‘WILD PALMS' was released on DVD in 2005. It has yet to be given the "special edition treatment."
The year was 1993 and the landscape of television was very different than it is today.
Controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone teamed up with novelist/screenwriter Bruce Wagner to create a miniseries for ABC called “Wild Palms.” An interesting pairing to say the least. One was known for creating technically brilliant, though often “fictionalized” films surrounding the Vietnam era (he won an Oscar for “Platoon”). The other, an L.A.-based novelist, who wrote about the world of Hollywood, and up until that time, his most famous work for the screen was “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors.”
There were two reasons I wanted to see this during its original broadcast. The first was Oliver Stone, who had just directed “JFK,” “The Doors,” and was about a year away from releasing “Natural Born Killers” (based from a story by Quentin Tarantino). Second, it appeared to be thought-provoking science fiction.
I hadn’t heard of Wagner then, but I assumed he was a science fiction writer of some sort. Given the subject matter of “Wild Palms,” that seemed a valid assumption. I later learned he wasn’t a science fiction writer but has, like Rod Serling before him, used the genre to explore specific ideas that couldn’t be explored as deeply by way of “straight” dramatic presentation.
Now, here’s some brushstrokes…
Harry Wyckoff (James Belushi) accepts a job at a TV company, who have recently introduced a new technology called “The New Reality.” The New Reality allows the viewer to not only experience the world they’re watching three dimensionally (literally in the comfort of their living room), but they can also touch and interact with them.
Harry and his family are eventually drawn into a long-time war between a group called The Friends and The Fathers. He later discovers that his son (played by Ben Savage) may not be his son, and that his own lineage is in question.
Not only do the filmmakers give a nod to William Gibson (the author credited with coining the word “cyberspace”) through subject matter, Gibson makes a cameo.
“Wild Palms” begins as an exploration of mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, religion, and author Philip K. Dick’s favorite question, “What is reality?” Does it devolve into a stream of other less-focused ideas?
Sure does.
However, six years before “Matrix,” “Wild Palms” was dealing with similar subject matter; loosely, mind you, and not as beautifully packaged. But I think it was certainly born out of this fascination with shaping and in some ways, reshaping reality.
Most of the ideas in the series were a mess and it could get a little confusing when trying to figure out who’s a member of the Fathers and who’s part of The Friends and how that all works together, and more importantly, why should the viewer care? It’s the performances that shine – these were good actors working with mostly solid material. These actors likely knew that and gave it their best.
The miniseries had this dreamlike quality with a 1960s soundtrack (no doubt, Stone’s influence, who executive produced the series), but I think beneath the veneer of all the over the top acting and convoluted plotlines, “Wild Palms” was very gutsy. ABC wouldn’t have the nerve to put something so strange on its fall 2009 roster. “Lost” has gotten pretty strange of late, but that was after having established somewhat of a mainstream following.
“Wild Palms” has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. You won’t find it in stores, though a quick search on Netflix should yield some results (and amazon.com).
To be honest, I still don’t get most of it, but that was the whole point. It’s the thematic concerns of the miniseries that truly makes it resonate even in today’s world.
The titles of the episodes just strike me as so literary: “Everything Must Go”; “The Floating World”; “Rising Suns”; “Hungry Ghosts”: and “Hello I Must Be Going.” They seem more to resemble chapter titles than episodes.
And the cast? James Belushi (this was still when he was still under his brother’s shadow, well before “According to Jim”); Kim Cattrall (“Sex in the City” and my favorite Cattrall film, “Mannequin”); Dana Delany (“Desperate Housewives,” voice of Lois Lane on “Superman: The Animated Series”); Robert Loggia (“Scarface”); David Warner (name a sci-fi movie, he’s probably been in it); Angie Dickenson (the ‘70s series “Policewoman”); Brad Douriff (name a sci-fi movie, he’s probably been it); Ernie Hudson (lots of recent TV work, but best known for his role in “Ghostbusters”); and Ben Savage (best known for being Fred Savage’s brother and starring in “Boy Meets World”).
ERNIE HUDSON played Tommy Lazlo, a character wedged deep within the political intrigue of "Wild Palms."
Granted, it’s going to take a special person to sit through all 275 minutes of “Wild Palms,” but beneath all the bronze and tarnished silver, you may just find gold.
And no, “Wild Palms” will probably never make it to the top of critics’ list for best TV of the 90s, but the verve, drive, and artistic failure of the whole thing makes it curiously endearing, and I hope (at some point), enduring.
Youtube video:
A scene from “Wild Palms”
Violent, yes, but punctuated by The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun.”
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