2/1/08: Wild In The Streets (1968)This was originally going to be our way of celebrating
Dick Clark’s birthday last year. Somehow, we screwed that up. Then we had to flip a coin over this or
The Black Gestapo as a chance to leech off the success of Jonah Goldberg’s
Liberal Fascism. Sadly, now we get around to
Wild In The Streets as a timely tale of pathetic politics.
Wild In The Streets has kind of faded as a shining pop-culture moment. There was a time, however, when “Fourteen or Fight!” meant something. Specifically, it was the rallying cry of rock star Max Frost, who takes over a televised political fundraiser with a demand that the voting age be lowered to 14 years old. He’ll later (briefly) compromise it down to 15 years old, after Senatorial candidate Johnny Fergus makes a deal with Frost to avoid riots on the Sunset Strip. Frost has an edge in the negotiations, since his lawyer/accountant/guitarist is a 15-year-old prodigy.
Frost and his followers get Fergus into office. They also elect drugged-out former child actress Sally LeRoy to table an amendment to lower the voting age. That gets passed with the help of a deadly riot. Then the age for a Presidential candidate is lowered after Frost doses the members of Congress with LSD.
In a sci-fi twist, the youth actually start voting. This leads to Frost becoming President of the United States—and his first move is the creation of mandated retirement homes for all citizens over 35, where the old folks are kept on a permanent acid trip.
Wild In The Streets was written by Robert Thom—who’d follow up by writing and directing
Angel, Angel, Down We Go. That one was so visionary that it hit theaters looking like it was cashing in on the Manson Family. Thom’s still looking like a prophet. All the politicians in
Wild In The Streets are craven and petty. They want to play to the media and win over whatever vital demographic includes a bunch of morons. Every one of them gets what they deserve.
Fergus is a Democrat, and his own teenage son is lecturing him about how his party has helped to create wars. “There aren’t even any Negroes anymore,” his kid says, “the way you Democrats see them.” Meanwhile, Frost is ready to run for President—but he’s refusing to talk to Eisenhower, or Rockefeller, or even Dirksen. Frost won’t talk to any Republicans. “I run my own party,” he declares, “or I run Democrat.”
His entourage explains things: “The Republicans want you, Max. You don’t even have to pull any stunts. They’ve been looking for a hero ever since they lost Eisenhower. Nixon would sure look dumb with long hair, and Ronald Reagan would look worse. Nobody’s going to take this country this year with short hair. Think of it! You—the true son and heir of Herbert Hoover and Calvin Coolidge.”
Frost thinks about it: “Me—a Republican? Yeah. Alright.”
You know the worst thing about this year’s election? You can’t get any clean acid anymore. We’ll be in the retirement homes with some kind of crappy bathtub gin that’ll feel all speedy.
Make it your own: Like we said,
Wild In The Streets isn’t a classic anymore. It ended up dumped as part of the MGM Midnite Movies series, paired
on DVD with the equally bizarre
Gas-s-s-s. Neither is a comedy, but
Wild In The Streets should be taken more seriously. Everybody in the cast has an amazing Hollywood story. Richard Pryor is Frost’s drummer. Larry Bishop—only rivaled by Adam Roarke as an underappreciated drive-in icon—is a one-handed horn player with an interest in assassination. Hal Holbrook is Senator Fergus, and his wife is Millie Perkins.
Shelley Winters provides uncomfortable comic relief as Max’s mother. Future
Brady Bunch star Barry Williams shows up as young Max—making for his second
appearance on this site. Dick Clark, as mentioned, is one of several media types making a cameo. His own brief appearance makes for some nice foreshadowing. There’s also child star Bill Mumy, and a silent turn by a Monkee. Kevin Coughlin’s work as Frost’s chief advisor is particularly scary—but not because the character’s gay. That’s played very matter-of-factly, which is part of that tragic actor’s own amazing story.
Max Frost is played by Christopher Jones, who’s one of Hollywood’s great dropouts. Don’t be too sure about those rumors of Phil Ochs turning down the role, though. Legendary songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil composed the tunes for Frost’s band, and were good friends with Ochs. They never heard Ochs say anything about the film.
And there’s another sign of how
Wild In The Streets has gone ignored. The soundtrack’s never been reissued on CD—although Mann and Weil have lived to hear “Shape of Things To Come” being used in a Target commercial.
