Walker: A True Story (Movie Review)

Walker - A True Story; Directed by Alex Cox; Screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer ; c1987 ; Rated R ; 95 min. Truly bizarre attempt at black comedy, as well as a semi-Hollywood flop, documenting William Walker`s "work" in Nicaragua.

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If you prefer to go into a movie more or less “blind”, you might elect not to read further in this blog ; comments are made on the characters, plot, meaning and not just the overall merit of the project. Though a “blog”, additional reviews (please do not paste full-text reviews if you are not the author of them - per the recent “admin” post on copyrighted materials) and criticisms of this one, are welcome.

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Every part of this film, from the subtitle on down, is almost insanely over-the-top, and at times it appears as hallucinatory or insane as does Walker, or at least some of his followers. It is also unclear what led Alex Cox to a Monty-Python-esque if not nihilistic tale of 19th-century American adventurer William Walker (his previous films were the cult-classic “Repo Man”, and the punk-rockumentary of Sex Pistols front-man Sid Vicious, “Sid & Nancy”).

Nevertheless, it is an understatement, indeed, to say the film was un-liked, or unappreciated. Critically, the film was more or less universally hated. Roger Ebert gave it a no-star review (on a scale of 1-4, a zero), claiming, “…the director … doesn't seem to have a clue about what he wants to do or even what he has done .... This movie's poverty of imagination has to be seen to be believed”, while Leonard Maltin, giving it a zero on a scale of 1-10, claimed, “BOMB… “B”, “O”, “M”, “B”, BOMB! … A truly juvenile, intentionally anachronistic comic history; if it is anything at all, it is a self-indulgent mess, and I might be being generous granting him that much.". And, this from reviewers who admired Cox’s previous projects.

Filibuster Walker (Ed Harris), who at a mere 32, for reasons the film never touches upon, decides he is better suited as the new Dictator of Central America, than as the attorney, journalist, translator, or medical doctor – all occupations for which he has either serious academic credentials, or past work experience. He turns soldier of fortune following the death of his deaf wife (Marlee Matlin). Walker appears never to doubt himself, less you count what he is to do when he is expected to translate his fiancé Ellen’s sign-language comment (“Go Fuck a Pig!”) to Cornelius Vanderbuilt’s associate, after he expresses his opinion on black people (pre-Nicaragua, Walker was rabid anti-slavery, as well as widely known for supporting women’s rights). With the death of Ellen, so too died the leftist sort of principles he and his wife once shared – though the film doesn’t make such a connection -if there is one- and simply skips ahead in his life.

This soldier or fortune, backed by robber-barron millionaire Cornelius Vanderbuilt (played by character actor Peter Boyle, who farts his way through the cameo), and in 1855 leads a rag-tag band of 58 (yes, 58; not 580, nor 5800, but 58) mercenaries to Nicaragua - though the film never really explains why anyone would follow this little madman (pegged “the grey-eyed man of destiny”) down the street, no less all the way down to Nicaragua.

In the early battle in Rivas, Walker is oblivious to the bullets and the carnage. As his men are being slaughtered, he simply always plunders forward, apparently armed only with his moral certainty and an unyielding faith in “Manifest Destiny”. Even as the bloodletting of his men continues, and his Major Henningson (Rene Auberjonois) begs for cover, Walker’s quite-serious reply is, “For God’s sake, why?”. He is oblivious to the fact that he has only a few dozen men left, and seemingly unconcerned that they might be required later. Destiny is destiny, and apparently doesn’t even presuppose rational thought, not to mention military strategy.

Nevertheless, Walker heads a remarkably swift, bloody invasion of Nicaragua, and somehow manages to declare himself “President” (U.S. newspapers dubbed his mercenaries, “The Immortals”) following his capture of Granada. His presidency is immediately recognized by the U.S. government. His purpose, maybe God’s, maybe Vanderbuilt’s, maybe his own, is wonderfully idiotically stated as, to "…protect our neighbors from oppression."

Luckily, one would presume, Walker finds a quick-tongued Nica woman, Dona Yrena (Blanca Guerra), with whom he shares some twisted mutual need, and later describes his reforms to her country. For example, he intends to make English the official language of Nicaragua, “…so Americans will not be discriminated against”, etc., etc., etc. Whereas Yrena expresses her interest in, “Small puritans obsessed with power”.

Walker is both the enemy and the protagonist in the film. This being the case, Walker is bound not to fulfill “Manifest Destiny”, but to self-destruct, more or less as does this film by Cox, though it is not clear if this is intentional or not. Cox’s goal, as is that of screenwriter Wurlitzer (the script and illusive movie tie-in novel, are subtitled “The True Story of the First American Invasion of Nicaragua”), is to link the past with the present (war against the FSLN), implying that U.S. foreign policy toward Central America has changed little since Walker.

In truly bizarre fashion, Cox attempts to make this point via anachronisms – journalistic, cultural, and military-based (Walker can be seen on a copy of “Newsweek” magazine, Coke bottles surround some dying prisoners, and eventually a helicopter arrives to extract U.S. citizens, etc., all in a film set in mid 19th-century). Through the anachronisms one can still see Walker’s insanity, or at least the part he lets show. In the chaos and destruction of Granada, Walker’s men eventually grasp more reality than does he, but in the end after seeing what is left of their plan and of themselves, they kill not the attacking armies from neighboring Latin countries, but each other. And, unwavering Walker resorts to executing prisoners, and delivering another speech in favor of the U.S. “…never abandoning the people of Nicaragua”. As the helicopter arrives to collect U.S. citizens, some of the surviving “Immortals” produce passports, and are mobbed by a television crew. Walker is left behind, presumably ready for another Presidential-bid somewhere down the road. A brief epilogue finds poor William on a quiet Honduran beach, just before he is killed by firing squad (his grave above Trujillo, to this day, has the simple inscription, “William Walker, Fusilado”).

What Cox thought U.S. audiences were to make of his film is unclear. It is almost as if he wanted to piss them off (but people almost definitely found the film merely annoying, or horribly bad, as opposed to leading to any self-reflection on their government’s actions in Central America). Though the film surely has a few moments, sadly, it does not really succeed as a black comedy, nor does it as political satire, nor even as juvenile farce. Unlike “Repo Man” and “Sid & Nancy”, the film has never found an audience, no less a cult following. In some respects the film is “uncategorizable” (though Mr. Ebert is correct, it does have to be seen to be believed).

It is hard to fathom how the film was ever given funding, no less from U.S. sources, or that the film was shot on location in Nicaragua, at this point in history. After all, it is an anti-capitalist film funded by capitalists; it is an anti-American film, funded by Americans; it is a major motion picture, with the accompanying financial budget, being spent in a country basically then at war with the financing country, the U.S. The best part of the film might be the eclectic soundtrack, scored by ex-Clash man Joe Strummer; it has a track appropriately entitled, "The Brooding Side of Madness". If you are a fan of off-the-wall projects, or low-budget movies (it wasn’t low-budget, and in fact was Cox’s largest budget; it just feels like it was low-budget, but I do not mean that as an insult), or any of the actors or historical characters mentioned in the review, it is probably worth seeking out this film, if only for its uniqueness. Be forewarned, however, that it is truly obscure, and not currently scheduled for DVD release. Even if you are in a U.S. city of 100,000 people, it is possible it will take some doing just to find a VHS rental copy. The film has never been aired on regular television, and has at time gone quite a few years at a time without airing on standard cable-tv movie channels.

22 February 2004