The Long Wait for The Long Walk

  There is often talk of what should be made into a film, and in this case I'm referring to the adaptation of book as the source material (as I watch many films remade, re-launched and rehashed to a lukewarm response). I scream give me something new, that I know, BUT haven't seen!

  When I was a much younger man I read on the train every day as I made my way from school to work and then home. I read feverishly but I was highly reluctant to read any Stephen King, a long forgotten friend recommended one day that I try the works of his pseudonym Richard Bachman. I never had any intention of following this up or doing so, but one day I found myself in a second-hand book store and somehow gravitated to a copy of the Bachman books (for the ridiculous price of $5 NZ). I purchased it and started reading the 4 stories enclosed, and although two stories had a great effect on me, one had already been made into a film by that time, although poorly and unable to hold a candle to 

the source material, which was The Running Man, but it was the other story which held me captivated and forever contemplating a film adaptation, but obviously done well. And that other story was The Long Walk (written in 1979).

  The Long Walk, in a nutshell, is set in a Dystopian future that sees One Hundred teenage boys participate, by choice, force or need, in an annual walking contest called, originally enough, The Long Walk. The boys must maintain a constant and consistent walking speed of at least 4 miles an hour, if they drop or lag they get a series of warnings before they are ticketed, but as the story progresses being ticketed, they soon discover to be ticketed is to be immediately shot by the soldiers who monitor the walkers. Our protagonist is a 16 year old boy by the name of Raymond Garraty, and although there are multiple antagonists namely fatigue, the soldiers and their superior (and event organiser) The Major, it is the character of Gary Barkovitch who quickly establishes himself as an extremely unlikable fellow walker. Anymore information would render this a spoiler, so we can stop there.

  I really think this would make an engrossing film, and although I wish I had an iota of the talent, I really wish I did as I really don't know if I could write the emotion much less direct it in a young actor. However, my lack of talent aside, I have known for sometime that regular Stephen King adapter to film, Frank Darabont has had the rights to The Long Walk for quite awhile, and in some accounts, from trawling the internet, it is suggested he's had them since and possibly before his adaptation of the Novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, better known to most as the film The Shawshank Redemption starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and the ever impressive Clancy Brown (leading and amidst an amazing cast).

  Knowing that Darabont has now done 3 theatrical King adaptations, which have all been rather stunning, I strongly believe The Long Walk to be in safe hands, but I want to see it come to light. Exhaustive Google searching has yielded very little information, but I did find a little nugget a while back which has had me thinking for sometime about the direction the film should take. The nugget was a line which read (and has since been added to the Wikipedia page for the book since).

-         He (Frank Darabont) said that he would "get to it one day". And that He plans to make it "low-budget, weird, existential, and very self contained".

 Not really a lot of information, but I said it was a nugget, a glimmer of hope, but as I said this has had me thinking for sometime about the direction of the film.

My Take:

  There is an often under used device, which can be jarring to the viewer, but that I think would suit this adaption perfectly, and that would be to shoot the majority of the Raymond Garraty footage in POV, in fact not even show the character until perhaps the second or even third act. But further to why I think it could actually work well follows; You can take or leave the works of "dynamic low budget duo" Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor, now you're either asking who the hell are they or if I have completely lost my mind for even suggesting them, but it's a sound theory if they aren't left to write, direct and produce their own works. Their low budget camera craft and angles are very sound and although both of the Crank films weren't cinematic genius and don't get me started on their take on The Ghost rider franchise, with the "not as terrible as the first film, but pretty bad", Spirit of Vengeance. They are not destined for awards, but there are flashes of genius in the camera and camera use not seen since Robert Rodriquez' El Mariachi. A perfect case in point would be the "bigger" budget film Gamer, although again with an appalling script and a terrible third act, the 'in game' sequences work well and gave the film a glimmer of hope (before quickly tearing it away).

