Walker (film)

Infobox Film
name = Walker


image_size =
caption = Theatrical poster
director = Alex Cox
producer = Lorenzo O'Brien
Angel Flores Marini
writer = Rudy Wurlitzer
narrator =
starring = Ed Harris
Peter Boyle
Alan Bates
music = Joe Strummer
cinematography = David Bridges
editing = Alex Cox
Carlos Puente
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = December 4, 1987
runtime = 95 minutes
country = United States
Mexico
Spain
language = English
budget = $6,000,000
gross = $257,043 (USA)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.alexcox.com/dir_walker.htm
amg_id = 1:53188
imdb_id = 0096409

"Walker" is an acid western by British director Alex Cox based on the life story of William Walker (Ed Harris), the American adventurer who invaded Mexico in the 1850s and made himself President of Nicaragua shortly thereafter. It was written by Rudy Wurlitzer and scored by Joe Strummer, who also plays a small role as a member of Walker's army. The film, released in 1987 and which by the end is intentionally full of anachronisms such as helicopters, Zippo lighters, automatic rifles, and a car passing a horse carriage, was made in Nicaragua during the American-sponsored Contra War.

Production

Alex Cox first visited Nicaragua in 1984, during the national election campaign for which Daniel Ortega became president, to see if conditions were as bad as the American media had reported.cite news
last = Grove
first = Lloyd
coauthors =
title = Hollywood Invades Nicaragua
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Washington Post
date = August 20, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] He discovered that this was not the case. The filmmaker was persuaded to return by two wounded soldiers from the Sandinista army. He later learned of the historical Walker from an article in "Mother Jones" magazine that was largely about US foreign policy in Central America and decided to bring his story to the screen.cite news
last = Van Gelder
first = Lawrence
coauthors =
title = At the Movies
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = New York Times
date = December 4, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] A history professor at the University of California lent Cox a library card so he could do more research on Walker. "The more I read about him the more bizarre this seemed," Cox remembers. He hired Rudy Wurlitzer to write the screenplay because, according to Cox, "He understands American guys and the mad impulse that drives certain Americans to be great men." Cox was not interested in making what he called a long, respectful historical drama that would be shown on "Masterpiece Theatre" because Walker "leads a disastrous misadventure. He's a pretty bad guy. I didn't think it was possible to approach it in this normal, historical, respectful style."

The budget was set at six million dollars with most of the film being shot in Granada, Nicaragua. To get into character, Ed Harris led the entire cast in a 10-mile forced march through the Nicaraguan countryside. The actor was drawn to the challenge of playing someone "who has incredible moral convictions but turns into such an evil person in the name of spreading democracy."cite news
last = Yakir
first = Dan
coauthors =
title = For Harris, The Appeal was Political
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Globe and Mail
date = December 11, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] He was also drawn to the script's politics, claiming to be anti-Contra and anti-intervention in Nicaragua and saw making a film there as a way to possibly stop the bloodshed.

Cox got the cooperation of the Sandinista government and the Roman Catholic church because he wanted his production to be a "force for peace and reconciliation." The dying economy of Granada received a significant boost by the production with 300 local carpenters hired to build sets, 6,000 people hired as extras and army supplied security guards and a Soviet-built MI-18 transport helicopter used in the film. Electricity poles in the town plaza were torn down leaving homes without light.cite news
last = Ford
first = Peter
coauthors =
title = Desperado with a Mission
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Financial Times
date = August 22, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] Some families were left temporarily without a telephone because the production needed their lines and the government could not afford to install new ones. The central square was covered with several inches of dirt in order to recreate 1850s conditions. The screenplay was edited by the country's Vice-President Sergio Ramirez and Minister of Culture Ernesto Cardenal, who were also a novelist and a poet respectively. Both men, along with the Minister of Education, the country's Interior Minister, and a military commander, would occasionally visit the set. Two people were accidentally killed during principal photography, both in separate vehicular-related incidents. For one of the deaths, the movie company paid for the funeral and compensated the family. The shooting conditions were difficult because of all of the fires the locals were building, making the air thick and hard to breathe.

Even after filming was over, Cox stayed in Granada, editing the film. He said, "I think we have kind of a duty not to just be the rich gringos and come down here and spend eight weeks and then disappear."

