Did you have a copy of The Bachman Books growing up? That big, bible-esque compilation of novels that Stephen King had written under the Bachman pen name for a few years?
I certainly did; that worn copy above isn’t my copy, mind you. Mine is in a box somewhere, having moved from home to home over the years. However, I read that book and the stories contained – “Rage,” “The Long Walk,” “Roadwork,” and “The Running Man” – with one in particular standing out above all the rest. Yes, I’m talking about “The Long Walk,” which has been adapted into a feature film by director Francis Lawrence.
Here’s the logline: A group of teenage boys compete in an annual contest known as “The Long Walk,” where they must maintain a certain walking speed or risk being shot.
I feel comfortable immediately saying that, in my humble opinion, The Long Walk falls into the category of superior Stephen King adaptations. It’s the perfect melding of direction, script (courtesy of JT Mollner), and performances, highlighted by the duo of Cooper Hoffman as Ray Garretty and David Jonsson as Pete McVries. Their relationship develops in the same way as the one between Andy and Red does in The Shawshank Redemption. It’s the linchpin to The Long Walk.
It’s hard not to compare The Long Walk to The Shawshank Redemption. Both feature compelling villains – Mark Hamill as The Major in the former, who keeps the boys walking, and helps motivate Hoffman’s Garretty in the first place. He and Bob Gunton’s Warden Norton from the latter are cut from the same cloth. And unlike the spooky stories that make up so much of Stephen King’s canon, both The Long Walk and The Shawshank Redemption are about emotional, male relationships.
Though filmed in Winnipeg, The Long Walk feels like a travelogue through a dystopian America that has fallen into hardship. As the boys walk mile after mile, they make their way through abandoned cities and streets, burned-out cars and empty buildings, through oppressive heat and cleansing rain. What was originally written as a tale of the future can’t help but feel very much of this moment.
The rights to an adaptation of The Long Walk have passed through some illustrious hands over the decades, including those of George Romero and Frank Darabont, until winding up in the capable hands of Francis Lawrence. What may be most admirable about Lawrence’s film is that it never reaches for something larger or grander than what the material needs. Instead, it remains grounded and focuses on the characters, letting them do the talking.
Er, make that the walking.