For some unknown reason I cannot embed the following video, but a better example than the Trailer above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PcvSVWJiM

 The bleak nature of the source material matched with the camera style, and dark foreboding tone and feel of the Gamer in battle sequences cobbled with the digital low budget nature of the cameras and POV's (but MUCH tidier) used in the Crank films could actually result in a fantastic film when peered with the writing and directing brilliance of Frank Darabont, and could make for an eye-gasm of a film which would also generate a true emotive response for the audience, pending who is selected as editor obviously. And if you need a case in point for Darabont's directing, see what he got out of Thomas Jane (who is notoriously inexpressive in the majority of his roles) in the closing minutes of the often overlooked King adaptation The Mist. Even Stephen King himself said he wished he'd written Darabont's ending for The Mist (high praise).

  It's like a bucket list for the film if it ever sees the light of day, and although my opinion doesn't matter, it's the conceptualisation of what could be if all the planets were perfectly aligned etc... All I know is I've tried to write a similar short story for me to shoot, but every time it gets a little too close to plagiarism to the source material.

2007 John Woo Essay

 In 2007 my 14th assignment at film school was to write an essay, I'd never written one before as I had gone to a pretty liberal High School, the following is my attempt at an Essay, I have thrown in some hyperlinks, but for the most part it is unedited:

Introduction:

Director Wu Yusen is better known to audiences as John Woo and his influence on the action genre can be seen in many of today’s blockbuster films. His influential gunfight sequences amid romanticised morality tales of brotherhood, love, loyalty, adversity and anti-heroism started an entire sub-genre of action coined as either Gun-Fu or Heroic Bloodshed, and have echoed copy-cat imitations and western film-maker homages. His films from the 80’s revitalised the action genre; not just in Hong Kong but around the world. The movies A Better Tomorrow & A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer, Bullet in the Head and Hardboiled, were viewed as overpowering pop masterpieces of violent cinematic frenzy. So it seems quite surreal that John Woo almost became a Minister before eventually following his passion for film, and even more so when it is considered he was once touted as “The Hong Kong king of comedy”.

Humble Beginnings:

Born into poverty on September 26 1946 in Guangzhou China, John Woo and his family fled to Hong Kong in the late 1950’s to escape the communist revolution. As a child he was enrolled in a Methodist school where he felt socially isolated and had only a few friends. Surrounded by street violence and gangs he soon found solace in movies where he fell in love with the magic of musicals, westerns and animated films. With no film school in Hong Kong he called directors such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa, Sam Peckinpah and Alfred Hitchcock some of his “teachers”, and when unable to afford a trip to the movies he would visit the library and absorb every and any book he could find about or relating to film.

Building his craft:

Due to the corruption and nepotism it was almost impossible to secure a job in the Hong Kong film industry, but in 1969 the industry leading Shaw Brothers Studio hired John Woo as apprentice under and assistant director to Chang Cheh, a leading martial arts director who, in Hong Kong, was often equaled to Japans Akira Kurosawa. In an industry and era where true opportunities weren’t abundant until a person reached their forties, John Woo was unwilling to pursue such a slow and grinding path to film making and, at 26 years old, left Shaw Brothers Studios and launched his own independent production company.

In 1973 John Woo made his directing debut with the martial arts action film The Young Dragons, but unfortunately his final cut of the film proved so savage and over the top that censors banned it for its excessive violence (It wasn’t until years later that a less naïve Woo discovered the censors were actually anticipating a bribe). Raymond Chow of Golden Harvest had somehow managed to acquire and view the banned film and saw a rough talent in John Woo. Chow purchased and released a heavily edited version of The Young Dragons and offered John Woo a three year directing contract. John Woo made several martial arts films for Golden Harvest, such as Last hurrah for chivalry (1978), which began to display some of the themes and techniques that would eventually become his trademark, but his films were all commercial disasters and soon he found himself looking for work.

Out of work and slightly disillusioned John Woo was eventually offered a contract at the newly formed Cinema City studio, but the contract was only under offer provided he turned his talents to directing comedies and soon he became known as “The Hong Kong King of Comedy”.

Through Cinema City John Woo meet kindred visionary Tsui Hark, who had used his position and status at the studio to form his own production company, FilmWorkshop. Tsui Hark wanted to push the envelope of Hong Kong pictures while incorporating high-end special effects and after reading John Woo’s draft script, loosely based on Kong Lung’s - Ying XiongBen Se, production began on the: A Better Tomorrow.

