The film begins with the following voice-over narration: “In 1853, a small group of Americans journeyed to Sonora, Mexico. Their mission was to free that country from a corrupt dictatorship. Their leader’s name was William Walker.” Narration continues intermittently throughout the picture, referring to Walker in the third person, but portraying his point of view. The narration’s optimistic reports often conflict with actual events in the film to illustrate Walker’s delusional perceptions.
       A title card at the beginning of the picture reads: “This is a true story.” The film concludes with the following written epilogue: “William Walker was born in Nashville, Tennessee on May 8, 1824. He ruled Nicaragua from 1855 to 1857. He was executed in Honduras, September 12, 1860.”
       British director Alex Cox made his first journey to Nicaragua during the country’s 1984 elections, according to a 10 Dec 1987 Chicago Tribune article. At that time, Nicaragua’s socialist Sandinista government was under attack from the counterrevolutionary, U.S.-sponsored Contras in a violent civil war, and many lives were lost. Mainstream western media outlets and the U.S. government reported that it was imperative to fight the Sandinistas because they were supported by communist Russia, but Cox was skeptical of these claims and wanted to see for himself if democracy was viable. Witnessing no evidence of totalitarianism, Cox concluded that the war in Nicaragua was unjustified and immoral. He also believed that U.S. and British citizens such as himself were personally accountable for the war crimes, since their taxes were financing the bloodshed. Cox’s desire to remedy the crisis was compounded when he met two teenaged soldiers, who had been wounded by the Contras. When the boys begged him to make a movie in Nicaragua, he went back to the U.S. on a mission to create a film that would be “a force for peace and reconciliation.”
       Around this time, Cox read a magazine article about the history of U.S. invasions in Nicaragua and learned about a 19th century American mercenary named William Walker, who declared himself president of Nicaragua in 1856 after a series of violent conquests. In his 2008 autobiography, X Films: True Confessions of a Radical Filmmaker, Cox stated that Walker’s story reminded him of the 1973 Sam Peckinpah picture Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (see entry), so he sent a letter to its screenwriter, Rudy Wurlitzer, hoping to interest him in a Walker biopic. Cox explained that Walker’s promotion of “Manifest Destiny” in Central America had unmistakable parallels with U.S. imperialism in the 1980s, and he aimed to expose the injustice of the civil war in Nicaragua while making an entertaining adventure film.
       Teaming with producer Lorenzo O’Brien and art director Cecilia Montiel, Cox returned to Nicaragua in winter 1985 to scout locations and secure support from the Sandinista government and its cinema division, Instituto Nicaragüense de Cine (INCINE). Vice President Sergio Ramirez Mercado, who was also a novelist, read the screenplay before production began and consulted on historical accuracy. A 20 May 1987 CSM article added that INCINE eventually stepped in with financing as co-producer. By 3 Oct 1986, preparations for the shoot were underway, according to a Newsday column published that day, and three months later, a 3 Dec 1986 Var news item reported that executive producer Edward R. Pressman was making “last-minute financial arrangements.”
       The project was initially funded by Cox and British investor Martin Bedford. However, Cox regarded the film as an opportunity to infuse U.S. money into the Nicaraguan economy, counterbalancing the millions of dollars that were being sent to the Contras, and major Hollywood studios were his only hope of securing a big budget. In X Films, Cox stated that he was not eager to reestablish a relationship with Universal Pictures after its mishandling of his 1984 breakout success, Repo Man (1984, see entry), but Edward R. Pressman convinced him that new studio executives were sympathetic to his cause and arranged a domestic distribution deal. According to a 19 Apr 1987 LAT article, Universal provided half of the $6 million budget and gave Cox final cut. Actors and crewmembers worked for scale and went for weeks without pay, and Ed Harris reportedly declined a $750,000 offer to star in another movie, even though he was paid $50,000 for Walker. Various contemporary sources noted that the cast and crew remained committed because they wanted to show solidarity with Nicaragua, and expose the injustice of the war. Pressman told the LAT that he and Cox had not yet earned any money from the production.
       Despite complications with a bonding company, which threatened to pull its support at the last minute, principal photography began on 12 Mar 1987 and continued through 15 May 1987, according to Var production charts. In X Films, Cox stated that shooting began on 14 Mar 1986 in a remote village in Nicaragua, although production was centered in Granada, the town in which the real William Walker gained his decisive victory. Granada was also used as a stand-in for scenes that took place in San Francisco, CA. The precarious, underdeveloped terrain of the locations was not well suited for film equipment, and several fatalities occurred during production, as noted in a 20 Aug 1987 Washington Post article. When crews moved supplies from Mexico through Guatemala, a production truck broadsided a smaller vehicle and a Guatemalan was killed. Several weeks later in Nicaragua, near locations in San Juan del Sur, a young boy was thrown from his horse when it was startled by a truck. The child was subsequently killed by an oncoming vehicle in the production convoy. On 31 Aug 1987, the Boston Globe reported that Cox was back in the U.S. to film pick up shots in AZ.
       Walker was scheduled to make its premiere on 2 Dec 1987 at the Monica 4-Plex in Santa Monica, CA, as announced in a 22 Nov 1987 LAT news item. The event was a fundraiser for several organizations in El Salvador, which was enduring its own brutal, U.S.-backed civil war.
       Although the 4 Dec 1987 NYT review hailed the film for presenting grave issues with wit and sophistication, noting that it was “provocative enough to reach beyond – if not preach to – those who are already converted,” the picture was generally disliked by critics, who did not find humor in its historical anachronisms. One year after Walker’s brief, limited release, a 9 Nov 1988 Var news item stated that Universal was quick to pull the picture from distribution, and Cox believed that the studio caved under political pressure, stating: “My film shows Americans in a different light than the film majors and the Republican Party want them to see.”
       End credits feature television news footage of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who declares that he has no intention of entering into a conflict with Nicaragua because it would repeat the mistakes of the Vietnam War. The speech is followed by newsreel footage of the U.S. invasion of Nicaragua via Honduras, with American Colonel Robert Diaz explaining that the “maneuvers” represent a non-violent attempt to defend peace and democracy. Additional footage provides conflicting evidence to Diaz’s statement, showing the aftermath of a massacre in which rural townspeople were murdered en masse.
       End credits state: “Special thanks to: The people of the Republic of Nicaragua; Sergio Ramirez; Tomas Borges; Ernesto Cardenal; Rosario Murillo; Ramiro Lacayo; Hertig Lewites; Federico Lopez; Anibal Morales; Teniente Coronel; Julio Torres; Jose Valdivia; Miguel Necochea; Fuerza Armada Sandinista; Fuerza Aerea Sandinista; Inturismo; Direccion General de Aduanas; Ministerio de Transporte; TurNica; SINACOI; INCINE; Policia Sandinista; INE; Ciudad de Granada; Cooperativia de Taxis, Carlos Fonseca; MICOIN; Aeroflot; Ministerio de Agricultura; Susan Streitfeld; Archbishop of Granada; Susan Smith; The Roman Catholic Church; Eric Fellner; Blaise Bonpane; Steven Nash—British Consulate; Susan Meiselas; Lindsley Parsons; Bradford Burns; Stephanie Mann,” and, “This film was made in Nicaragua in 1987.”