Gary Walkow Movies

A writer suffering from a creative block stumbles into a situation most middle-aged man would envy in this independent comedy-drama from writer and director Gary Walkow. Richard McMurray (Campbell Scott) is a novelist who enjoyed overnight success with the publication of his first book, The Trouble With Dick. Seven years later, Richard is working on his second novel but hates the story more with each passing day, while his marriage to a well-known actress is falling apart. Richard agrees to speak to the class of Diane (Alex Kingston), his former girlfriend who teaches a college literature course and inspired on of his novel's main characters. Spending the day with Diane is the last straw for Richard's wife, and she kicks him out of the house. During his lecture to the class, Richard comes clean about the sad state of his marriage and the fact he has no place to stay that night, and afterward one of the students, Kristin (Izabella Miko), offers Richard the use of the couch at her apartment. Jacqueline (Lizzy Caplan), Kristin's flatmate, is agreeable to Richard's presence, and offers a deal -- both Kristin and Jacqueline are aspiring writers, and in exchange for tutoring and "literary consultation," he's welcome to stay as long as he pleases. Before long, Richard's consultations with his new charges begin taking place in the bedroom, and Jacqueline informs him that she wants him to help her write a sexy novel that will help her become "the post-modern Jacqueline Suzanne." While Richard enjoys the ongoing ménage et trios at first, it doesn't take long for matters to become difficult and even dangerous. A sequel of sorts to Gary Walkow's first feature (called The Trouble With Dick), Crashing also features David Cross and Stephen Gyllenhaal. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

William S. Burroughs' ill-fated performance of his "William Tell act" -- resulting in his wife Joan Vollmer getting a bullet in the brain with a shot glass atop her head -- soon became the stuff of Beat legend. This film, directed by Gary Walkow, traces this doomed romance from its inception to its bloody end. The movie opens in 1944 New York, where Columbia journalism student Vollmer is already living a bohemian life filled with pharmaceuticals and a host of future beatniks, including hunky Jack Kerouac (Daniel Martinez), a young Allen Ginsberg (Ron Livingston), and of course, Burroughs (Kiefer Sutherland). Also frequenting Vollmer's pad is Lucien Carr (Norman Reedus) whom everyone is enamored with, especially Dave Kammerer (Kyle Secor), who winds up dead after trying to jump the object of his affection. Seven years later, Joan and William have married in spite of Burroughs' obvious homosexual predilections. Their domestic bliss is strained when the two have to flee to Mexico City after they get slapped with a drug rap. Ginsberg and Carr, now correspondents for the UPI, visit the couple only to discover that Burroughs split town with his lover-for-hire. Vollmer and the boys decide to go on a road trip that is brimming with heterosexual tension. William eventually returns from his sex-binge suspecting that Joan had a fling with Carr. During that fateful night, Burroughs pulls out a gun that he was going to sell for drug money and performs one of the most spectacularly botched party-tricks in literary history. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Though a young sci-fi writer suffers from a bad case of writer's block, he does not seem to have a problem finding someone to date; he is involved with his landlady and her daughter. This low-budget comedy is the feature debut of writer and director, Gary Walkow. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide