 |
| A Walk In The Woods movie poster |
 |
| Bill Bryson |
 |
| A Walk in the Woods book cover |
Bill Bryson
The story begins with author Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) who is doing an interview for a TV show and realizes that it has been a while since he has written a book . He currently has no immediate plans or thoughts about writing a new book.
After attending a friend's funeral with his wife, played by Emma Thompson, he decides he does need to do something with his life to get back on track. He sees a sign for the Appalachian Trail and decides that is what he needs to do - hike the trail and write about it. He starts calling around to all his friends to find a partner and no one wants to go. Age and health issues are predominantly the reasons given for not going. When he is about to give up, he receives a call from a forgotten friend, Stephen Katz (called Katz) who is played by a wheezing Nick Nolte. Katz insists he can go on the hike just like the old days when the two guys were younger. And he is now sober.
So the adventure begins. Bryson and Katz are driven to the trailhead and start off on the long hike. It is not an easy trail and the younger kids keep passing them but they keep trying to trudge along. They meet one very interesting character played by Kristen Schaal who has a verbal dialogue going about anything and everything. They eventually have to devise a plan to escape her and they finally do.
At one point during the hike, they make it to a town just off the trail and spent a couple of nights at a motel run by Mary Steenburgen. She definitely has her eye on Bill but he stays true to his wife, even though it is a tad difficult to do. Oh, and Katz has a romantic interlude with a local lady but the husband finds out about it and is not a happy camper. The guys leave the motel but this time out the back window to avoid the hubby!
At one point in the hike, they are on the side of a mountain trail and Bill slips and falls, bringing Katz down with him. They wind up on a ledge and just have to stay there overnight till some young hikers find them the next day and help them back up to the trail. It begins raining and when they finally find some cover, they see they have been hiking for several months through, rain, snow and bears, and have only gotten a third of the way through the trail. They make a mutual decision that this is their stopping place. They hitch a ride from a Forest Ranger who gets them to the next town.
Back home in New Hampshire, Bill is going through his mail and in it he finds postcards that Katz has mailed to him along the trail. The last one shows the Iowa State Fair grounds and Katz wrote on the card, "I wonder what's next'.
The cast:
 |
| Robert Redford Bill |
 |
| Nick Nolte Katz |
 |
| Mary Steenburgen |
 |
| Emma Thompson |
 |
| Kristen Schaal |
The Travelling Toe gives this movie 1 big toe up with an open blister and 1 middle toe up with 3 bandaids. We all enjoyed it and had many laughs during the movie. There is one burning question that inquiring minds want to know - did Nolte use a bare bottom double or was that his true self?
 |
| Appalachian Trail |
Disclaimer: The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.
No comments:
Post a Comment