Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018)

Jack and I really liked this bio-pic about John Callahan (1951-2010), an alcoholic quadriplegic cartoonist often published in the New Yorker magazine. Joaquin Phoenix (last blogged for Irrational Man) gives an outstanding (!) performance as Callahan, as does Jonah Hill (most recently in Hail, Caesar!) as his sponsor. Bad hair (Callahan was a redhead and Phoenix's skin tones do not match the ginger tresses) notwithstanding, the two men transform into their characters (photo), especially slimmed-down Hill as the calm, gay Donnie. Among the large cast we also have Jack Black (last blogged for The Polka King) as Callahan's drinking buddy Dexter and Rooney Mara (most recently in A Ghost Story) as Annu, a woman who meets Callahan in the hospital after his accident in 1972.

Robin Williams optioned Callahan's 1990 autobiography of the same name in the late 90s to star in with Gus Van Sant (last blogged for Promised Land) attached as director/writer and "story by" credits for Jack Gibson and William Andrew Eatman (no other credits for the latter two). I'm not sure why that didn't get made before Williams' (1951-2014) death, but Van Sant, Gibson, and Eatman are still credited on this version. The script has plenty of humor mixed in with the pathos, including Callahan's driving his motorized wheelchair so fast we predicted more mayhem than actually happens. Van Sant has a cameo as the Willamette Week Editor.

The title comes from one of Callahan's cartoons, which you can see here. As a loyal New Yorker subscriber for decades, I'm quite familiar with his work. Plenty of his other cartoons are in the movie, some of which are animated. He also wrote a second autobiography, Will the Real John Callahan Please Stand Up? 

Composer Danny Elfman's (most recently scored The End of the Tour) original score can be streamed either from this youtube playlist with commercials or, for Amazon Prime members, from this link. The songs are listed here, and Callahan singing his own composition, Texas When You Go, is on all three lists.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 75 and 74%, aren't running (sorry!) (I think Callahan would appreciate it) to promote this and, anyway, it's gone from our neck of the woods. We saw it five weeks ago. But I recommend you check it out when it's released streaming and on disc in October 2018.