The Birth of Heroic Bloodshed/The Bullet Ballet:

"I've got more action than my man John Woo"

Beastie Boys (Lyrics from the track "Sure Shot" on Ill Communication)

A Better Tomorrow was a complete revelation; gunplay had never looked so exciting and visceral. It took the Peckinpah School of slow motion and sprayed blood to an entirely new and never before seen level. One of the most original and influential scenes, prior to the first major gunfight; Mark (Chow Yun-Fat) hides a series of back up pistols in a row of flowerpots on his way to terminate a group of Taiwanese gangsters. The scene influenced and was almost imitated in such films as Luc Besson’s Leon (AKA: The Professional), Antoine Fuqua’s The Replacement Killers and even in ShinichirôWatanabe animated feature Cowboy Bebop:Knockin’ on Heavens Door.

“It was brilliant! You could see a dozen American movies before you ever saw anything as clever as that!”

Quentin Tarantino (Hong Kong Action cinema, 1995)

A Better Tomorrow was an immediate success across all of Asia and started a fashion revolution which saw legions of young men sporting long black coats, Ray-Ban sunglasses and a toothpick clenched between their teeth, - A week after the film release the Ray-Ban sunglasses were sold out in all Hong Kong

John Woo (Asian Pop Cinema, 1999)

John Woo became the most sought after action director in the industry and was desperate to ride the wave and begin his next production, The Killer, but due to the overwhelming success of A Better Tomorrow the studio and Tsui Hark insisted Woo break his personal oath (to never make a sequel to one of his own films) and begin scripting for A Better Tomorrow II.

A Better Tomorrow II was well received by Asian audiences, the local reviews were mixed if not damning, but what no one had anticipated was the success and praise the film would receive in the United States while playing in a limited number of “art-house” theatres. The film and its predecessor gained cult status and eventually A Better Tomorrow II would go on to heavily influence Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, The Wachowski brothers The Matrix, Luc Besson’s Leon (AKA: The Professional) and John McTiernan’s Die Hard, many of which borrowed heavily from the last action/fight sequence.

The relationship between John Woo and Tsui Hark was quickly souring, but not before the two collaborated one last time on The Killer, which was a more action based remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï. The film confronted what Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry hinted at, the idea that the only difference between the hunter and the hunted is a badge. Danny Lee and Chow Yun-Fat play a cop and an assassin respectively, who become mirror images of one another and are eventually redeemed in the final shoot out fighting side by side. The Killer also saw the first ever on screen instance of John Woo’s best known signature, white doves taking flight after the first shot is fired and the final gun battle ensues. The doves I include to show, redemption of soul, purity before death.

John Woo (Interview on Hardboiled DVD, 1999)

Audiences were stunned when an effigy of the Virgin Mary was detonated during the climactic final gunfight and the film was almost cut for western release even though it received an R-rating globally. To me, (she) symbolises all that is good and pure. When the villains destroy the statue, it’s like they are destroying the last goodness.”

John Woo (Hong Kong Action Cinema, 1995)

The Killer became one of the most widely seen Cantonese-language films of all time, and although not a huge success in Asia the film was released in “art-house” theatres in the United States, and cemented Woo’s cult status.

“After enjoying art-house success in the US, The Killer was screened for the head of Universal Pictures when it was first suggested that Woo might make an American film. ‘Well, he can certainly direct an action scene’ observed the mogul afterwards. ‘Yeah, and Michelangelo can certainly paint a ceiling!’ fired back the Woo fan and advocate Quentin Tarantino. “

(Hong Kong Action Cinema, 1995)

The Killer had such an impact on the action genre that Renny Harlin’s Die Hard II, Ringo Lam’s Full Contact, Michael Mann’s Heat, Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado, Mikael Salomon’s Hard Rain, Corey Yuen’s The Transporter and Primo Giroldini’s Nel cuore della notte are just some of the many films and directors which claim to have made reference to or borrow from The Killer in one way or another.

This began a chain of events, which would eventually see John Woo becoming the first ever Chinese director to make a Hollywood film, but not for another four years.

