Wildfire (1988)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Zalman King

Writers:

Matthew Bright (screenplay)
Matthew Bright (story)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Since they met the first time in boarding school as little kids, it was obvious that the orphans Kay and Dave would become a couple...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Ménage À Trois | Independent Film

Cast

Steven Bauer	...	Frank
Linda Fiorentino	...	Kay
Will Patton	...	Mike
Marshall Bell	...	Lewis
Richard Bradford	...	Gene
Sandra Seacat	...	Sissy
Ken Thorley	...	Bernie
Johnny Weissmuller Jr.	...	Bounty Hunter
Juan Fernández	...	Man in Cantina
Nancy Fish	...	Roberta
Dennis Holahan	...	Mitch
Dorothy Meyer	...	Esther
Iris Butler	...	Psychologist
Angelica Marden	...	Amanda
Calvin Collins	...	Josh

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG

Soundtrack:

Come On Joe

Not a dreamy love story. *SPOILERS*

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The problem with Wildfire, is that I don't know what it is supposed to be. It starts out as a sentimental love story between two orphaned children turned married teenagers(?) Poor and pregnant, Frank (Bauer) and Kate (Florentino) decide to hold up a bank. Actually, it was Frank's brilliant idea, and it's what gets him a prison term.

Meanwhile, Kate who may or may have not been a teenager, is sent to live with a foster family, where she lives for some eight years. There, she meets Mike (Patton), who eventually becomes her husband.

Ol' Mike and Frank both exhibit that wierd Lifetime Television wife beater vibe. Mike the obsessive gets out of jail and wants to reunite with his wife. But not in that psychotic "if i can't have you, nobody can" kind of way. He just thinks he can pick up where he left off and that Kate will go along with it.

She does kind of linger with him for awhile, and this obviously angers her husband, Mike. As Kate travels from upstate California to San Diego to eventually Mexico (at which point she wishes Frank would just let go and let her be), Mike follows them and even hires a bounty hunter to help look for the pair. In the search for his wife, the movie starts to become something of an action film -- fast cars, fist fights, the works.

Except at this point, nearing the end of the film, we are not told what happens to the bounty hunter. So, the action aspect of the film is left undiscovered, or is to be assumed over. Because now in Mexico, this is Kate's last opportunity to convince Frank to let go. And Frank will only do that in death. So you get the picture, right?

It's a strange movie that picks up towards the middle, once you figure out what the real relationship is between Kate and Frank or Kate and Mike. She's a very unresponsive character for the most part of the film, and is really just reactionary towards the male characters. Plus, when you're trying to figure out what's going on with Kate, she spends half the time crying. That's why it's kind of hard to figure out. I'm not fond of movies where actors don't get much dialogue or don't really reveal (at least not on purpose) what their character is all about.