''Fast-Walking'' is a 1982 American

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed, produced, and written by James B. Harris, based on Ernest Brawley's 1974 novel ''The Rap''. The film stars

James Woods James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. Known for fast-talking, intense roles on screen and stage, he has received numerous accolades, including three Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for t ...

Tim McIntire Timothy John McIntire (July 19, 1944 – April 15, 1986) was an American character actor, perhaps best known for his starring roles as Alan Freed in the film ''American Hot Wax'' (1978), as singer George Jones in the television movie ''Stand by ...

, Kay Lenz,

Robert Hooks Robert Hooks (born Bobby Dean Hooks; April 18, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and activist. Along with Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald S. Krone, he founded The Negro Ensemble Company. The Negro Ensemble Company is credited with the lau ...

, and M. Emmet Walsh.

Plot

Frank Miniver, aka Fast-Walking, is a corrupt but lovable

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

state prison guard. Not the most obliging or honest of public servants, he smokes and peddles marijuana and complements his meager salary by running prostitutes for Mexican laborers out of his cousin Evie's convenience store. At work, he is in close contact with his other cousin Wasco, who is incarcerated. Wasco is involved in vice operations within the prison and outside of it. He peddles women, narcotics, and is looking to get into fraudulent banking operations. He bullies a competitor called Bullet into turning over his in-prison operations to Wasco. An accomplice to Wasco on the outside is an attractive young woman called Moke. She carries on his bidding, which means even seducing Fast-Walking with sex. A black political prisoner named Galliot soon arrives at the prison and Wasco plots to have him killed in the racially tense environment. Fast-Walking arranges to have Galliot sprung from prison. Galliot offers him $50,000 and a secret key hidden in his belt buckle that is to a safe-deposit box. Wasco eventually learns about Fast-Walking and Moke having an intense sexual relationship and becomes jealous. So he launches a scheme to have Moke kill Galliot, which she does with a high-powered rifle as he nearly gets away dressed as a prison guard. But Fast-Walking soon teaches him that what goes around, comes around.

Cast

as Frank "Fast-Walking" Miniver *

as Wasco, Frank's Cousin * Kay Lenz as Moke, Wasco's Girlfriend *

as William Galliot * Charles Weldon as Officer Jackson * M. Emmet Walsh as Sergeant Sanger * Susan Tyrrell as Evie, Wasco's Sister & Frank's Cousin * John Friedrich as "Squeeze" * Lance LeGault as Lieutenant Barnes * Timothy Carey as "Bullet" * Deborah White as Elaine Schector * Sandy Ward as The Warden * Sydney Lassick as Ted *

Helen Page Camp Helen Page Camp (December 27, 1930 – August 1, 1991) was an American actress. Early years Born to Austin and Helen (née Landes) Camp in Washington, D.C., Camp's career began onstage, most notably Off Broadway in New York City. Career Her firs ...

as Ted's Wife * K Callan as Motel Manager

Notes

*Both Tim McIntire and M. Emmett Walsh had appeared in the 1980 prison drama ''

Brubaker ''Brubaker'' is a 1980 American prison film, prison Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It stars Robert Redford as a newly arrived prison warden, Henry Brubaker, who attempts to clean up a corrupt and violent pe ...

'' with

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous accolades such as an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the ...

. *A prisoner is heard at wake up yelling "When Do We Eat". These are the same lines spoken sarcastically at the beginning of ''Shawshank Redemption'' by a new inmate just before Byron Hadley guts him with a billy club.

Production

The idea of the film came from producer & director James B. Harris, who read a book call "The Rap" by Ernest Brawley. Harris wrote the screenplay shortly after reading the book. In June 1980, Lorimar Productions sold the rights to the film & preparation's began. The location crew choose the vacant old Montana State Prison building in

Deer Lodge, Montana Deer Lodge is a city in and the county seat of Powell County, Montana, Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,938 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Description The city is perhaps best known as the home of th ...

. In the coming days, officials begin screening extras. The arts foundation begin to restore the prison building to gain for the restoration project. However, due to heavy rains & volcanic ash fallout of the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, work was delayed. James Woods had signed on to play the prison guard, Frank Miniver, nicknamed Fast-Walking, & was "ecstatic" after he found out the movie was going to be filmed in Montana. On a budget of $4 million, principal photography began on July 7, 1980, at the prison. Some filming was done in and around the town of Deer Lodge for several weeks. The crew then traveled to the Bus Depot in

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

to film several scenes for 2 days. Filming was then completed in August.

Release

''Fast-Walking'' was theatrically released in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

on October 8, 1982, by the Pickman Film Corporation. It was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in the United States by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews. In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

wrote: "''Fast-Walking'' is a prison melodrama of such consistent, proud witlessness that it deserves mention though not attendance...Nothing works."

References

External links

* {{James B. Harris 1982 films 1982 crime drama films 1980s prison drama films American crime drama films American prison drama films Films about murder Films about prison escapes Films set in prison Films based on American novels Films directed by James B. Harris Films scored by Lalo Schifrin Films shot in Montana 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language crime drama films