Awesome Movie

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Never dull, always alive with authentic and rich scenes; unpredictable and interesting. The wooden acting of the leads is appropriate for two young people who are fresh out into the world. They are surrounded by an extravagant variety of characters of the late Middle Ages, all well portrayed and decently acted. The scenery is picturesque, the music is lilting and fair, and the plot veers between barbarisms and nobility. It has been beautifully filmed and the direction keeps the plot moving briskly. There is no fat, no wasted scenes, no stupidity. The story is believable and moving, a story of sensitive youths trying to survive in a world suddenly gone mad. The creatures who seek such chaos are trying to turn the world upside down; they seek their own order through chaos. They seek to rearrange the world into their own hideous image. This is a story of how civilized people deal with the carnage of progress.

I thought the title A Walk With Love And Death might be a metaphor – that the "walk" might stand for a journey or a quest, or perhaps even someone's lifetime, with various romances and fatalities along the way. In fact, the title is an absolutely literal description of what the film is about - the story follows a disillusioned student in the Middle Ages as he walks to the sea, encountering love and death en route. It is a very picaresque story, similar to the books that Tobias Smollett was writing in the 18th century (though in this case it is based on a novel by 20th century Dutch novelist Hans Koninsberger). John Huston is the unlikely director behind it, and he brings a modern sensibility to the proceedings – his film is more concerned with Flower-Power, Peace & Love and the 60s Youth Movement than the barbarism of the Middle Ages.During the Hundred Years War, student Heron of Fois (Assi Dayan) marches out of a lecture in Paris and decides to walk across his war-torn country to the sea. It is a long trek, and even though it takes him through beautiful landscapes there are constant reminders of the scars of war. Dead bodies drift by in rivers, cattle lies slaughtered in the fields and castles burn on the horizon. During the trip Heron meets a beautiful young noble-woman, Claudia (Anjelica Huston), who eventually joins him on his journey to the sea. Neither of them has ever set eyes on the sea before, but both share a foolish dream that if they can somehow get there all their problems will be resolved. However, the land becomes increasingly dangerous as peasant armies rise up in revolt against the soldiery, and the young companions gradually realise that their quest is doomed to fail.Huston's film is very personal, too much so to be a commercial success at the time. Having said that, some of the remarkably negative reviews that have been written about it are hardly fair. It is true that the story is very minor and insubstantial; it is true that the two leads are awfully wooden in their roles; it is true too that Dayan's character is completely unbelievable in a Middle Ages setting with his saintly "make-peace-not-war" attitude. Yet in spite of these flaws, there are still things to enjoy in A Walk With Love And Death. It is a beautifully shot film, with eye-catching colours and backgrounds captured in luscious DeLuxe by Ted Scaife (of The Dirty Dozen and Khartoum). Georges Delerue provides a haunting score, and Huston generates some fairly realistic scenes of hysteria and combat (one sequence, in which a man is quartered, is notably gruesome, albeit in a non-gratuitous way). While the film is not in the very top tier of the director's work, it certainly doesn't deserve to have been neglected as much as it has. It is perhaps best summed up as a worthy flop.

Walk with Life and Death, A (1969) ** (out of 4)When people discuss the great or awful films in the career of John Huston, this effort here rarely gets mentioned and that's probably because even the most die-hard Huston fan either hasn't sat through it or simply can't make it through. Apparently Huston selected to do this as something small and personal and one does have to respect him for trying a poetic movie like this but in the end the thing just didn't work for me. A man (Assaf Dayan) "hears" the "calls" of the sea and decides to leave Paris and walk to it. Along the way he encounters various forms of violence and a blooming relationship with a young woman (Anjelica Huston) who soon joins him on his journey. This film wasn't popular when it was first released and it seems very few people have bothered checking it out since then even though we've got a legendary director and his famous daughter in her first role. From the reviews I've read there appear to be a few fans of the film and it's poetic vision but for me the thing was a pretty big misfire. One of the biggest problems is Anjelica who is simply way out of her range in this type of part. This would have been a challenging role for anyone let alone someone making their first acting appearance. At times she seems all over the place while at other times she seems as if she doesn't know where to turn. Dayan doesn't fair much better but at least he seems at ease going through everything on this journey. The film moves at a rather slow pace, which I didn't really mind as Huston was trying to build some atmosphere out of it. The dialogue, cinematography and even the music score are all used to be dream-like but it just never really came together for me. This isn't an awful movie or an embarrassing one but it just felt too empty for me.

I saw this film on TV when I was a young man. I loved the music, the story and the characters. The sets were magical and the acting was perfect for this movie. The musical score was one of the best ever, and perfectly fit the times. It all made such an impression on me. That time in history came alive. I have the musical score (not the original but still a pretty good arrangement). I have two copies taken from the TV showings and I watch it every six months or so and am thrilled by each showing. I wish there were a fan club for "walk". These comments may seem simple and unsophisticated, but I wish every one could see this film; some might be as enchanted by it as I am.