A Walk with Love and Death (1969)

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Hans Koningsberger (novel)
Dale Wasserman (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

"Maybe they need to make war as much as we need to make love."

Plot Keywords:

Drawn And Quartered | Based On Novel

Cast

Anjelica Huston	...	Claudia
Assi Dayan	...	Heron of Fois (as Assaf Dayan)
Anthony Higgins	...	Robert of Loris (as Anthony Corlan)
John Hallam	...	Sir Meles
Robert Lang	...	Pilgrim Leader
Guy Deghy	...	The Priest
Michael Gough	...	Mad Monk
George Murcell	...	The Captain
Eileen Murphy	...	Gypsy Girl
Anthony Nicholls	...	Father Superior
Joseph O'Conor	...	Pierre of St. Jean (as Joseph O'Connor)
John Huston	...	Robert the Elder
John Franklyn	...	Whoremaster
Francis Heim	...	Knight Lieutenant
Melvyn Hayes	...	First Entertainer

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Burg Liechtenstein, Maria Enzersdorf, Lower Austria, Austria

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Movie Connections:

Featured in Living, Period (1999)

Weak nepotistic film

This is a fairly dry, low budget medieval picture by John Huston and starring his daughter Angelica...LOOOONG before she emerged as one of our great actresses. She's very awkward here, and the role is awkwardly written and the whole thing simply doesn't work.

I have read some things Angelica herself wrote about this film -- that her father was often not active in her life, and that he wanted to do this film to sort of make things up to her, i.e., allow her to star in something he was doing. Also, that it was made to some degree to piggy-back on the popularity of Zeffirelli's '68 "Romeo and Juliet", which created a brief interest in romance films in medieval settings. That makes perfect sense, but the film "A Walk with Love and Death" doesn't work on any of those levels, unfortunately.

A rather sad waste of some amazing talent. Knowing what Angelica has become, you have to wonder what she could have done acting-wise under different circumstances. Also, it's particularly unkind to cast a young woman of her looks -- interesting, but harsh and definitely not "pretty" -- in this sort of role, where her lack of prettiness seems at odds with the character. You can't help but feel sorry for her here!

You can file this one under "every dad thinks his daughter is beautiful", right next to Sophie Coppola's debut in "Godfather 3". (And nothing against either amazingly talented lady, but this further proves that nepotism not only is a bad idea, but IT DOESN'T WORK.)