TRAVELLER
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1997 Scott Renshaw
(October) Starring: Bill Paxton, Julianna Margulies, Mark Wahlberg, James Gammon. Screenplay: Jim McGlynn. Producers: Bill Paxton, Brian Swardstrom, Mickey Liddell and David Blocker. Director: Jack Green. MPAA Rating: R (profanity, violence, adult themes) Running Time: 100 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw
Most films about con artists treat the Big Con as the only reason the story exists; once it's clear who's been had and who's done the having, it's time to strike the set and call it a wrap. Not so for TRAVELLER, a frisky and well-crafted drama which takes the time to develop its characters and its atmosphere. Bill Paxton (who also produced) stars as Bokky, a member of an intensely insular band of small-time grifters descended from the Travellers of Ireland. Bokky's simple, solitary life running short cons through the Carolinas is complicated by two coinciding events: the arrival of Pat O'Hara (Mark Wahlberg), the son of an outcast Traveller who wants to return to the fold, and Bokky's romantic interest in a single mother named Jean (Julianna Margulies) who falls for one of his scams.
Bokky becomes Pat's mentor in the family business, creating plenty of entertaining opportunities for the audience to watch the development of their cons. Screenwriter Jim McGlynn wisely avoids turning those scenes into the foundation of TRAVELLER, instead allowing them to act as comic flavoring for a nicely observed character study. Paxton, Wahlberg, Margulies and James Gammon (as a veteran con man who tries to pull Bokky into one of his schemes) all turn in solid performances, with Paxton and Margulies showing a particular chemistry in their sexy scenes together. The actors make TRAVELLER consistently interesting to watch while McGlynn and director Jack Green (the gifted cinematographer of UNFORGIVEN and THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, making his directing debut) slowly explore their relationships.
And there are plenty of relationships to explore. One of TRAVELLER's most noticeable short-comings is that it feels crowded with characters and sub-plots: the medical problems of Jean's daughter, Pat's flirtation with the daughter of the Travellers' leader, the appearance of vengeance-minded Romany gypsies. These tangents push the film's most unique element -- the culture of the Travellers -- into the background; the production notes provide more sense of who the Travellers are than the film itself. As the climax of the film turns into a violent hostage drama, TRAVELLER begins to feel rather generic, as though its unique spirit has been compromised for manufactured conflict. Still, there is plenty to like about TRAVELLER, from its casually confident pacing to its evocative soundtrack of blues and country classics. Thanks to rich characterizations and a strong cast, this is one story of con men in which the "men" are more important than the "con."
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 kings of the road: 7.
Visit Scott Renshaw's MoviePage http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw Subscribe to receive reviews directly via email See details on the MoviePage
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews