View Full Version : A Walk in the Woods movie
What did you think of the movie A Walk in the Woods
Good or bad
pesphoto
06-09-2016, 19:03
very awful..
Lone Wolf
06-09-2016, 19:05
What did you think of the movie A Walk in the Woods
Good or bad
i thought it was entertaining
I've watched it twice. I laughed throughout. Is it an accurate story about the AT? No, but it's really more of a story about old friends coming to terms with their lives and their mortality.
OldNorth
06-09-2016, 19:42
I've only read the book and I think I'll keep it that way.
MuddyWaters
06-09-2016, 19:50
What did you think of the movie A Walk in the Woods
Good or bad
I thought it was very dissapointing, lacking the good qualities of the book.
If I had not read the book and enjoyed Brysons style and wit, I might have reacted differently.
It left me thinking wow, what a missed opportunity.
Bottom line, I dont think the director either understood, or cared, what made the book funny and popular.
I watched that movie the day after I summited K last year, in Bangor. I wanted to like it- I really did, because i loved the book, love Robert Redford, and love the trail. It had some funny parts but it was mostly bad. Really bad. But folks who have never read the book tell me they like it. I especially liked the part where they hitched a ride on a golf cart when they were ready to go home. Never saw one of those.
fiddlehead
06-09-2016, 20:00
Good to me.
I liked it better than "Wild" (that one had too much drama with her past life)
"Walk in the Woods" was funny.
Don't try to judge it for it's true to the trail reality.
(grizzly bears on the AT?)
mattjv89
06-09-2016, 20:23
It got a solid "meh" from me. The first half was amusing and the second half felt tedious. The ending was pretty abrupt too. I've paid for tickets to far worse movies, but I sure won't be buying the DVD.
Greenlight
06-09-2016, 20:40
For all of Bryson's wit, the book amounted to a "me and Joe" story. It was good, but it could have been a lot better.
Now to answer your question about the movie. I liked the scenery. I was disappointed that it had so little to do with the best parts of a merely "good" book. I was underwhelmed and like someone else said, I wanted to like it, but they killed it. If I ever see it on Netflix I'll keep scrolling.
I did like Wild, however. But it deviated from the book, too. The book had a lot more backstory about her relationship with her mother.
What did you think of the movie A Walk in the Woods
Good or bad
I liked Chris Gallaway's "The long start to the Journey" much better.
shakey_snake
06-09-2016, 21:04
http://i.imgur.com/AcHQ8.gif
schrader
06-09-2016, 22:28
really missed a golden opportunity with the "what's your sign" line. i remember that part being the first time i laughed out loud while reading the book.
saltysack
06-09-2016, 22:28
I liked Chris Gallaway's "The long start to the Journey" much better.
Met him at local outfitter..great guy!! The movie=[emoji90]
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saltysack
06-09-2016, 22:30
A walk in the woods movie that is.....
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for my non- hiking spouse it is the only hiking movie that I have come across that I would subject her to
It felt to me like they'd slapped a few lines and scenes from the book into the movie and just hoped that it would work well in a totally different medium. Even with Emma Thompson and Robert Redford, it just didn't work. The script needed to be totally rewritten to flow smoothly into an entertaining movie. Shame.
swisscross
06-10-2016, 09:52
Never read the book.
Watched the movie after reading many negative comments here on WB.
Wife watched it with me. She loved it.
She is even considering going on an over night trip with me.
I thought it was worth watching and would watch it again.
JLorenzo77
06-10-2016, 10:02
Nolte cracked me up in the movie. I was disappointed to find out that aside from the McAfee Knob scene, nothing else was filmed on the actual AT.
If you want to read an awesome account of a thru-hike, 'Lost on the Appalachian Trail,' by Kyle Rohrig is the book.
Sarcasm the elf
06-10-2016, 10:32
It felt to me like they'd slapped a few lines and scenes from the book into the movie and just hoped that it would work well in a totally different medium. Even with Emma Thompson and Robert Redford, it just didn't work. The script needed to be totally rewritten to flow smoothly into an entertaining movie. Shame.
I more or less agree with this. I did enjoy the movie for what it was, but it could have been much, much better. It had the feeling of a hurried high school play where each scene was run through quickly in order to advance the plot. I also think they cut out many of the best scenes in the book, likely because theywere being respectful abd didn't want to show the actors trashing the trail.
For those who haven't read it, the book was much better.
I liked it. I've watched it more than once. I liked the book more.
That being said, if you dislike the movie because it is "not true to hiking or the AT," then perhaps the fault does not lie with the movie but your own ignorance. A walk in the woods is not a documentary. It was not shot as a documentary. It was never intended to be a documentary. This criticism is beyond asinine.
It is a film, a comedy, and an adventure. No movie will ever reach the level of depth that a book can. They are two different story telling devices which have their own pros and cons.
