Walker: Forced March
by Feb 18, 2008Actor and writer Linda Sandoval met Alex Cox in 1983, when her husband, Miguel Sandoval, was cast in Repo Man (she recalls that Cox phoned to say he...
Synopsis
A hallucinatory biopic that breaks all cinematic conventions, Walker, from British director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy), tells the story of nineteenth-century American adventurer William Walker (Ed Harris), who abandoned a series of careers in law, politics, journalism, and medicine to become a soldier of fortune, and for several years dictator of Nicaragua. Made with mad abandon and political acuity—and the support of the Sandinista army and government during the Contra war—the film uses this true tale as a satirical attack on American ultrapatriotism and a freewheeling condemnation of “manifest destiny.” Featuring a powerful score by Joe Strummer and a performance of intense, repressed rage by Harris, Walker remains one of Cox’s most daring works.
Cast
| William Walker | Ed Harris |
| Cornelius Vanderbilt | Peter Boyle |
| Ellen Martin | Marlee Matlin |
| Ephraim Squier | Richard Masur |
| Captain Hornsby | Sy Richardson |
| Doña Yrena | Blanca Guerra |
| Major Siegfried Henningson | René Auberjonois |
| Byron Cole | Xander Berkeley |
| Raousset | Alfonso Arau |
Credits
| Director | Alex Cox |
| Screenplay | Rudy Wurlitzer |
| Producer | Lorenzo O'Brien |
| Editing | Alex Cox and Carlos Puente |
| Music | Joe Strummer |
| Executive producer | Edward R. Pressman |
| Associate producer | Debbie Diaz |
| Sound | Richard Beggs |
| Production Design | Bruno Rubeo |
| Cinematography | David Bridges |
| Art direction | Cecilia Montiel and Jorge Sainz |
| Set decoration | Bryce Perrin |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Alex Cox
- Audio commentary by Cox and screenwriter Rudy 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
- The Immortals: behind-the-scenes photos
- PLUS: A booklet featuring writings by film critic Graham Fuller, Wurlitzer, and Linda Sandoval
From the Current
Walker: Apocalypse When?
by Feb 18, 2008At the climax of Alex Cox’s Walker (1987), a helicopter descends from the night sky onto a plaza where the colonial buildings are ablaze and an army of mercenaries is disintegrating...
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