I went to our neighborhood theater to see Beau James when it came out. It was not exactly a serious biopic, more just a collection of anecdotes of little dramatic substance or continuity. My grandmother was a year younger than Jimmy Walker and lived on Leroy Place in Greenwich Village just down the block from the Walker family residence. She told me that her brothers hung out with the Walker boys. After seeing the movie, in order to get some first hand feedback, I went to visit Grandma and told her about the picture and how it seemed at the end to suggest Walker hadn't been treated fairly. Grandma didn't say anything but made a face that told me she thought he had gotten what was coming to him. Now that I am about the same age as she was then, I have to agree with her opinion. There seems to be little about Walker's life to be glamorized.
Review of Beau James
