Walker *** (1987, Ed Harris, Richard Masur, René Auberjonois, Marlee Matlin, Peter Boyle) – Classic Movie Review 8027

Director Alex Cox’s 1987 political adventure Walker is about a real-life 1850s American mercenary leader called William Walker (Ed Harris) who is funded to invade Nicaragua, join up with the liberal forces and defeat the corrupt government. Despite his haphazard strategies and chaotic fighting, William Walker makes it to the presidency of Nicaragua before the inevitable fall from grace.

Cox litters his film with modern-day icons – Newsweek, a Mercedes, Coca Cola bottles, a tape recorder – to bang home his obvious analogies with present-day imperialist invaders in Latin America. Though it teeters perilously between farce, drama, historical biography and action thriller, Walker is a firework display of provocative ideas and vivaciously filmed moments.

Cox has called Harris the US’s greatest screen actor, and he tries to live up to that reputation with his scruff-of-the-neck acting, and Richard Masur and René Auberjonois are striking as Ephraim Squier and Major Siegfried Hennington, but Marlee Martin as feisty lover Ellen Martin and Peter Boyle as the millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt are wasted in insignificant small roles.

Also in the cast are Miguel Sandoval, Alfonso Arau, Pedro Armendáriz Jr, Gerrit Graham, Keith Szarabajka, Sy Richardson, Xander Berkeley, John Diehl, Roberto López Espinoza, William O’Leary and Blanca Guerra.

Walker is directed by Alex Cox, runs 93 minutes, is made by In-Cine Compañía Industrial Cinematográfica, Northern and Walker Films, is released by Recorded and Universal Pictures, is written by Rudy Wurlitzer, is shot by David Bridges, is produced by Edward Pressman and Lorenzo O’Brien, and is scored by Joe Strummer.

It was released in the US on 4 December 1987 by a nervous Universal Pictures, who thought that it was more of an art film than a popular audience movie. Unfairly, it was ignored or criticised, and bombed, costing $5,800,000 and grossing $257,043 in the US.

All horse falls using tripwires were cut from the UK release, but the complete version has been shown twice on BBC2.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8027

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