The United States has always fancied itself master of the Western Hemisphere. From the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 through the Reagan Doctrine of the 1980s and on to the present day, Central and South American countries have frequently found themselves the unhappy victims of “gringo meddling.”

In 1853, an ambitious Yankee adventurer named William Walker embarked on a mission to bring American-style freedom and democracy to the people of Nicaragua. Having previously established the short-lived Republic of Lower California in northern Mexico, Walker was determined to repeat the process in Central America — and he succeeded, albeit temporarily.

Walker’s strange but true story is the subject of director Alex Cox’s satiric 1987 biopic Walker, screening at 6:00 pm on Saturday, Oct. 6 at Pacific Film Archive as part of the Archive’s current series ‘Rebel Without Applause: The Films of Alex Cox.’ As a substantial added bonus, Cox will be in attendance for a post-screening interview with former Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman. … Continue reading »