The blurb on the Criterion Channel says:
” A complex exploration of the physical and emotional effects of trauma, SOMETHING WILD stars Carroll Baker, in a layered performance, as a college student who attempts suicide after a brutal sexual assault but is stopped by a mechanic (Ralph Meeker)—whose kindness, however, soon takes an unsettling turn. Startlingly modern in its frankness and psychological realism, the film represents one of the purest on-screen expressions of the sensibility of the intimate community of artists around New York’s Actors Studio, which transformed American cinema in the mid-twentieth century. With astonishing location and claustrophobic interior photography by Eugene Schüfftan, an opening-title sequence by the inimitable Saul Bass, and a rhythmic score by Aaron Copland, Jack Garfein’s film is a masterwork of independent cinema. “
It’s not a bad synopsis. And it’s worth adding a line from the trailer, much of which overlays clips from the film with breathless hyperbole in a mod 60s font and plays up the sexually sensational elements. However when it says “Featuring the Fantastic City of New York,” there’s no hyperbole. NYC is a major player in the film; as a period piece, it’s almost painfully evocative of how the city used to be: beautiful and busy, yet also livable. Even the squalor of Mike’s apartment has a kind of bohemian charm.
This is one of those gems that I can’t imagine finding on any streaming service other than the Criterion Channel. I had never heard of the New York Actor’s Studio, but I will be seeking out other samples of the group’s work.