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Redford’s Walk In the Woods Strikes a Chord For Fellow Outdoor Enthusiasts

By on September 12, 2015

We managed to get out to the theater this past weekend to check out the fun Redford/Nolte spoof, A Walk In the Woods. We had to drive to a theater an hour away because neither of our two closest theaters were running it. As odd as it seemed to us, it was a painful reflection on what prioritizes our society’s views of entertainment. Not enough CGI (none, actually, except maybe the bears), not enough violence (just one redneck guy kicking a door down), and obviously not enough action, considering the story revolves around two old, out-of-shape men.

What this film did deliver was breathtaking scenery, some solid inspiration, and enough dry humor to keep me chuckling for another week. Everyone I know who has read the book tells me the movie just didn’t do it justice. But movies never do; they are a different presentation, and the photographer in me definitely appreciates the camera work and the scenery. However, the bookworm in our group still thoroughly enjoyed the film, and being a fellow outdoorsman, he certainly felt the inspiration.

For those unfamiliar with the storyline, Robert Redford plays Bill Bryson, a successful writer living in New England who is well into the second half of his life and his career, and is reaching out for something to give his life a little more meaning. He just happens to live near the Appalachian Trail, and seeing the trailhead gives him the idea that he must devote 5-6 months of his life to hiking the length of the trail. At the insistence of his very concerned wife, Bryson reaches out to his network of friends to find someone who will hike it with him as a team. His only hope of having a hiking partner comes in the form of the stumblebum recovering-alcoholic ex-adventure buddy Stephen Katz, hilariously portrayed by Nick Nolte.

What follows throughout the film is best appreciated by anyone who has ever survived the calamities of camping and backpacking, especially by the unprepared. Add to this the color of two weathered old buddies, one with a somewhat shady past, and the humor pours out, one scene after another. The somewhat bittersweet scene between Redford’s Bryson and a lonely motel proprietor, portrayed by the ever-charming Mary Steenburgen, is a very touching moment. It is unfortunate that the early reviews were so tough on this film; I can only assume that those reviewers had no personal connection to the subject matter, and since it wasn’t an action-packed fantasy adventure flick, they just weren’t wowed by the subtle humor. For me, however, it was the highlight of my week; and I think I might just go back and see it again next week.

 

About Michael Henderson

Born and bred in Franklin, Pennsylvania, Mike learned about adventure from an early age. Even before he learned to walk, Mike made trips to the Outer Banks with his family, where he slept under his dad’s cot in a canvas tent along the beach. The adventures continued, to the mountains, the Great Lakes, the Pacific Coast, and everywhere in between. Those trips included backpacking into the Grand Canyon and up Mount Rainier, camping in the Rockies in the snow, and skiing right out the front door at home on old alpine skis with cable bindings. Other family activities including canoeing, water skiing, ice skating, bouldering, body surfing, and fishing. By the 1980s, Mike’s interests expanded to include windsurfing, inline skating, photography, and eventually mountain biking, geocaching, and kayaking. He currently teaches photography at the Venango College of Clarion University, as well as windsurfing, geocaching, camping skills, and cross-country skiing at various local outdoor workshops. He collaborated and managed what has been considered the world’s largest, longest-running, and most successful geotrail, the Allegheny Geotrail. Some of his paddling exploits include two Ocracoke-to-Portsmouth Island crossings; St. Ignace, Michigan-to-Mackinac Island; and multiple excursions along the entire Pennsylvania shoreline of Lake Erie.

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