Product Details

• Actors: Bill Paxton, Mark Wahlberg, Julianna Margulies, James Gammon, Luke Askew
• Directors: Jack N. Green
• Writers: Jim McGlynn
• Producers: Bill Paxton, Brian Swardstrom, David Blocker, Mickey Liddell, Rick King
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Evergreen Ent
• VHS Release Date: July 14, 1998
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 157492446X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,502 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent and Underexposed Film, April 28, 2002

By 

Stephen M. Kerwick (Wichita, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Traveller (DVD)

Traveller takes on the subject of the eponymous groups of ethnic Irish con artists (there are also Scottish and English counterparts)of the Southeastern, Central and Southern United States with considerable (but not complete) authenticity. These groups typically fall short of the 'big cons' described in The Sting and some other con artist films, and instead concentrate on selling defective trailers and doing "homers" or construction and driveway repair scams. What the film does best with its fine cast of perfomers (even Mark Wahlberg, a vastly overrated actor does a good job playing himself in a role where it fits) is give an insight into the social milieu of the Travelers. This which forms a culture much like that of gypsies, which few Americans realize exists among peoples who came here from the British isles. Bill Paxton does his usual fine job in an understated role and my only criticism is that the film is just a bit quick and incomplete in providing a resolution of the issues. When Traveller was released it wasn't pushed very hard or circulated very widely and, as a result, few people were aware of it. This was an injustice, because it is far above the norm of Hollywood productions.

2.0 out of 5 stars The gawlya beeged the greid!, January 24, 2012

By 

HIRAM "The Widow's Son" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traveller (DVD)

Usually I am not too nostalgic about 1990s films because I got to enjoy the best of them, laugh at the worst, and get disgusted by the most foul. THIS, I never heard of ....

TRAVELLER (1997) stars Bill Paxton and Mark (yes, "Marky-Mark") Wahlberg as two "Travellers" goofing their way across the South. In case you did not know, Travellers are real people: groups or more precisely families of Irish immigrants who've lived in the U.S. since at least the time of the Potato Famine. I guess they are a cross between Tinkers and gypsies. This film is deeply insulting to them, but then I know next to nothing about them.

Paxton is "Bokky", a Traveller who really wants to escape the clans and their mafia way of life. Marky is some young feller, Pat, a new arrival in town whose father married outside the clan families and was thus an outcaste. The two men get thrown together and some brand of weird "hilarity" ensues. Every review I have seen for this movie refers to all the Irish Travellers as "grifters" (which technically means those earning a living through con artistry or other illicit ways).

Actually, I saw this as an unusual 1990s film. This was a sort of comedic let's-watch-the-con-men-go-at-it. Unless it was a public service announcement for the states of Georgia, where this is set, North Carolina, where this was filmed, Texas or South Carolina - all the places where Irish Travellers live - I couldn't make heads or tails of this.

With the additional charms of the late and sorely missed James Gammon (the secret language Travellers speak is sometimes called "Gammon"), Julianna Margulies, and the creepy low-budget Luke Askew.

If I may quote an anonymous source: "This was one of the first... films to be foreclosed by the Screen Actors Guild for non-payment of wages and residuals to SAG members. On 13 July 2004, rights to the film were sold at auction." There is a rich sort of trivial history to this unworthy film, such as Paxton paying the original producer a lot of toadskins to chase him off; Paxton wanted to produce it himself. By the way, the Pidgin/Gaelic/English spoken by Irish Travellers is either called Gammon, Cant ("We can, They can't.") or Shelta. It is not called "gypsy" or "Romany".

In any case this thing was made-to-fall-flat: the same year brought us THE APOSTLE, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, BOOGIE NIGHTS (disgusting), THE FIFTH ELEMENT, THE FULL MONTY, the immortal and gorgeous KUNDUN, and Roberto Benigni's LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (Pope John Paul II's favorite flick).

My only real query is, who the heck would want the rights?!

Two stars for the true-to-life American ethnic group no one's ever heard of ... the rest is too terrible.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bill paxton rocks, June 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Traveller (DVD)

I love this film,check it out now! artisan could have putit in widescreen,with some extas,but the great film more than makes up for it.Mabye since lionsgate owns artisan we will get a special edition.