10/17/07: Wolf (1994)

We could salute Wolf merely as a tribute to the primal male instinct. That seems to be the point of this big-budget werewolf tale, as a bite from the titular creature transforms Jack Nicholson from timid book editor to ruthless corporate type. There’s also the more classic transformation. After all, Wolf was part of a trilogy that included Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula and Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein.

Unfortunately—for him—director Mike Nichols didn’t stop with his clever business parable. There’s a scene where a wolfish Nicholson meets some young hoodlums in Central Park. The hoodlums don’t fare too well. In a unique moment in modern cinema, Nichols dared to cast three young black men in those roles, as opposed to the proper Caucasian thugs on which Hollywood typically insists.

Movie critics don’t really like it when directors do something daring. The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane provided the shrillest response, having vapors over this “unforgivable scene, implying that with a dash more animal courage America could repel the advance of disorder—white wolves versus urban blacks.”

Anthony Lane honestly equates urban blacks with disorder. That’s his problem. The critic was still following the established party line. In a way, Nichols had it coming. The director had earlier declared at a political fundraiser that Dan Quayle’s references to the “cultural elite” were actually an attack on Jews.

And so Mike Nichols—who is also Mr. Diane Sawyer— learned what happens to cultural elites who wander off their zip code. Interestingly, the only online version of Lane’s review is a condensed one that tones down the outrage. Nichols’ wife might have called up the critic and promised to do her own Leftist part to make up for her husband’s sense of realism. If she did, then she’s still holding up her end of the bargain.

Make it your own: Available cheap even as a brand new DVD—most likely because it’s in an antiquated double-sided disc format. Maybe there’ll be a Deluxe Edition soon. The Amazon page that we’re linking to includes that condensed review where Lane forgets the unforgivable.

 

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