Operazione Walker

This is one of those made for TV films (and there aren't many left like this one) that grabs your attention fast and your hooked. The true story of U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer John Walker who had access to Top Secret material and sold these goods to the Soviets. The film covers several years as Walker spies for the Soviets along with his brother and a buddy then retires from the Navy and enlists the services of his own son who was serving in the Navy. Powers Booth does not resemble the real John Walker in any way and I found this to be a little distracting but nonetheless gives a solid performance, as does Lesley Ann Warren as his wife. The film is a little on the long side but well told.

It was interesting that when the Walker case broke the U.S. Navy then began to crack down on security. Having been stationed on a Navy Combat ship at the time every crewmember on board became a suspect to the same things Walker had done. Everyone with the exception of Officers and Chief Petty Officers who it was claimed didn't do such treasonous things. However Walker his brother Arthur and their buddy Whitworth were Officers and Chief Petty Officers. This film helps expose the often times hypocritical nature of the military yet also shows that the nation can never truly be safe from espionage.

The TV Guide ad for this movie said that Powers Boothe brings to the role of an American traitor the same chilling conviction that won him an Emmy award for the 1980 tv movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story Of Jim Jones. Boothe is both an actor whom you don't see enough of and one who has never been given just due. He is a really great bad guy with his sinister handsomeness and deep baritone voice. John Walker was truly a despicable traitor who was motivated by simple greed. I just cannot understand how he could get his own son involved! This movie is a masterful adaptation of Pete Earley's book. What gets me is that Walker thought he was so smart (Earley said that he reminded him of a dog chasing his own tail around and around) but he was a fool. If our country had gone to war with Russia and they defeated us, they wouldn't have shown Walker any special treatment. He would have been in the prison camps along with everybody else.

I was driving home one sunny day when I heard on the radio that a Naval officer, John A. Walker had been arrested for expionage. I had to pull over for a minute to stop hyperventating. You see, When I was serving in ComNavSurfLant's communication (a little hole in the wall on the Norfolk Naval base) I was his Leading Petty Officer. My desk was just in front of his.

He would go into the vault and shut the door to "take inventory" of the key cards and other classified information. Never occured to me what he was doing.

He took my wife and I sailing on several occasions. I thought he was a real nice guy, a little self-centered.

When I got home, i received a call from the FBI. They wanted to set up an interview with me.

They called again and cancelled the interview, as it was no longer necessary

The traitor had copped a plea.

I was a Naval Officer at the very tail end of John Walker's career (about the time when the ring was busted). Access to the information that he provided the USSR was likely as damaging or more than any other information compromised in US history, either from within or without the military.

He ultimately leakef information that potentially could have provided the Soviets with the capability to successfully launch a nuclear first strike against the USA, it don't get any worse than that.

A testimonial to the power of money. The weak-willed Walker not only deliberately sold himself out, he involved his family in his treachery. US Navy CWO Walker, not content with his standard of living, and possessing a crypto-secret clearance, reaches for big bucks by selling his integrity to the Soviets, who didn't approach him in the first place; he went to them, peddling his wares! Hard to blame them for taking him up on it.

When his own accessible data is insufficient, he enlists family and colleagues in order to gain more and more information to peddle for more and more dollars. Although he does not physically resemble the real Walker at all, Powers Boothe gave life to the role, playing the traitorous and greedy @#$%! to the hilt. Lesley Ann Warren performs an excellent portrayal of the wife who could not abide her husband's perfidy and involvement of their son. An under-stated actress, Warren called up a lot of emotion in this role. Even if you don't like true-crime drama, it's worth watching for her performance alone.

What really gets me is, why did Walker and his merry band escape the death penalty? Julius & Ethel Rosenberg did the same thing (for NO money, only their beliefs) and they went to the electric chair. (Our liberal, permissive society will eventually sell this country down the river if permitted to perpetuate.)Ah well, a tale that should immediately be set to video cassette; it should be viewed by everyone. RELEASE IT TO VIDEO!!!