Fast-Walking

An unusually quiet Timothy Carey listens as Tim McIntire rants

James B. Harris' Fast-Walking, from 1982, is a seamy prison picture that I can't totally reject out of hand. Howard Hawks reputably said that all you needed were three good scenes to make a movie and Fast-Walking has at least one. Otherwise, it is an uneasy mix of 30s prison cliches, 60s Black Power tropes, violence, and nekkid ladies. I hope Kay Lenz got individual bonuses for each nude scene. She is fine as a femme fatale named "Moke", but it is an absurd role that requires her to ride a Harley, shoot guns and poison darts, and lock lips with James Woods. Hazard pay! Woods is well cast as a sleazy prison guard. He is OK here, nothing near his work in The Onion Field and Videodrome, but I respect his willingness to be unlikeable. You can't smirk in pulp or noir. Woods liked Harris enough to later star in Cop, Harris' best film.

The main limitation to Fast-Walker is Harris as a director. He is fine as a producer and writer, but dull as dishwater with a camera. He assembles an interesting cast, Susan Tyrell, M. Emmet Walsh and Robert Hooks all have memorable turns, but generates little cinematic momentum. The one striking scene is between Timothy Carey and Tim McIntire in a cell. Carey, a scene chewer of the first order, is merely reactive as McIntire goes the full Charlie Manson for ten minutes or so. McIntire left us too soon at 41, but makes Fast-Walker a kick every time he appears on screen. (8/9/19)