Tsui Hark was so furious with the final cut of The Killer that the pair parted ways, Tsui Hark started production on A Better Tomorrow III which “borrowed” almost the entire concept for John Woo’s next, and most personal film Bullet in the Head, which was the final nail in the coffin for their friendship.

The events at Tiananmen Square, Woo’s own childhood and Michael Cimino’s TheDeer Hunter all played a big influence on Bullet in the Head and although considered by many as John Woo’s greatest film it was one of his least successful in Asia as audiences were becoming more sensitised to the ultra-violence in Hong Kong cinema. This was due to the increase in both Triad membership and involvement in the Hong Kong film industry as Triads started small film companies to both launder and make money, it was believed to be a direct result of what was considered John Woo’s glorification of gangsters in the first two A Better Tomorrow films and their subsequent “imitations”. It wasn’t until Jim Choi manager of Kung Fu star Jet Li was shot in an office building that a number of performers including Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat took part in a public demonstration as part of Artists Against Violence campaign. John Woo came up with a creative solution to the problem with his next film, Hardboiled.

Hardboiled would be John Woo’s farewell to Hong Kong before leaving to live and work in the United States. Woo realised that he would face limitations when filming in the US and used Hardboiled as an opportunity to create a film which was two thirds action. Hardboiled is the story of a tough cop who discovers he has been pursuing an undercover cop amid a gun smuggling operation, but unfortunately the story-line went no further and relentless explosive action filled in the gaps, but the film worked. The extremely long climax of the film saw the destruction of an abandoned hospital after a chaotic and continuous three minute gun battle scene which to date had never been attempted by any other director, it worked brilliantly and confirmed Woo’s move to Hollywood. British stuntman Vic Armstrong made his feature length directorial debut with Joshua Tree which he, almost entirely, self funded in homage to and loosely based remake of Hardboiled.

And Beyond:

The United States has always been attracted to violent and fast paced action and the last decade has seen an increased and respect for films by John McTiernan, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Sam Raimi and the Wachowski brothers, they have all mastered their directing but all claim the influence of John Woo.

“John Woo’s mastery of action is equal to Alfred Hitchcock’s mastery of suspense!”

Sam Raimi (Hardboiled UK DVD Release cover)

John Woo had expected and anticipated limitations in America but Universal Pictures still had doubts about the ability of a Chinese director handling an American crew and Sam Raimi was assigned to oversee Hard Target and take over if Woo didn’t work out. Sam Raimi accepted that making a mainstream studio film would impose limitations and restraint on John Woo’s work, but argued that John Woo at seventy percent is still going to blow away most American action directors working at one hundred percent!

Sam Raimi (Hong Kong Action Cinema, 1995)

After his shaky debut in America John Woo has since reached a plateau in Hollywood where he has the luxury and ability to hand select the films he directs and after the critical acclaim and box-office successes of his American films Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off, Mission Impossible II and Windtalkers, it is widely believed he has earned that right. His influence on gunplay and action can be seen and is hugely evident in many of Hollywood’s blockbuster action films from 1988 onward but his influence is not only limited to film. He has been the inspiration to many of today’s computer game creators, and popular game titles such as Max Payne, F.E.A.R., Unreal Tournament and Stranglehold

  John Woo has re-teamed with his muse Chow Yun-Fat and is currently working on The Battle of Red Cliff in China which he has suggested will be his equivalent of Akira Kurosawa’s Ran and his own personal legacy to the art of film.

References:

Filmography:

• Paycheck (2003)
• Hostage (2002) (Short)
• Windtalkers (2002)
• Mission: Impossible II (2000)
• Blackjack (1998) (TV)
• Face/Off (1997)
• Once a Thief (1996) (TV)
• Broken Arrow (1996)
• Hard Target (1993)
• Hardboiled (1992)
• Once a Thief (1991)
• Bullet in the Head (1990)
• Tragic Heroes (1989)
• The Killer (1989)
• A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
• A Better Tomorrow (1986)
• Heroes Shed No Tears (1986)
• Run Tiger Run (1985)
• The Time You Need a Friend (1984)
• Plain Jane to the Rescue (1982)
• Laughing Times (1981)
• To Hell with the Devil (1981)
• From Riches to Rags (1980)
• Follow the Star (1978)
• Hello, Late Homecomers (1978)
• Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1978)
• The Brave Lion (1977)
• Money Crazy (1977)
• Hand of Death (1976)
• Princess Chang Ping 1975)
• The Dragon Tamers (1974)
• The Young Dragons (1974)
• Fist to Fist (1973)
• Accidentally (1968)

