‘A Walk in the Woods’: A low-impact adventure
It's time to hit the open trail, the Appalachian Trail, that is, with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte this weekend at Boothbay Harbor’s The Harbor Theatre in “A Walk in the Woods.”
The film is based on journalist/travel writer Bill Bryson's book of the same name. Redford portrays Bryson, and Nolte portrays his friend and trail companion Stephen Katz. The major difference between the book and the film is the age of the men. When the actual walk was taken, Bryson was 44, not 78-79 like Redford.
Bryson conceives the idea after attending another funeral for an acquaintance (he doesn't really like people), with his wife, Catherine, played by the extraordinary Emma Thompson.
And despite her best efforts to nip this outrageous idea in the bud (she prints off half a dozen stories about murder, mayhem, and bodies that laid undiscovered for days for her hub), he remains committed to grooving with nature and “getting back to his roots.” Catherine reminds him he hasn't hiked in over 30 years!
Finally she partially acquiesces, but insists Bryson not go alone. He makes call after call to people he hasn't spoken to in years, decades even, but no one bites, although many leave entertaining messages on Bryson's answering machine.
Who does bite? Someone he didn't call who heard about his needing a hiking partner from a mutual friend who was invited. None other than Katz (a.k.a. Matt Angerer, Bryson's childhood friend from Iowa). The two haven't spoken since they returned from a trip to Europe in their younger days. As Catherine points out, they returned despising each other — and Katz owed Bryson $600.
Katz says he's game — and the walk is on.
The closest the men come to getting “trail names,” is “overweight (expletives),” so coined by a know-it-all, incessant talker named Mary Ellen who Bryson and Katz deliberately escape from; it's either that, or Katz is gonna kill her and steal her Pop Tarts.
Further on they run into another male hiker who knows who they are (Mary Ellen talked about them wherever she went), and described them as “overweight (expletives).”
There are fun moments like when Bryson helps Katz to escape an irate husband, or when they scare bears. There are poignant moments, like Katz's frank discussion about his alcoholism. And there are those magnificent vistas! John Bailey's cinematography is gorgeous, but just look what he had to work with.
Thompson, in the short 15 minutes she's in the film, is spot on, as Bryson's wife, injecting that wonderful Brit humor/sarcasm when appropriate.
Redford and Nolte's rapport is evident and is conveyed well through the two men's confessions, arguments, reminiscences, and Bryson's endless one- or two-line factoids, e.g., how many stars are in the Milky Way; how far away the closest star in our hemisphere is; etc.
If you're a Redford fan, you'll enjoy this film. If you've hiked the Appalachian Trail — and we know a great many of our friends and neighbors have, particularly this year — you'll enjoy seeing those amazing vistas again.
“A Walk in the Woods,” plays at The Harbor Theatre at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, Saturday, Sept. 19 and at 2 and 7 on Sunday, Sept. 20. For more information, call 207-633-0438 or visit www.harbortheatre.net.
Related:
Boothbay man hikes the Appalachian Trail his way
Two Maine teens on the Appalachian Trail
Boothbay Harbor father and son attempt Appalachian Trail
The Bergers’ life on the trail: Part 2
