On this week’s episode of The Filmography, Bjorn and I discuss Paul Schrader’s return to his “man in a room” films with this 2007 crime drama starring Woody Harrelson as Carter Page III, the eponymous “walker,” a gay man who escorts the wealthy wives of Washington elites to the social functions that their husbands are too busy (or too disinterested in) to attend.
As these men in rooms tend to do, Carter becomes embroiled in a murder for which he becomes the prime suspect.
The film co-stars screen legends Lauren Bacall and Lily Tomlin, along with Kristin Scott Thomas and (Schrader’s wife) Mary Beth Hurt, as the society women who take Carter’s arm, Ned Beatty, and Schrader regular Willem Dafoe, as two of their husbands.
Though it may be my least favourite of the “man in a room” films (which is like saying “the least delicious chocolate”), “The Walker” is nonetheless a smart, nuanced character study that features strong performances all around, and some nice thriller moments (one very effective chase scene in particular), and depicts a world not often seen in the mainstream cinema of its era.
Listen to the podcast here:
Watch the trailer for “The Walker” here:
And just for fun, here’s a compilation of over an hour of Peep Show hilarity from the show’s YouTube channel: