Bardlerx Strictly average movie

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

bkoganbing Audie Murphy stretched his youthful appearance once too often in doing The Wild and The Innocent. Neither he or Sandra Dee are all that wild, but brother are they innocent enough. If this were done today, both probably would have had sex scenes with Joanne Dru and Gilbert Roland.It's hard to believe such folks exist, but Murphy plays a mountain trapper, probably one of the last of his kind in the rugged Wyoming Rockies. Normally he goes to a trading post to sell his furs, but as he gets there the trading post has been burned down because some peckerwood played by Strother Martin sold some moonshine to the Indians with predictable results.Murphy's got to take his furs to Casper and this is first time in the big city. God only knows what he would have thought of Chicago or New York if Casper, Wyoming is defined as a city. Strother Martin leaves his daughter, young Sandra Dee with Murphy and both go to Casper.Which is having a Fourth of July celebration. Let's say that both Murphy and Dee get a big city education from Dru and Roland.The characters are a bit too much to swallow. Murphy's education may be lacking, but I can't believe he didn't learn a bit about the birds and the bees living in the wild. In fact country folk probably have a far more relaxed attitude about sex as they see it in the livestock they raise.Gilbert Roland is one of my favorite character actors, I love him in anything and another good performance here is Peter Breck as a cowboy tough who Murphy deals with quite expeditiously. Still Murphy and Dee look like one very odd couple.

Alonzo Church 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.

Caz1964 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

terryjo The movie emphasizes that innocents can get into a lot of trouble in the city. The movie also makes a good statement about people being too lenient in accepting bad choices. When given a chance to improve their lives, some people will always accept the status quo instead of changing. Sandra Dee is a delight and Audie Murphy gives a great performance as someone who finally gets his eyes open to reality in time to save the girl. I truly enjoyed it and wished that they would release it on video.