Alex Cox's Walker (with Olivia Willke)

Rotten Rewind

Just in time for the 4th of July, it's Alex Cox's radical, career-killing satire, "Walker."

It's hard to imagine a more radical film being made in the studio system than Alex Cox's "Walker." Shot on location in Nicaragua with a predominately Nicaraguan crew, "Walker" was Cox's scathing satire on William Walker, the man who colonized and attempted to rule over Nicaragua in 1853. Featuring a career-best performance by Ed Harris, "Walker" was nearly forgotten to time just as the real-life Walker was, until Criterion introduced it into its collection 20 years after Universal buried the film in a handful of theaters.

Writer and critic Olivia Willke joins the podcast to examine the film that effectively ended Cox's short-lived career as a filmmaker in the studio system. It was no surprise audiences didn't respond to a film this strange and uncompromising, but why did so many critics despise Cox's anti-biopic? Join us for a look back at Alex Cox's brilliant "Walker."

If you're in Chicago, don't miss Olivia's upcoming programming of "SexWorld." Tickets are on sale now and you can get a discount using the code LIV10.