Stometer
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Greenes
Please don't spend money on this.
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
MisterWhiplash
Alex Cox and Rudy Wurlitzer have one of the more perplexing and rather cool works of late 80s subversive film-making with Walker, a film about a real man and his mad overthrow of the government of Nicaragua in the mid 1850s. It was a fiasco, but it almost wasn't at one point. There was a moment where the line was distinctly crossed with the execution of a certain character, and it's also at this point in the film that Cox lets things go even further off the wall from the period setting. For a while it's so not trying to be any kind of absurdist take on things that it seems like a (good) serious take on a man like Walker (Ed Harris) in a strange land that he thinks he can make well under "democratic" terms. As he soon goes against everything stood for, the film too goes into bizarro world, mixing in cars, computers, Time and Newsweek, and even a real army helicopter and soldiers (the copter, I might add, was a real chopper used in the Nicaraguan battles of 1987).In the sense of marking out ground that is all of a director's own in this form and context, it's not quite Aguirre, but for Alex Cox, a director who's had his ups and downs, it's a significant achievement. It seems like it should be all nonsense, and that the film might be taking itself too seriously. But in reality the nonsense is what the film is sort of about, not really how it comes off. Cox goes between overtly homage-like slow-motion action shots of battle and blood splattering with guns going off like Peckinpah with a heap-load to let go. What is it, anyway, to try and bring democracy to a land like Nicaragua, and under the circumstances (i.e. under Vanderbilt, played by Peter Boyle with his own crazy-big mutton chops) that should be already considered troublesome? Walker wasn't even any kind of politician before this, though as also a doctor and lawyer he tried (unsuccessfully) to bring some battle over Mexico. Is it a microcosm? Does it say where we're headed, or rather where we are now? Probably to both. It's a trip that shouldn't be taken too lightly, and it definitely isn't for everyone, but what's thrilling about Cox's vision is that he has no fear of what the audience will think anyway. Like Repo Man's mix of teen punk comedy and sci-fi action pic, Cox is mixing and experimenting forms, a Dr. Strangelove take on Manifest Destiny with a style that veers between obscure spaghetti western and featuring one of the great, groovy soundtracks of the 80s from Joe Strummer. It might not be anything that will end up on 'best-of-ever' lists, but as a work unto itself this and Withnail & I are the superb cult films of 1987, with this begging for some re-examination twenty-something years later. At the least, it's one of Ed Harris's unsung masterful and subtle performances.
ccthemovieman-1
Yikes, here we go with yet another blatant anti-man of God message. It was no surprise that actor Ed Harris was instrumental in the bias.This movie was supposedly one of these true-life stories, this one of an American named William Walker who was assigned by Cornelius Vanderbilt to go down to Nicaragua and run it. Apparently he does and proclaims himself President! Along the way, he is portrayed as a "man of God" who quotes Scripture and - of course - is shown to be some nutcase.That, and excessive B-movie-type violence and profanity, turned me off. The movie has a sleazy '70s feel to it. and, of course, the normal political bias. Just read the tagline on the front page here; "......before Oliver North."
ksenn_14
It's not very often you get to watch a truly awful historical movie that is at the same time monumentally entertaining as a guilty pleasure...but here it is! I challenge any soul on this earth to even so much as make it through the first scene between Ed Harris and Peter Boyle where when Walker (Harris) asks Cornelius Vanderbilt (Boyle) if he's entitled to wear a naval uniform Boyle cranks, "..I'm entitled to do anything I want!!!" and then rips a sound-edited and enhanced fart so loud and obnoxious it wouldn't have made it into an "Airplane" movie. You'll rewind it ten times at least just to hear it!!! The rest of the movie is equally disastrous, but I'll write no more spoilers. Truly a gem. Ed Harris needn't carry himself so conceitedly in Hollywood given this skeleton in his closet.
Infofreak
I'm totally baffled by the way Alex Cox's 'Walker' has been ignored, vilified, criticised, ridiculed and slandered over the years. Maybe it's political message cuts too close to the bone, or maybe the mainstream movie critics are even more conservative and short sighted than you think. Maltin gives it a BOMB rating, and even the usually perceptive Ebert totally dismisses it. Forget them! Watch 'Walker' and make your own mind up.
'Walker' is certainly no masterpiece, it has many flaws and problems. It isn't subtle political satire (polemic?), it's often crude and ill advised. Some of the actors, especially Marlee Matlin and Gerrit Graham are under-used. However, it is FAR from a "bomb"! Cox is a passionate man, and any failings here are due to that passion. The movie is a cry for help for Nicaragua and its people, and draws parallels between America's involvement in the 19th century and the 1980s. This movie is clever, stupid, rough, accomplished, funny and tragic all at the same time. Ed Harris is marvellous in the title role, and many cult actors turn up in supporting roles. Cox is a Peckinpah devotee and some of that great director's influence can be seen on screen. But Cox is no carbon copy he's a true original. 'Repo Man' shows that, and anyone who enjoyed that or 'Sid And Nancy' should take a look at this, one of the most unjustly ignored movies of the 80s.
