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The Walker
USA / UK 2007
produced by Deepak Nayar, Willi Bär (executive), Steve Christian (executive), James Clayton (executive), Johnnie Planco (executive), Duncan Reid (executive) for Kintop Pictures, Ingenious Film Partners
directed by Paul Schrader
starring Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall, Ned Beatty, Moritz Bleibtreu, Mary Beth Hurt, Lily Tomlin, Willem Dafoe, William Hope, Geff Francis, Steven Hartley, Garick Hagon, Michael J.Reynolds, Allen Lidkey, Stewart Alexander, Andres Williams, Jason Durran, Marcello Cabezas, Simon Hepworth, Lynn-Jane Foreman, Christian Jones, Kelvin Cook, Anastasia Summers, Schuster Vance
written by Paul Schrader, music by Anne Dudley
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Carter (Woody Harrelson) mingles with high society and high politics in
Washington, but actually he isn't all that much of a power man, he is just
a small-fry realtor (who only works one day a week) and a sort-of-gigolo
(no sex though, Carter is gay as can be) who accompanies society ladies to
their social functions and similar occasions when their husbands can't
make it (thus he's called a walker).
Then though, one of his ladies, Lynn (Kristin Scott Thomas), wife of
senator Lockner (Willem Dafoe), asks him to drive her to one of her
(sex-)dates - with a certain Robbie (Steven Hartley), with whom Carter had
a disagreement with in the past - only to find Robbie dead. Carter
immediately drives her out of harm's way, then returns to the scene of the
crime to report the murder (without mentioning Lynn of course) - and
suddenly he finds himself in the center of a murder case he actually has
been no part of, and especially the attorney general Mungo Tenant (William
Hope) would love to pin the whole thing on him. So Carter has no other
option than to take investigations into his own hands, even if he at first
hits a wall of silence and those in power seem to be ready to drop him
just like that, and even Lynn seems to have disappeared, but with the help
of his society lady friends and his boyfriend, he ultimately manages to
shed some light on the whole situation that not only involves blackmail
and murder but also highest washington politicians from the vice president
downwards - but in the end, the whole thing is blamed on a small-fry
hitman who tried to kill Carter but got run over by a car in the process -
and only thanks to a little bit of scheming, Carter got off the hook.
Willem Dafoe has a (too) small scene as Lynn's husband, Ned Beatty
plays a turncoat politician whom Carter blackmails to get him out of the
whole mess, Lily Tomlin plays his wife, and Lauren Bacall an old but
powerful society lady.
This short synopsis does not reylla do justice to the plot of the film,
which is very convoluted, maybe even over-convoluted, still the film is
fascinating: Woody Harrelson turns in a great, (self-)ironic performance
as the always well-behaved gigolo-type guy who never loses his good
manners and is always dressed in the best of tastes, and he is supported
by a great ensemble cast in which actor plays the role he seems to be born
to play, the pace of the film is just right to keep things going smoothly
without reverting to pointless action scenes, the dialogue is witty and
makes the film just as much satire as it is murder mystery, and Paul
Schrader's direction is suitably moody and very subtle without being
bland.
A great movie.
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