The Walker (2007)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Memorable, crazy movie

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Carter Page III (Woody Harrelson), an openly gay escort who caters to Washington D.C.'s society ladies, becomes involved in a murder case as a suspect.Woody Harrelson was allegedly disappointed in his performance and therefore did not do any publicity. I can see that. While I think he did fine and the film as a whole is outstanding, the voice he uses never really seems to be spot-on with what you might expect from the character.Unfortunately, I am not able to give this film a proper review because I have not seen "American Gigolo". This was originally designed as a sequel but ended up being its own film. I still think it would be better to review this one after comparing them.

In Washington, the sophisticated homosexual Carter "Car" Page III (Woody Harrelson) is a "walker", escorting the wives of powerful men in social events, clubs and shopping. Car is the son and grandson of famous politicians and circulates in the high-society of Washington; his lover is the journalist Emek Yoglu (Moritz Bleibtreu). One afternoon, Car brings his client and friend Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas), who is the wife of the politician Larry Lockner (Willem Dafoe), to meet her lover Robbie Kononsberg (Steven Hartley) at his apartment. Out of the blue, Lynn comes shaking to his car and tells that Robbie is murdered in his apartment. Lynn tells that she can not call the police, since Larry is investigating a financial scandal with the company Ultimate that is administrated by Robbie and the scandal would destroy her husband. Car brings her home, returns to the crime scene and calls the police. However, the ambitious district attorney Mungo Tenant (William Hope) receives inside information about the love affair of Robbie and Lynn and presses Car to betray Lynn. But Car and Emek prefer to investigate the murder by themselves and find a network of power and corruption."The Walker" is a pretentious story of power and corruption in the American politics. Woody Harrelson is absolutely miscast in the role of a classy gay, since neither of these characteristics fits with his profile. The plot is exaggerated and confused, and the resolution is absolutely unreasonable. The logic conclusion should be with the powerful Jack Delorean destroying Car and Emek that have threatened him. Car inclusive tells him that he is aware of the whole situation. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "O Acompanhante" ("The Escort")

Carter Page III – or Car to his friends - is a gay man who works as a paid escort for some of the most well-connected wives in Washington D.C, accompanying them to functions that their husbands have neither the time nor the interest in attending. A Southern gentleman by both breeding and birth, Car - thanks to his role as sympathetic ear to these gabby dowagers - seems to be privy to more of the inner workings of the snooty Beltway crowd than almost anyone else in town. But Car learns that such knowledge often comes with a steep price, when he agrees to help cover up for one of his clients, the wife of the Minority Leader of the Senate (Kristen Scott Thomas), after the lobbyist she's been having a secret affair with turns up stabbed to death in his own home. Before he knows it, Car has become a prime suspect in the case, and when the woman he's trying to protect leaves him to twist in the wind for something she herself may have done, Car discovers just what a superficial, tenuous and unreliable a thing friendship can be.Written and directed by Paul Schrader, "The Walker" is a subtle and quietly powerful tale of a man who has spent his whole life trying to please the people around him – principally his father - but who learns that in order to survive in this world, he must ultimately put his own concerns ahead of those of others. He also has to weigh which of the three is of greatest value: loyalty to a friend, adherence to the law or the code of self-preservation. For if he makes the wrong choice, Car might well find himself being set up as a sacrificial offering to the almighty Status Quo – an entity that is grotesquely magnified in the shallow, corrupt and cutthroat world of D.C. culture.Combining a genteel Southern drawl and natty appearance with slightly aloof, effeminate and haughty mannerisms, Woody Harrelson fully inhabits the role of Car, making him supremely confident and strangely vulnerable at one and the same time. A seasoned cast made up of Lily Tomlin, Lauren Bacall, Ned Beatty and Willem Dafoe gives the film an air of importance and prestige it might not otherwise have had. There's also excellent work by Moritz Bleibtreu as Car's on again/off again lover who may be in over his head with some pretty shady characters who don't like the fact that he's investigating the lobbyist's death alongside Car.

An elegant murder mystery that fulfills on multiple levels. Harrelson is simply outstanding.Car, unlike his forebears and most who surround him, is an honorable man. He is also gay. The movie asks again and again: why does Car protect Lynn? !!!Spoilers follow!!! I propose an explanation beyond honor: unrequited love, pure and simple. Lynn is unable to accept Car's love.In an early conversation Lynn reminisces how "a young Carter Page once attempted to ask me out." Car replies "the 70's were a confusing decade: a lot of things were blurred." To Lynn their relationship is a friendship, but Car loves Lynn in the full sense of the word.Later in a scene in Car's car, he places his hand over Lynn's to comfort her, but her grief for Robbie interferes and she withdraws. The final scene wherein Car returns the photo to Lynn and she asks "Why did you stand by me?" reveals how unaware or unaccepting Lynn is of Car's love. Car gives his own explanation and we could settle for that alone. But then the camera shifts to Car's perspective as Lynn gracefully, beautifully, and in slow motion, walks out of the room and out of Car's life.