Take A Walk On The Wild Side- The Film Adaptation Of John O’Hara’s “Butterfield 8”(1960)-A Film Review

DVD Review    

By Sam Lowell

Butterfield 8, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, based on the novel by John O’Hara, 1960

No question in his day, the time from the late 1920s with the acclaimed Appointment At Samarra until the 1950s anyway, the novelist John O’Hara had the fun, foibles, loves, and craziness of the upper classes of the day down pat. Not the high-end Rockefeller clannish types but that level just below, the strivers of Wall Street and industry. Since that time though his star has been eclipsed as literary fashions have changed and he has been relegated to the “dead white guy” pile. But for a slice of life about how the other half lived (the other half not born on the “wrong side of the tracks”), what made them tick and how they tumbled down the hill in the middle third of the 20^th century you could find no better interpreter. Not bad for a kid from Pottsville, Pa.

Which brings us to the film adaptation of his 1934 novel Butterfield 8 updated to the late 1950s from the look of the automobiles on the streets. But updated or not the story line is the same. The strivings of a “from hunger” woman, Gloria played by then I think the reigning Hollywood beauty queen Elizabeth Taylor, to get out from under the best way she could using her beauty to match up with well-funded gentleman callers. In the argot of the time she was a “party girl”, a call girl for whoever paid the freight through the escort service Butterfield 8 which gives the book and film its title.                   

Of course those who can pay the freight and who are feeling frisky or lonesome for a serious sexy companion are guys who are married and feeling trapped. That is the case with the main gentleman caller here, Wes, played by Laurence Harvey. He is a from “hunger guy” who landed on his feet by marrying a factory owner’s daughter. And like most “from hunger” guys was made to go through hoops just to keep up appearances without any real power (or much to do except hit the bars and chase Gloria). So we witness what started out as a short-haul tryst complete with cash left on the mantle which moved onto a steamed up romance between the two. Gloria finally decides that despite her great sexual appeal, her flirty “life of the party” ways, and her ability to make guys come hither with a look (or go into deep freeze when she is done with a guy) she has found love.       

Like a lot of O’Hara’s many novels there is a tragic ending here not long after Gloria has her epiphany. The couple had a serious spat over Gloria’s continued flirting. Wes crosses some line that could never be taken back despite his willingness to divorce his rich wife and take his chances out on the streets. In the end although Wes would not give her up Gloria flees and he followed in a high speed chase-she is fatally injured and he heads back to “find himself” and see if he can salvage his marriage. This melodrama is done is typical early 1960s style where Gloria “profession” is left unstated and only revealed by innuendo unlike today where the whole thing would be more openly stated. A fair film and period piece.