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The Joker is Wild

The Joker is Wild

Drama · 1957

A Prohibition-era nightclub crooner has his career is cut short when his throat is slashed by a mob boss.

Movie details

The Joker is Wild

“The Most Electric Performance That Ever Shocked and Fascinated an Audience!”

1957 Drama 2h 6m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.0 / 10

1.5K votes

TMDB

8.1 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A Prohibition-era nightclub crooner has his career is cut short when his throat is slashed by a mob boss.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Joker is Wild?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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The Valachi Papers

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When Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to break the sacred code of silence.

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John Gotti, the head of a small New York mafia crew breaks a few of the old family rules. He rises to become the head of the Gambino family and the most well-known mafia boss in America. Life is good, but suspicion creeps in, and greed, rule-breaking and his high public profile all threaten to topple him.

The Cotton Club

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Cesar Chavez

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Juice

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Crime · 1992

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Charles Vidor

Written by

Oscar Saul

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Joe E. Lewis

Mitzi Gaynor

Mitzi Gaynor

Martha Stewart

Jeanne Crain

Jeanne Crain

Letty Page

Eddie Albert

Eddie Albert

Austin Mack

Beverly Garland

Beverly Garland

Cassie Mack

Jackie Coogan

Jackie Coogan

Swifty Morgan

Barry Kelley

Barry Kelley

Hugh McCarthy

Court is in session

Put The Joker is Wild on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.