A Texas Tale of Treason (2006)

Director:

Matthew C. Walker

Writer:

Matthew C. Walker (writer)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

How I learned to HATE the bomb. The "almost making of" Waldo...

Plot:

See Stuart Kincaid and his compulsion to make a feature film on NO budget. he rallies a hodge-podge...

Plot Keywords:

Repo Man | Sid & Nancy | Waldo | Punk

Cast

Lucy Bannister	...	Russian News Anchor
Antonio Brazil	...	Wally / Himself
Steve Clones	...	Himself
Paul Crook	...	Himself
Marci Dacus	...	Thelma / Herself
Johnny Forgotten	...	Himself
Phil Harrington	...	Dad / Himself
Mike Heroux
Christa Hopson	...	Herself
Ed Ivey	...	Jay Are / Himself
Grant James	...	Man Tee / Himself
Carolyn Kincaid	...	Sound Ninja / Herself
Stuart Kincaid	...	Minister of War / Himself
Yvonna Lynn	...	Bee a Trice / Herself
Darryl McFadden	...	Big A / Himself
Tim Payne	...	Himself
Jim Prindle	...	King Arthur / Himself
Darin Robinson	...	Boz / Himself
Stephen 'Jules' Rubin	...	Kenny / Himself (as Stephen Rubin)
Paul T. Taylor	...	Smiles / Himself
Matthew C. Walker	...	Lord of Assembly / Himself
Ted West	...	Vinny / Himself
Terri Zee	...	Mom / Herself

Also Known As:

Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday (USA) (working title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Arlington, Texas, USA

Company:

Antstuie Productions

or "Why You Should Never Work With Your Heroes".

Like most of the posts here, I'm a bit biased as I'm involved in the soundtrack. BUT! I've never met Stuart, just some emails, so I feel like you can trust me! ToTT can be best summed up by my tag-line - "Why You Should Never Work With Your Heroes". It's clear that the Alex Cox that we all envision is not some kind of punk cinema touchstone of integrity, but a rather a jerk, just like the rest of us. Unfortunately, Stuart has his own set of issues and put together with Cox's and it's actually amazing the project got as far as it did.

The film in question is "Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday", the sequel to Cox's 1984 scifi / hardcore punk comedy masterpiece 'RepoMan'. 'A Tale of Texas Treason' contains plenty of raw 'Waldo' footage, and makes the film sting even more: it looks fantastic and hilarious.

I give props to Stuart Kincaid for allowing as honest a representation of the situation to be seen. Even though Cox declined participation in 'Treason', you can get a feel for why he may have got indignant. Stuart has a temper. No, we're not talking about a Hollywood life threatening temper, but one that can flare up out of nowhere and ruin your day for sure. For instance, the film tells it's story with dense commentary with the actors, crew and friends. At one point, apparently disgusted with a complaint by actor Ted West during one of these interviews, Stuart breaks with the set narrative style to scold West, his angry voice coming from somewhere off camera. It's one of my favorite scenes because it shows Stuarts warts: this is not a 100% 'up with Stuie' project. In fact, with the Katrina & Rita hurricanes being recent events at the time of the shooting, I was surprised by the overall view of the survivors by Stuart, like they're just bums or something. But Stuart is a real American, roll up your sleeves, DIY punk rocker - I should expect no quarter from this guy, right?

The actors and crew range from playing characters (Ted West & Marci Dacus go for campy & condescending respectively), to hilarious (Antonio Brazil), to extremely in touch with the situation (Ed Ivey practically narrates the film). The amount of talent here not being able to finish a project that was basically 5 minutes away from being done is ultimately a teeth grinding shame.

I'm glad that at least they made this cautionary tale, it should be seen by any budding filmmaker, and especially ones that work with some one else's material.

So, what did Alex Cox think of Kincaid's 'Waldo'? A bummer scene involving an oddly familiar comic book tells the tale. SHAME, Mr.Cox, SHAME!