''Walking Across Egypt'' is a 1999 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman and written by Paul Tamasy, based on Clyde Edgerton's novel of the same name. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Jonathan Taylor Thomas,

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards f ...

, Gail O'Grady, Judge Reinhold, and Pat Corley.

Plot

The film follows the life of Mattie Rigsbee (Burstyn), an elderly woman who believes in strong religious convictions. The film explores the lonely qualities of life for senior citizens after their children leave as adults. Reinhold and O'Grady play Mattie's children, who live in a deep southern town. Mattie soon finds a likable friend in the local

dogcatcher An animal control service or animal control agency is an entity charged with responding to requests for help with animals ranging from wild animals, dangerous animals, or animals in distress. An individual who works for such an entity was once kno ...

, Lamar Benfield (Hamill). Through this relationship, she meets the dogcatcher's nephew, a troubled juvenile delinquent orphan, Wesley (Taylor Thomas), currently serving time in juvenile detention for a recent car theft. Mattie finds that this young man is missing direction and believes that with a little insight on Christianity, he can straighten up and fly right. In the end Mattie helped parole him beginning to live his life the right way.

Cast

* Ellen Burstyn as Mattie Rigsbee * Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Wesley Benfield *

as Lamar N. Benfield * Pat Corley as Sheriff Tillman * Edward Herrmann as Reverend Vernon *

Dana Ivey Dana Robins Ivey (born August 12, 1941) is an American actress. She is a five-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, and won the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her work in both ''Sex and Longing' ...

as Beatrice Vernon *

Harve Presnell George Harvey Presnell (September 14, 1933 – June 30, 2009) was an American actor and singer. He began his career in the mid-1950s as a classical baritone, singing with orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States. His career re ...

as Finner * Gwen Verdon as Alora * Gail O'Grady as Elaine Rigsbee * Judge Reinhold as Robert Rigsbee

Production

''Walking Across Egypt'' was filmed in the Florida cities of: Ocoee (including the Ocoee Christian Church), Clermont, Windermere, Orlando, and St. Cloud.

Reception

Robert Koehler from ''Variety'' said of the film, "The best in forgiving Christian values is at the heart of well-intentioned but weakly conceived ''Walking Across Egypt''. By far, the most distinguishing factor is Ellen Burstyn's independent-minded Southern widower Mattie, ..but that won't be enough to stop this from going directly to family-oriented cable." Despite this, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes has given it an 89% according to audience ratings.

References

External links

* * *
Cinemascreen UK Review

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walking Across Egypt 1999 films 1990s crime comedy-drama films American independent films American crime comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films Films shot in Florida Films scored by Marco Beltrami Films directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman 1999 independent films 1990s American films