After his uncle is injured, backwoods mountain trapper Yancy Hawks (Murphy) travels to a trading post to sell furs to help the family, only to find that it has been burned down by Indians drunk on booze sold by a down-on-his-luck bum named Stocker (Martin). Stocker has eight dirty children to feed, and offers to sell his oldest daughter Rosalie (Dee) to Yancy in exchange for furs, which Yancy refuses. Rosalie runs away, but returns in the morning to ask Yancy to take her with him to the next big city, Casper, Wyoming. The unlikely pair arrives during the 4th of July celebration, where they are mocked for their hick appearance. Yancy falls for dance hall girl Marcy Howard (Dru) while Rosalie is given work in Sheriff Paul Bartell's (Roland) saloon, but her real job is revealed to be more than just serving drinks to customers. When Yancy learns the truth about Bartell's designs on Rosalie, he must decide whether to save her or leave her to her fate.
Under the working titles of The Buckskin Kid and the Calico Gal and The Wild Innocents, the film was directed by Jack Sher from a screenplay he co-wrote with first-time film producer Sy Gomberg. The Wild and the Innocent was shot in less than a month, from early October to November 13, 1958 at both the Universal Studios back lot and on location at the Big Bear ski resort in the San Bernardino mountains east of Los Angeles, where the cinematographers took advantage of the equipment by placing cameras on ski lifts in order to create tracking shots. This was actor Peter Breck's third film and his first time working with the cast. He later remembered, "Audie and I were friendly - as much as Audie would let people in to be his friend. He was very guarded. [...] At times watching Audie, I thought he was uncomfortable. [The role] was silly, and he didn't want 'silly.' [...] Sandra Dee was very quiet and withdrawn. I had a good role, a very loud, boisterous type of guy, and I don't think she was ready for that kind of atmosphere around her. [...] She and Audie worked well together." Murphy must have enjoyed working with Dee; he gave her a rag doll that resembled her character in the film, with makeup and wardrobe done by the Universal staff.
Although the film did not do well at the box office, Breck thought it did good things for his career "and for a lot of others who were in it. Jack Sher [would later direct] episodes of Gilligan's Island with Jim Backus." Although Murphy's film career was at the beginning of its decline, Sandra Dee's was on the ascent. She was about to star in Gidget (1959), go off to Italy to make Come September (1961), and marry singer Bobby Darin. But, in only a few years, her career would begin its own decline as audience tastes - and society itself - changed drastically in the late 1960s.
By Lorraine LoBianco
SOURCES:
http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=53061
The Internet Movie Database
Larkins, Bob and Magers, Boyd The Films of Audie Murphy
O'Leary, Dorothy "Hollywood Love Life " Screenland Plus TV-Land May 1959.
Rowan, Terry The American Western A Complete Film Guide
