A Was Just Going To Take "A Walk In The Woods" But Now I Have Other Plans

This blog was just going to be a review of the movie A Walk in the Woods, based on the book by Bill Bryson. I will say I haven't read the whole book, all of it up until Bryson and his buddy Katz get off the trail in Gatlinburg. I was a little offended that they bypassed (in my opinion) some of the best spots on the entire Appalachian Trail (AT). The rest of my experience with the book is hopping around the text, like Byrson did with the AT. So, I was familiar with the book, but I am not a slave to the text. With that said we knew that with my love of hiking and the AT I would see and talk about the movie, but setting waiting for the feature to start something else came to my attention. 

Movie poster in Morristown.

First, let's talk about the movie. I will say it was better than I thought it would be. Robert Redford was good as Bryson, but Nick Nolte was better as Katz. However, the best casting was Kristen Schaal as Mary Ellen. Schaal excels at playing slightly crazy, annoying characters like in Flight of the Concords, 30 Rock or The Last Man on Earth. She is the perfect Mary Ellen. 

Robert Redford (Bryson) & Nick Nolte (Katz).

Kristen Schaal as Mary Ellen.

The film makers took some liberties with the text. Bryson and Katz were much younger in the book (Bryson was 44 at the time in 1996) as the movie makes their older ages a plot point. Also in the movie the duo don't leave the trail in Gatlinburg and then travel to join the trail near Roanoke, but hike straight to Virginia in the movie. That would explain the scene in the movie when Bryson and Katz are hiking across Max Patch something, in the book, they missed. That is not to say I didn't like the movie. There are plenty of funny moments and it is great to see places I had been, like the lodge and "starting arch" at Amicalola Falls State Park. Also featured was Neel Gap and Mountain Crossing. We got to see the tree with boots and the only spot on the AT that cuts through a building. We even got to see a George Noble Plaque (I am sure it is the one at Neel Gap and I even recognized a few white blazes. 

Amicalola Falls Lodge featured in the movie.

In the movie the AT Kick-off is shown, but it is March not April.

At the "Starting Arch" ...

...& the start of the Approach Trail, both shown in the movie.

They didn't really show the falls, but why not.

It looked a lot like this in the movie.

The "Boot Tree."

With the 2nd George Noble Plaque.

While not in the book this spot on Max Patch made the movie.

Because of all my time spent on the trail in Georgia I knew I would spot some irregularities, like when Bryson and Katz come out at Dicks Creek Gap it really isn't. Then when the duo meet Mary Ellen they discuss miles (just like in the book 14 or 8 miles) and say they started at Gooch Gap, but it is about 15 miles from Neel Gap, which they had already passed. I know I am nitpicking, which I have been known to do (see the wrong tanks in Enemy at the Gates). 

Dicks Creek Gap.

Gooch Gap.

Like I said I did like the movie and I loved seeing spots on the AT I have seen (but the big screen doesn't do them justice). I just hope we don't see Springer Mountain swamped like when Bryson's book came out (60% jump in thru-hikers in two years).

Springer Mountain.

The theater where I watched a lot of commercials.

Where they now sell tickets & popcorn.

Okay, that leads me to second topic and that is commercials at the movies. I know they have been at the movie theater for sometime, but it seems that each time I go there are more and more of them. I mean the pre-show use to be movie news and trailers now it is almost all ads. What is ironic is the more commercials they show the more everything goes up. I mean matinee tickets are now around  $10 and a large popcorn is now $8.50 ( medium is $8). Oh, and at the theater in Morristown they don't have someone selling tickets out front, you buy them at the concession stand with your popcorn, which means they have cut staff. I see less ads at home on TV. I guess this is just one more reason I don't go to the movies very often.