Recommended Viewing:

• Hostage (2002) (Short)
• Windtalkers (2002)
• Face/Off (1997)
• Hardboiled (1992)
• Once a Thief (1991)
• Bullet in the Head (1990)
• Tragic Heroes (1989)
• The Killer (1989)
• A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
• A Better Tomorrow (1986)
• Heroes Shed No Tears (1986)

Bibliography:

Dannen, F. (1997). Hong Kong Babylon. (1^st Edition). Hyperion.

Logan, B. (1995). Hong Kong Action Cinema. (1^st Edition). Titan Books.

Server, L. (1999). Asian Pop Cinema: Bombay to Tokyo. (1^st Edition). Chronicle Books.

Yang, J. (2003). Once Upon A Time In China. (1^st Edition). Atria Books.

Discography:

Ill Communication, The Beastie Boys, Capitol Records Inc, 1994. (Compact Disc, CDEST 2229)

Internet Reference:

“John Woo”, (2006, December), (imdb.com). Available: http:// www.imdb.com/name/nm0000247/ (Accessed: 2007, January 16)

“John Woo”, (2007, January 13), (wikipedia.com). Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Woo (Accessed: 2007, January 16)

Additional Reference:

Hardboiled, “Interview with John Woo (1999)”. Tartan Video, 2000. (Digital Versatile Disc, TVD 3301)

Icarus - Seeking Great Heights (the rise and fall of an independent film maker)

 Not everyone can become an overnight success, and some of those overnight successes burn to brightly too soon and as they reach a peak burn themselves out. a perfect example of this would have to be Troy Duffy. The Boondock Saints was, for all it's flaws, a great "independent film". I use Independent loosely as Harvey Weinstein had some involvement. The Boondock Saints was the recipient of a lot of online promotion before it's release and, to this day, a cult following.

 Granted there was a budget here and some very well-known stars and backing were involved, but Troy seeming read into his own hype and was the subject of the documentary, which is worth checking out and available on DVD, Overnight. Troy has since started to collect himself and try again. But the, not so great, sequel to his 1999 film only saw the light of day in 2009. These films watched in order: Boondock Saints, Overnight, Boondock Saints II, tell and trace a perfect story of failure.



Watching The Boondock Saints will fill you with a feeling of potential and possibility.

Overnight will see you watching the first film the next time around in a very different light.

Click to watch Trailer

 And finally The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day establishes a better budget however a 'play-it-safe' finished product with a sense of failed potential and an inability to recapture the feel of the original, it just didn't work.

 There are a few documentaries which also feature Troy plus online discussions on the rise and fall of Troy Duffy, and they are a perfect example of how not to behave should you have the opportunity to "make it" one day, if we are to believe the tainted light he is painted in, this is how not to act.

Horror... It so is horrific!

 What defines horror? The dictionary describes the word horror thus:
1. Intense fear and loathing
2. Anything causing such a feeling
3. Strong aversion

  Being a child of the 80's I need to take my stance from that particular era of horror. The era which ignored Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies and Mummies and created new antagonists to cause feelings of fear and dread. In many ways horror of the 1980's set itself apart and in ignoring the boogie men of a silver screen age they created franchises which bordered on the ridiculous but created characters once seemingly synonymous with a movie going generation and resulting in much popcorn launching.
  Horror films of the 80's also went on the remove the antagonist and force the viewer to put themselves in the footsteps of the protagonist. But in turn create antagonists the viewing audience would come to love and root for, which flipped the paradigm more than the film makers and studio alike could have conceived.

 I lament the current horror films, and more so the Blair Witch approach which is now so freely adopted to poor effect. One day I'll write (Blog) something a little more substantial about this using the New Line Cinema tent pole (this one is easy, you shouldn't even need a link or to Google search!) as my villain of choice...