Walker - Drama Classic Movies on DVD (1987) Starring Ed Harris; Directed by Alex Cox; Criterion : OLDIES.com

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Format:

Genre: Drama

Average Customer Rating:
Based on 16 ratings.

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Item Number:
CRRN 1740D

DVD Features:

Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

Dolby Digital Mono 1.0 - English

Additional Release Materials:

Audio Commentary - Alex Cox - Director; Rudy Wurlitzer - Screenwriter
Featurettes - 1. "Dispatches from Nicaragua"
2. "On Moviemaking and the Revolution"
3. "The Immortals:

Additional Product:

Booklet

Entertainment Reviews:

New York Times - 12/04/1987

"...Consistently intelligent....WALKER is something very rare in American movies these days. It has some nerve..."

Variety - 12/02/1987

"...[The] lensing by David Bridges gives the picture a rich look....[The score] deftly mixes traditional and modern sounds and develops one haunting theme..."

Film Comment - 01/01/2008

"With a delicate Joe Strummer score, appropriately gory violence...[and] a penchant for Peckinpah-esque staging....Still as relevant today..."

Entertainment Weekly - 02/22/2008

"[An] agitprop satire of Ronald Reagan's misadventures in Central America..." -- Grade: B+

Sight and Sound - 05/01/2008

"Walker is a fascinating character in his own right, and Ed Harris gives one of his best performances as the repressed, crazy, but compelling general."

Product Description:

This offbeat historical drama is another in a line of hard-to-categorize films from cult director Alex Cox. Ed Harris stars as William Walker, an idealistic doctor, lawyer, and journalist who, at age 32, led a bloody revolution and installed himself as president of Nicaragua under orders from Cornelius Vanderbilt (Peter Boyle). Harris's performance is terrific, the violence is effective and well-used, and the film conveys an uncompromising political viewpoint without ever lapsing into preachiness.

Plot Synopsis:

Cult director Alex Cox turns his hand to historical drama--with a twist--in this tale of William Walker (Ed Harris), an idealistic doctor, lawyer, and journalist who, at age 32, leads a bloody and violent invasion of Nicaragua at the request of robber baron Cornelius Vanderbilt. In short order, Walker declares himself president of the country, believing that America has a moral right to "protect our neighbors from oppression." By the end of the film, Cox allows present-day reality to creep in, making the point that this type of savage imperialism goes on all over the world, all the time.

WALKER's critical reception was cool, largely because of the deliberate anachronisms (characters are seen reading People magazine and escaping in helicopters) used to equate the story with current political situations, but the film holds up very well. Ed Harris's performance is riveting, the violence is unflinching and to-the-point, and any film featuring Peter Boyle as Cornelius Vanderbilt is worth watching for that reason alone.

Plot Keywords:

Cast and Crew:

Starring		Ed Harris
Directed by		Alex Cox
Composition by		Joe Strummer
Performer		Richard Masur, Peter Boyle, Rene Auberjonois, Marlee Matlin & Miguel Sandoval