In the book they have to be under 18.
By design the world of the book isn’t fleshed out. You only see this one slice of it. Possibly if this was a later book King would have felt the need to do more world building but this was literally the first book he wrote. He wrote it in college then revisited it later and published it as Richard Bachman.
They want it to happen because it distracts from everything they’re doing. “Bread and circuses” on a large level.
The Walk is a big deal. There is a lot of money wagered on it. There isn’t a lot of attention paid to it at the start, being in rural Maine, but attention picks up once the Walk heads south into more populated areas. People line the route, cheering on the Walkers. There seems to be nothing else; no sports or entertainment that King tells us of. Just the Walk. And with nothing else, it’s the biggest event of the year.
Why would anybody join in? Because they could win whatever they wanted for as long as they wanted. And being teenage boys, they felt they were invincible (yeah, I was one of those too, back in the day). But look at who competed: pretty much all losers in some way. Garraty, whose father had been taken away; McVries, whose best job was in the pyjama factory; Collie Parker who was out of place in the society; Barkovitch, who was just plain asshole through and through. These are the guys you want your society to be rid of, and the Walk accomplished that.
But if you’ve read The Running Man, you know the trick is to cast a bunch of people who you know won’t make it, so the audience gets to see them fall on their asses.
I seem to recall, this was by design. They kept the press and the public away from the Walkers for the first part of the course, so this time would be just for them.
I saw it this weekend. It was very well done, IMO. The violence was EXTREMELY graphic! Especially the first one who bought his ticket. It was shocking to the audience (at least me and my group), and very shocking to Garraty. His face even lost color! Makeup was on point throughout the movie, I thought. They all looked sweaty and some of them had blotchy red spots on their cheeks.
I commented to my group that the actors must have had to be in good shape to walk as much and as fast as they had to. But Garraty had a bit of a muffin top, so I don’t know.
I won’t spoil it here, but it is well worth watching to any Stephen King fans out there.
This will be the first movie I’ve seen in a theater in years. I’m looking forward to it!
I haven’t seen the movie or read the book since once in the 1980s, but my Stephen King fan cousin watched it at the local drive-in Saturday and “live-texted” me about it:
They’ve seriously edited the book down to almost nothing
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If I didn’t know the book I’d probably leave. But I gotta see how they end it
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You gotta remind me that there is a reason not a lot of SK novels are box office hits next time one comes out. This one even ended wrong
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I guess i just expected too much. The book had crowds cheering on, A boy’s mama following, two brothers sitting down to die together, a long ending where the winner was trying to keep his last friend alive, etc. Movie just lost too much substance for me.
It’s an Authoritarian Fascist regime. The Long Walk is a both a blood sport and a warning. It flexes the power of the State over the people while giving them the illusion of something to cheer and root for. They call them volunteers but my guess is everyone knows you have to put your name in and while they technically say you can refuse, I suspect people picked would be afraid to do it.
On a more practical level, life there seems pretty bad for most and this is a way to have a ticket out of it (no pun intended).
Why would the guards go along? They either believe in it completely or are glad it isn’t them getting shot. That’s how every Fascist regime gets enforcers.
My memory is King has said he started writing it in the 1960s and it started as a metaphor for Vietnam and young men being sent there into the mill.
I enjoyed the movie. I was always surprised it hadn’t been adapted before ( think there were a few student films but nothing professional) . The acting was very good and you could feel their exhaustion while watching. I also liked that it was understated. A lot of the horror of life in that version of America was implied. I could easily see a version that hit you over the head with it and I am glad they didn’t do that.
Given stories like what ICE did to the recent deported Korean workers, it’s not very hard to understand how easily some people can stray into willing cruelty and dehumanization of those they have control over.
I don’t know if your cousin watched the same movie as me but it doesn’t sound like it. Just like any adaptation of a book with many characters there were some that were mashed together but the majority of the key characters are spot on. The acting was outstanding, the kid who played Pete has a good shot at some awards.
Mark Hamel as the Major was very jarring at times because he was doing a really over the top voice but once I adjusted I thought he was good.
The gore was very graphic and in your face. Moreso than I expected. None of the key tickets were quickly glossed over and you see them all occur in real time. The gun fire during the executions super loud so be mindful of taking folks who may be sensitive to that.
There are several changes relative to the book though so it would be a major spoiler to folks who have read the book to even hint at where the movie diverges IMHO. I highly recommend folks who liked the book do not spoil it ahead of time. I was certainly surprised at a couple points.
“why would the guards go along” has to be the craziest most non sensical complaint about this story.
It’s because he’s got sack!
There’s trailers and posters for this movie and a remake of The Running Man, which looks to be closer to the book (cross-country hunt over 30 days) than the ‘80s movie. It’s Bachman Dystopia Overdrive!
lol. Did he say that in the book too? I can’t remember.
King also has The Life of Chuck out (also starring Hamill, incidentally). King’s bank balance is likely having a very good year.
Just got back from seeing it with ZakSon (18). He expressed his gratitude that I made him read the story before we went (he’s a big King fan, but hadn’t hit the Bachman books yet).
It’s exhausting and a total gut punch, but in a good way. I agree that David Jonsson (Pete McVries) deserves some awards as does Cooper Hoffman (Ray Garraty).
It’s not for everybody, but damn is it a good interpretation of its source material.
I just got back from seeing it also. Still processing. My husband didn’t care for it, though. I tried to prepare him, but he really wasn’t ready to see a lot of people shot to death.
I agree with your cousin. I was disturbed by:
The lack of spectators. The crowd was so integral to the book, and although the empty fields made for some lovely shots, it just made no sense. Especially after the kids talked about how there would be crowds. And then Garraty’s mom pops up all by her lonesome!
Did you notice the Walkers were cut from 100 in the book to 50 in the movie? And still you don’t get to know them as well as you need to, to care when they were shot. I also cringed at the lame philosophizing and heartfelt conversations. It seemed so cheesy. Maybe I’m jaded, because I feel the same way about the conversations the kids had in Stand By Me (movie version).
The Major shot Garraty’s dad in person? Nothing better to do that day, or does he have to go around shooting dissidents 24/7?
The ending. I heard it was going to be different, and I was surprised. But one, I don’t believe that could have been allowed to happen; and two, I’m certain no one walked away afterward.