Is it a worth a watch? Sure. If you don't like it you can simply add it to all the other movies you wasted your time watching and didn't like.
bstiffler
06-10-2016, 19:32
Kind of a shame that some of the off trail scenes weren't actually filmed in towns near the AT. Shuttle driver told me the diner and the inn scenes were filmed in western and northwestern GA. The told me the names of the towns but I cant remember atm. I guess budget inn wasn't cinematic enough?
I liked it better than that silent Redford movie where he was in a boat. I liked Horse Whisperer better. I guess Butch and Sundance next. But Jeremiah Johnson is definitely my all-time favorite Redford movie.... in other words, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best - I'm giving it a 2.
saltysack
06-13-2016, 07:22
I liked it better than that silent Redford movie where he was in a boat. I liked Horse Whisperer better. I guess Butch and Sundance next. But Jeremiah Johnson is definitely my all-time favorite Redford movie.... in other words, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best - I'm giving it a 2.
Since renting the "silent boat" movie my wife forbids me from picking out our movies! Worst movie of all time!!
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Offshore
06-13-2016, 07:29
It was a pretty "meh" buddy movie that happened to take place on the AT as a backdrop. If you were expecting (as it seems a lot of people were) a technical hiking documentary or an AT hiking guide, you'll be disappointed.
SteelCut
06-13-2016, 07:33
My wife and I recently watched it on Amazon Prime and hated the movie even knowing that it's not really about hiking or the AT. The writing was extremely sophomoric (no offense to sophomores), that Robert Redford is a really terrible actor (possibly with the exception of Jeremiah Johnson), and the film was really bad even for a "buddy film". Too bad a good book was spoiled by a bad movie.
We lost a lot of respective for Robert Redford's acting abilities after "All in Lost" but "A Walk in the Woods" is a new low for him.
Nick Nolte did do a good job in his roll as Katz and was the only redeeming part of the movie.
Traveler
06-13-2016, 10:04
All this from a society that adores WWE and Cage Death Match..... go figure.
Gambit McCrae
06-13-2016, 11:56
I thought it was a great fictional, non completely accurate movie. For people that have a great deal of experience on the AT, or even someone that's only hiked 900 miles of the AT, it was not completely accurate, example: walking past point B and then walking past point A, when B is way up in VA, and A is Fontana Dam lol
I really don't care if the movie was true to the trail or not.
It is just a mediocre, uninspired movie that seems like something that is a throwback to the 1980s when there was a glut of these buddy movies done poorly.
I thought it was a great fictional, non completely accurate movie. For people that have a great deal of experience on the AT, or even someone that's only hiked 900 miles of the AT, it was not completely accurate, example: walking past point B and then walking past point A, when B is way up in VA, and A is Fontana Dam lol
Someone that's ONLY hiked 900 miles??? 😯
OH, MAMA!!! Somehow, this brings back fond memories of my old drill sergeant.😢😠
For what it's worth, a comedy about the AT, it was worth a few laughs. Of course the book was better.
I really wanted to like it, and it had its moments. It was unfortunate that they decided to go all leave-no-trace on us at the cost of some of the funniest stuff in the book. Someone needed to have had a talk with them about the difference between Propaganda and Art.
It wasn't what I expected it to be. ;-)
Christoph
06-18-2016, 09:51
Not a very well done movie and I thought it was horrible. Should have followed the book and got better (well different) actors for the part.
I really wanted to like it, and it had its moments. It was unfortunate that they decided to go all leave-no-trace on us at the cost of some of the funniest stuff in the book. Someone needed to have had a talk with them about the difference between Propaganda and Art.
Agreed. One of the funniest and most appalling scenes in the book is seriously contrary to LNT, and that had to be excised. And some of Katz's best rants -- similarly had to be excised if the movie was to keep its PG (or even R) rating.
(In spite of all that, there's a scene where Katz dumps a small bottle of whiskey -- curious in light of the charge against Scott Jurek late last summer...)
The movie had a story line that appeared nowhere in the book, about the class differences between Bryson and Katz. Interesting, but not what I was expecting. That story line has Redford (Bryson) as straight and humorless, which I didn't get from the book at all.
I enjoyed it for the scenery and Nolte's character. Hardly a classic, but it certainly kept my interest.
JumpMaster Blaster
06-19-2016, 12:16
Of course no movie follows it's book predecessor to a T, but I was irritated at the little things that are just unimaginable and don't portray hiking, like the hordes of people at trailheards, the golf carts (really?), leaving the hiking poles strapped to their packs the entire time, grizzly bears (although the black bears this year seem to be generating enough negative press). Too numerous to list. No, I wasn't looking for a documnetary on the AT, but perhaps Redford wasn't the right guy- Bill Byson's narratives are so hilarious- but Redford fell flat. Too serious. Not funny. Not entertaining.