MovieChat Forums > I Walk the Line (1970) Discussion > Pure crap

Pure crap

posted 2 years ago by KBiker (768)
4 replies | jump to latest

The trivia on IMDB mentions that it's considered to be Peck's worst movie, and that's a lot of movies. I tried it because it's currently playing on Prime video. It started out ok, but then morphed into a slow-moving train wreck that I stuck with in horror, disbelieving what I was seeing. I couldn't believe Peck agreed to make this ridiculous shit show, with him going all gaga over the ever-simpering Tuesday Weld, and finally covering up the murder of his deputy, all because of his absurd fantasies over he and Tuesday making a new life together.

What Peck had to say about it was, "What audiences saw was not the picture we set out to do. John Frankenheimer, the director, left immediately after it was finished to do a picture with Omar Sharif in Europe. The studio people eliminated the prologue and epilogue which gave some sense to the story. They had Johnny Cash write songs, which simply reiterated the action on screen. Everytime I see Frankenheimer [I] say, 'I owe you one.' "

[–] christomacin (4529) 2 years ago

[–] KBiker (768) 2 years ago

Agreed. The Gypsy Moths, Yecch!

But The Train, and The Manchurian Candidate - two of my favorites. Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days In May, just a cut below, though still great.

All, IMO.

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

It's hard to believe Frankenheimer directed "The Gypsy Moths", "I Walk the Line" and "The Horesman" and "99 an 44% Dead" after making "The Birdman of Alcatraz", "The Manchurian Candidate", "Seven Days In May", "The Train" and "Seconds"

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There is, possibly, a very "human" and rather sad reason for the sudden decline in Frankheimer's work.

Frankenheimer was close friends with US Senator Robert Kennedy. Kennedy stayed at Frankeheimer's home on the Malibu beach very shortly before -- day before, day of, I can't remember -- Kennedy was shot and killed in downtown Los Angeles at the Ambassador hotel.

The combination of "history changed," a campaign ended , and a personal friend murdered evidently helped nudge Frankenheimer into alcoholism and mental health issues. He WORKED (to ease the pain) but seemed to choose inferior projects, or to only be offered inferior projects as he deteriorated.

Frankeheimer's comeback was a "one-two punch." In 1975, he directed "French Connection II," a surprisingly crisp and exciting sequel to someone else's famous film (with a happier ending than in the original.) THAT got Frankenheimer the directing assignment of hot producer(and former studio mogul) Robert Evans' thriller "Black Sunday" about terrorists aiming the Goodyear blimp at the Super Bowl game with a megabomb in it.

Evans praised Frankenheimer's amazing ability to mount a massive production without going over budget or schedule; insiders thought Black Sunday could be the next Jaws. It wasn't -- something about terrorists and a blimp didn't sell -- but it IS a very exciting thriller, a continuation in some ways of The Manchurian Candidate but on a much bigger, Technicolor wide-screen scale.

Somewhere in there, Frankenheimer licked his alcohol problem and eventually segued into critically acclaimed HBO movies that won him Emmies(I think.) And he managed to make a few good movies in his later years. Well, one: Ronin, with Robert DeNiro.

[–] Wuchak (8104) 2 years ago

I didn't see it as pure crap at all. For one, I appreciated the moral of the story: One's actions have a ripple effect -- foolish choices will inevitably hurt not only you but those linked to you, just as right choices bless you and others. On that same note, the film effectively shows how a formidable upstanding man can be reduced to a loaf of bread simply by unwisely falling prey to the temptation of some young cutie.

The story plays out in an ultra-realistic manner like other films of the 60s and 70s before the brainless "blockbuster" came into vogue. This isn't a negative to me because I actually prefer realism but others might not appreciate it, especially the flat vibe of of the first act, but the story picks up steam in the second act and holds till the end.

Some don't like it because the usually-noble Peck is playing a sad and lonely transgressor. This is against type and perhaps explains why Peck took the part; he was 53 at the time and likely saw the role as a challenge. Here was an opportunity to play a character who is neither a hero nor antihero, a character who feels trapped by routine and meaninglessness, who makes a desperate and ill-fated attempt to drag himself out by means of his lust for beauty, the one thing that makes him feel alive again. Peck rose to the challenge admirably but this naturally has the negative effect of stirring disrespect, even loathing, in the viewer.

"I Walk the Line" is a good flick that was never acknowledged and seems to have been lost over time. It's along the lines of the contemporaneous "Deliverance" albeit without the sexual perversion and more on the dramatic & mundane side and less of a adventure.

I give it a solid 7/10.