Wild at Heart

"A wild and crazy love story."

1990 2h 5m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🍅

66%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 1,997🍅66%Rotten Tomatoes●52Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 113,444

CrimeThrillerRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula’s deranged, disapproving mother, who has hired a team of hitmen to cut the lovers’ surreal honeymoon short.

“A wild and crazy love story.”

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Cast

Nicolas Cage
Sailor
Laura Dern
Lula
Willem Dafoe
Bobby Peru
Diane Ladd
Marietta Fortune
Harry Dean Stanton
Johnnie Farragut
J.E. Freeman
Marcelles Santos
Isabella Rossellini
Perdita Durango
Grace Zabriskie
Juana Durango

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Lynch
Writers: David Lynch
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America, Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Germany.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

200+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Lynch, shot by Frederick Elmes. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Duwayne Dunham shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Lynch directs. Frederick Elmes behind the camera. Angelo Badalamenti scores. Duwayne Dunham cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Germany. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

136 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Germany.
4200+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by David Lynch, shot by Frederick Elmes. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Duwayne Dunham shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A wild and crazy love story.".
10IMDB entry: tt0100935 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 20 themes, including "witch", "hotel room", "based on novel or book", "hitman".

The technical file

Cinematography: Frederick Elmes
Original score: Angelo Badalamenti
Editing: Duwayne Dunham
Production design: Patricia Norris
Costume design: Amy Stofsky
Makeup / hair: Michelle Bühler
Sound: Randy Thom
Stunt coordinator: Jeff Smolek
Runtime: 125 min · 2h 5m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $9,500,000
Box office: $14,569,027
Return: 153% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Wild at Heart (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes: 66% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 52/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 113,444 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 13 nominations total

Palme d'Or

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

David Lynch

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

kevin20192026-01-23
★ 6/10
"Wild at Heart" quickly becomes completely incomprehensible and mired down in David Lynch's typical quagmire of self indulgence which successfully aggravates, alienates and frustrates mainstream audiences just for the hell of it which is perfectly okay, but what isn't perfectly okay is when the story is abandoned even though it is still as inconclusive at the end as it was in the beginning. The problems confronting Sailor and Lula are never satisfactorily resolved and the character Johnnie Farregut actually goes completely AWOL and he is never heard from again. This is a watchable enough film in its own uniquely eccentric way, but it is far from being satisfying and the story seems to provide nothing more than an extremely loose and disposable framework upon which to hang a film that is all too easy to forget.

Production companies