Something Wild is a 1961 American neo noir[3] psychological thriller film directed by Jack Garfein,[4][5] and starring his then wife Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, and Mildred Dunnock.

[6] It follows a young New York City college student who, after being brutally raped, is taken in and held captive by a mechanic who witnessed her suicide attempt on the Manhattan Bridge.

Released in December 1961, Something Wild violated a number of Hollywood conventions and taboos by showing an on-screen rape and brief nudity, and received a mixed response from film critics.

Mary Ann Robinson, a teenaged girl attending college in New York City, is brutally raped while walking in a park near her home in the Bronx.

Her crude, promiscuous neighbor Shirley at the rooming house is rebuffed when she offers to "introduce" Mary to her male friends.

Overwhelmed at her job after her co-workers play a prank on her, Mary Ann walks across the Manhattan Bridge and almost jumps into the East River, but she is stopped by Mike, a mechanic.

[citation needed] In 1964, Copland reused some of the film's themes in his symphonic work Music for a Great City.

The original film score, taken from private session recordings preserved by the director, was finally released on CD in 2003.

"[citation needed] Wanda Hale of the New York Daily News praised Baker as a "fine actress" and Garfein's direction "very tight and smooth," summarizing: "Something Wild carries a moral for the feminine sex: Don't walk in the city's parks alone after dark.

"[10] The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther said that it was "quite exhausting to sit through that ordeal in the apartment," and that "it is not too satisfying, because it isn't quite credible and the symbolic meaning (if there is one) is beyond our grasp."

"[citation needed] The film was released for the first time on DVD as part of the MGM Limited Edition Collection in December 2011.