Benutzerrezensionen

James Woods plays his familiar time tested smarmy character as a cocky prison guard who is always playing the angles. Unfortunately this time he is being played. "Fast Walking" is a prison movie that revolves around two plots, one to spring a "Black" activist, and another to kill him. When Woods tries playing both ends against the middle, things don't turn out exactly as planned. The acting in "Fast Walking", especially by Woods is totally acceptable. M. Emmet Walsh is kind of wasted as another corrupt guard, while Kay Lenz is featured,constantly getting undressed. The plot is fine but the movie drags in places, and seems overlong at 115 minutes. - MERK

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

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.

James Woods is a prison guard whose salary doesn't cover his expenses, so he works a second job at a brothel. He's a venial, shuck-talking guy, who gets involved in two plans: one to help a Black prisoner escape before he can be framed into an 'accident' and the other to help make that accident happen. Into this mix comes Kay Lenz, for the obligatory sex and frontal nudity scenes as a beautiful, ambiguous character whom Woods obsesses over.

It's clear that there is a lot of the book this was based on that was left out of the movie. What we are left with is a sloppy story about a sloppy individual who has managed to skate through a corrupt world so far; a common theme as the 1970s gave way to the 1980s. The opening sequence has an "Easy Rider" vibe to it, and the world comes down to the prison where the guards think they have the power, but are reluctant to use it, preferring to rely on habit, while some of the prisoners, like Tim McIntire, run the rackets inside.

There are bits and pieces left over from the book that indicate that writer-director James B. Harris left out a lot: Timothy Carey as a con strong-armed out of some of the rackets; two men standing outside of Woods' apartment; Charles Weldon as a fellow guard. Yet the movie seems to be more interested in the arresting moments than what they lead to, in the vague fog that is the movie's story. They certainly keep the movie interesting enough to watch to the end, but left me feeling that there was no real conclusion.

I will freely admit that my initial interest in this movie came from not from reading the book (there was a book?) but from the prospect of seeing the unbelievably attractive Kay Lenz frequently nude. How has she developed since 1973 and "Breezy"? (Very very well!) Nevertheless, the movie offered much more than that.

James Wood is a prison guard and a hustler looking for money where he can make it, and he isn't fussy about how. So when he finds a way to score 50K by springing a (nice guy) black activist, he wants in. But..there is also a plot to kill the black activist and he finds himself involved in that too. Meanwhile, he gets involved with Kay Lenz,the gorgeous wife of his cousin, the con who is the brains behind the plot to kill the activist. This flick has twists,turns, and a surprising ending that you will NOT figure out 'till the last few minutes.

Darn good movie. And Kay Lenz looks terrific! Why didn't Playboy grab her for a 10-page pictorial?

THE RAP, the book this movie was 'based' on was one of the most difficult books I've ever read. Yet I could not put it down. Raunchy, crude, foul, lewd...you name it, it had it. It also had some of the best characterizations of any novel I've ever read.

Well, as for the flick...it was deplorable. I mean, Tim Mcintire as Wasco? Wasco was the baddest mutha...talking 'bout WASCO...Mcintire as Wasco is like casting Tim Conway as Charles Manson.

What happened to the MAIN character in the book? Little Arv. He doesn't even exist in the movie...Fast Walking WAS NOT the main dude in the book. Why even name credit this thing with THE RAP? None of the spirit, atmosphere, nastiness, or drama of the book was captured in this movie.

For me it was not only a disappointment, but a total waste of time and celluloid.

James Woods once again lights up the screen as a cheerful, mildly sleazy prison guard, Frank "Fast-Walking" Miniver. He's sometimes got some kind of hustle going on, but he's not all that bad. Yet, he finds himself drawn into a plot being engineered to assassinate William Galliott (Robert Hooks), a black revolutionary. Ultimately, Fast-Walking has to make a choice. Accept the money being offered to participate in the killing, or accept Galliotts' offer of cash to keep him safe.

Although leisurely paced, "Fast-Walking" is a frequently riveting look at corruption in a prison system. It gets a fair amount of juice from a typically electrifying performance by Woods, but even he is outshone by the late Tim McIntire, who's magnetic as an ambitious and crafty convict named Wasco. Woods also has fine scenes with the tantalizingly sexy Kay Lenz, as Wascos' girl "Moke". Moke makes it clear from the moment of her first encounter with Fast-Walking that she's not somebody to be messed with. Lenz does have one extremely memorable sequence where she turns on almost every male present in the visiting room. The rest of the supporting cast is stocked with some excellent actors and actresses: M. Emmet Walsh as Fast-Walkings' superior, Charles Weldon as his co-worker, Susan Tyrrell (looking more glamorous than usual) as Evie, Lance LeGault as Lieutenant Barnes, Sandy Ward as the warden, and Sydney Lassick as an inmate. The great screen psycho Timothy Carey has an amusing role as eccentric kingpin "Bullet".

"Fast-Walking" was adapted from the novel by Ernest Brawley by producer & director James B. Harris, who produced some of Kubricks' films when he was younger and who would again work with Woods on the police drama "Cop". The story is entertaining and on location shooting at a real prison aids in the authenticity. Some viewers will be pleased with the amount of full frontal female nudity. (Be warned, however, that we also get full frontal from Mr. Walsh!)

Nicely scored by Lalo Schifrin, this is a fairly interesting film worth a look for fans of prison-based cinema and actor Woods.

Eight out of 10.

If not for the great performance of TIM McINTIRE ans the Skin of KAY LENZ this movie wasted CELLULOID that could have been donated to a more worthy cause. The characters went to unreality,NOTHING was explained it may have been better if it were some 90 minutes long and tighter. The movie went ALL over the place and NOTHING made sense!