Walking Shadow (TV 2001)

As a favor to his longtime lover Dr. Susan Silverman, Spenser agrees to investigate the stalking of a theater company director, pro bono. But before he can get started, an actor is killed ... See full summary »

Director:

Po-Chih Leong

Writers:

Robert B. Parker (novel), Robert B. Parker (teleplay),

Stars:

Joe Mantegna, Ernie Hudson, Marcia Gay Harden

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joe Mantegna	...	Spenser
Ernie Hudson	...	Hawk
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Susan Silverman
Eric Roberts	...	Police Chief DeSpain
Tamlyn Tomita	...	Rikki Wu
Mackenzie Gray	...	Vinnie
Christopher Lawford	...	Jimmy Christopholous
Ronin Wong	...	Lonnie Wu
Tseng Chang	...	Fast Eddie Lee
Henry Mah	...	Herman Leong
Rick Tae	...	Liang
Scott Wickware	...	Healy
Alex Zahara	...	Lou Montana
Marcy Goldberg	...	Waitress
Edward Davey	...	Fantasy man

Storyline

As a favor to his longtime lover Dr. Susan Silverman, Spenser agrees to investigate the stalking of a theater company director, pro bono. But before he can get started, an actor is killed by an arrow in the middle of a play. Now that there's a real-life murder to investigate, Spenser and Hawk, get to do what they do best--even if it means death threats from the Chinese underworld, being ordered out of town by the tough local police chief, and dodging bullets and crossbows at every turn. By the time they leave the quaint ocean front community, the population has decreased by three, and live theater will never be the same.

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Plot Keywords:

title based on shakespeare | based on novel

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Genres:

Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 2001 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

A&E Television Networks, Brandman Productions, Jaffe/Braunstein Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Spenser: Could you arrange for me to have lunch with her?
Susan Silverman: I'm not sure she'd be willing to meet with you.
Spenser: Mention to her about me being hunk city!
Susan Silverman: That ought to do it.

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Connections

Follows Spenser: Small Vices (1999)

User Reviews

Dreadful!

A perfectly ghastly entry in what was shaping up as an eagerly anticipated annual event, A&E's end-of-Summer dramatization of a Spenser novel.

As I was initially fearful, the re-casting of Ernie Hudson was a blunder… a shaven head and a leather coat does not a "Hawk" make! The new co-henchman character of "Vinnie," who didn't have a line of dialogue in the entire screenplay, was infinitely more interesting. Hudson makes one long for the over-the-top version portrayed by Avery Brooks in the Robert Urich TV series and subsequent tele-flicks.

The director… Po-Chih Leong, who somehow has made the transition from the Shanghai cinema school to teleflicks… must have seemed like a good choice given the setting, the Chinatown of an East Coast port city which is an entryway for an illegal alien smuggling scheme, apparently has seen one too many Ang Lee films, and tried mixing alternative points of view in a style reminiscent of the late '60s Roger Corman drug flicks. It detracted from an already incompletely realized narrative and was nothing more than an absurd stylistic conceit. (No cohesive story? Dazzle'em with camera-work!)

Author Parker makes another of his fatuous, wordless cameos, and director Leong gives him a slow zoom close-up that suggested his character is to play a larger role in the narrative. Of course, he doesn't, and in that three second shot, Parker overacts on a par with Steven King in his cameos.

Joe Mantegna was clearly hampered by the direction and the script (by Parker and his wife Joan, to whom all of his novels are dedicated). Even the always excellent Marcia Gay Harden was forced to struggle with a suddenly silly "Susan Silverman." Oddly, Eric Roberts comes off reasonably well in a role as a sympathetic villain, although that suffers from poor direction as well!

What a disaster! I actively hated this tele-flick!