style of movie trying to take shape.
Unfortunately, It’s an outlying orphan, but this urban legend deserves to squat on the shelf somewhere between The Crow and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. -Pop