Sadly Over-hyped

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Better Late Then Never

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A simple premise of "A corrupt prison guard becomes involved in a plot to murder a black revolutionary serving time in his prison" so right away you've got a premise of claustrophobic drama . Add "Starring James Wood" and the movie is instantly sold to me no questions asked. Two hours later I felt a feeling of disappointment As soon as the title sequence starts there's an element of the mis en scene is entirely different from what the premise demands and that is the look and the feel of the movie is something similar to a made for television movie. The rather twee musical score doesn't help either. As soon as Woods character enters the cellblock the unconvincing nature of the film continues. Considering it's a maximum security prison the average library is more noisy. In fact this is the most annoying thing about FAST-WALKING and that is considering there's supposed to be dozens of hard desperate men caged up like animals there's never anything involving background noise and you're aware you're watching a movie The story itself isn't told well with long segments revolving around Woods corrupt but ultimately stand up prison guard life outside of prison hours. Add to this a cast who never give the impression they're anything more than actors appearing in a film and you can understand why a few of the reviews here from people who have read the source novel were as disappointed as I was

In the opening shots we see James Woods, with his mad grin and his cackling, driving along a country road and passing a joint back and forth with his black friend, Charles Weldon. When they reach their destination, they step out of the car and Woods dons the jacket, tie, and cap of a prison corrections officer before stepping through the iron door and going to work. A CO smoking DOPE! This is supposed to shock the audience, and maybe it did, someplace up in the hills.The movie is an quirky mixture of comedy and drama. The prison's physical plant itself is in pretty good shape. It's not a hell hole like Sing Sing. The building and grounds are in Deer Lodge, Montana. They may not be the only man-made structure in Deer Lodge, although close to it, but they're certainly the most impressive, and they're not unpleasant, either inside or out.A flourishing narcotics business is going on among the inmates. It's run by Timothy Carey, looking spookily old, but after Carey is thoroughly beaten, Tim McIntire takes over. All the lower-echelon COs appear to know about it but nobody cares enough to make waves.Not that it's all hunky dory. The black inmates don't like the white inmates, and vice versa, another shock. The dramatic Schwerpunkt of the story is the arrival of a black liberation figure, Robert Hooks, whom the higher-ups plan to have accidentally knocked off. Hooks is treated sympathetically and so are his outside compañeros, who have arranged for Hooks' escape. Woods, seeing that the alternative is that Hooks is killed, involves himself in the escape plan as a matter of principle and of fifty thousand dollars.Woods plays his usual wisecracking self. The movie could have been called "Fast Talking." He not only smokes dope, he confiscates and instrumentalizes it from the madam of the local hang out, Susan Tyrell -- my supporting player in the much-neglected gem of an art house miniseries called "Windmills of the Gods." Or maybe it was "Rage of Angels." I've done my best to forget. Woods also runs a couple of hookers at Tyrell's place and gets to hose them down naked in the back yard after their strenuous labors. One of the hookers is Kay Lenz, who gives what I judged to be a magnificent, artistic performance in the nude, and also masturbating in the visitors room, giving head at her first meeting with Woods, and what not.Tim McIntire gave me a bit of a problem. He's supposed to be the head honcho among the inmates -- ruthless, bearded, a trusty with outside influence, narcotics big wig. Yet he has a low voice with every speech sound clearly articulated. He's a juggernaut of evil but sounds like a Vassar graduate. I understand he was an excellent musician too. He died at 41.The comic moments are a nice relief. In one scene, the sergeant in charge of the COs leads Woods into an office where Woods has left a roach on the desk. After chewing Woods out, the sergeant, M. Emmet Walsh, notices the joint, picks it up, and shouts, "What's going on here?" Woods plucks the joint from his fingers, glances at it sternly, and leaps out of the room, saying, "We'll get to the bottom of this."

I loved this movie, one of James Woods' best. I certainly agree with the other reviewer about Kay Lenz, the woman is ravishing. It has a gritty, sleazy feel to it that reminds me of "To Live and Die In L.A.".. .. it's realistic, in other words. Kay Lenz was striking in this movie, I thought she was about the sexiest woman alive for years after watching this. The guy that played WASCO was really good too, and lots of underground prison slang in the movie..it's got that real feel to it... It reminds me of the movie "Colors".. or "Miami Vice" .. and mirrors the drug scene in California, indeed, in America. It's a gray movie.. without any real heroes. Reminds me of real life!

James Brawley's novel 'The Rap' was a long and beautifully written commentary on a great many things. It captured the atmosphere of its milieu (the 1960's) perfectly.Although the plot of the novel is held together by the glue of the conspiracy within the prison, the novel itself is filled with a rich cast of colorful, fully developed characters who force the reader think about all those things good novels do--life, death, love, hate, family bonds, freedom, bondage. James Woods is a fine actor, but this poor adaptation of a truly great novel was so thinly drawn that I didn't at first even recognize "Fast Walking" as having come from 'The Rap'. It's a decent little movie, but would have been better had the film makers tried to put more of Brawley's viewpoint, characters and keen observations into it. See the film first, then get a copy of 'The Rap'. If you do it the other way around as I did, you will be disappointed in the movie.