Cast

* Ed Harris as William Walker
* Peter Boyle as Cornelius Vanderbilt
* Sy Richardson as Capt. Hornsby
* Marlee Matlin as Ellen Martin
* Xander Berkeley as Byron Cole
* Rene Auberjonois as Maj. Siegfried Hennington
* William O'Leary as James Walker
* Gerrit Graham as Norvell Walker
* Richard Masur as Ephraim Squier
* Miguel Sandoval as Parker French
* Alfonso Arau as Raousset
* John Diehl as Stebbins
* Richard Edson as Turley
* David Hayman as Father Rossiter
* Dick Rude as Washburn
* Edward Tudor-Pole as Doubleday
* Joe Strummer as Faucet

Historical inaccuracies

There is no evidence that Walker ever met Vanderbilt or received his support, as the movie suggests. Rather, Walker was supported by Vanderbilt's competitors, Charles Morgan and Cornelius Garrison, owners of the Nicaragua Transit Company in his time.

Ellen Martin, Walker's fiance, died in 1850. In the movie she is present at his 1854 trial for violating US neutrality laws after he invaded Baja and Sonora Mexico, and died shortly thereafter.

oundtrack

Joe Strummer had worked previously with Cox on "Sid and Nancy" and "Straight to Hell", contributing songs to their respective soundtracks.cite news
last = Dafoe
first = Chris
coauthors =
title = Hollywood Knocks on Strummer's Door
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Globe and Mail
date = December 11, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] He wanted to compose an entire score for a film and "Walker" afforded him such an opportunity. After filming his small part in the film, he would go back to his room and record bits of music onto a four-track cassette using an acoustic guitar and a little plastic synthesizer with guitarist Zander Schloss. They drew inspiration from local music played in bars - a mix of reggae, calypso and Brazilian music.

Reception

Rita Kempley wrote, "it's gross as it is muddled as it is absurd," in her review for the "Washington Post". [cite news
last = Kempley
first = Rita
coauthors =
title = Tripped Up in Time
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Washington Post
date = December 4, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] In his review for "Newsweek", David Ansen wrote, "His scenes have no shape, his characters are stick figures, the wit is undergraduate and his soggy set pieces of slow-motion carnage are third-rate Peckinpah imitations." [cite news
last = Ansen
first = David
coauthors =
title = A Yankee Devil's Manifest Destiny
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Newsweek
date = December 7, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] Jay Scott gave the film a positive review in the "Globe and Mail": "Cox exposes the limitations of historical drama in "Walker" with a calculated disregard of its conventions." [cite news
last = Scott
first = Jay
coauthors =
title = A Remarkable Cabaret Biography
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Globe and Mail
date = December 4, 1987
url =
accessdate = ] Vincent Canby also praised Cox's film in the "New York Times": "Walker" is witty, rather than laugh-out-loud funny. Without being solemn, it's deadly serious..."Walker" is something very rare in American movies these days. It has some nerve." [cite news
last = Canby
first = Vincent
coauthors =
title = "Walker"
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = New York Times
date = December 4, 1987
url =
accessdate = ]

Director Alex Cox was never employed again by a major Hollywood studio, and his subsequent films have received only limited distribution in the United States. In an interview with The A.V. Club, Cox said, "Distribution is controlled by the studios, and I've been on the blacklist of the studios for the last 20 years... The last movie I was asked to direct was "The Running Man"… which was actually quite a good film, I thought. I would have liked to have done "The Running Man". It was just that Walker happened at the same time." [ [http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/alex_cox "Alex Cox"] , interviewed by Noel Murray, March 14th, 2008. The A.V. Club.]

DVD

Criterion released a Region 1 DVD on February 19, 2008 with features that include: an audio commentary by Cox and screenwriter Wurlitzer, "Dispatches from Nicaragua", an original documentary about the filming of "Walker", "On Moviemaking and the Revolution", reminiscences twenty years later from an extra on the film, behind-the-scenes photographs, and a booklet featuring writings by film critic Graham Fuller, Wurlitzer, and Linda Sandoval. [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = "Walker
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Criterion Collection
date = November 19, 2007
url = http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=423
accessdate = 2007-11-19 ]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0096409|title=Walker
*amg movie|id=1:53188|title=Walker
* [http://www.alexcox.com/dir_walker.htm "Walker" page on Alex Cox website]
* [http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/nd07/joestrummer.htm "Film Comment" interview with Joe Strummer]
* [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/24/walker.html "Senses of Cinema" essay on "Walker"]