A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory

A Walk Into The Sea asks what and why. It follows a talented filmmaker into a world that most of us can only wonder about. The pacing and music slow us down and create images that allow us to feel, without analyzing, what might have led Danny Williams to walk into the sea and disappear. Esther Robinson, Danny's niece, sets out to learn more about her uncle's death in 1966. The video, with superb editing by co-writer Shannon Kennedy, and entrancing music by Todd Griffin, creates a murky, mysterious, collage of commentary by Warhol associates during the early 60's who skate around Danny's days and nights with Warhol and the Factory. Kennedy's juxtaposition of Factory members images from the 60's with Robinson's interviews from 2005-2007 create a gnawing sense of discomfort and a wish for a final answer. This is the beauty of the film.

Danny Williams was big in Velvet Underground folklore as the legendary (and brilliant) lighting technician who disappeared following the first EPI tour in the late 60's, so to see him get a proper documentary is enlightening and a wonderful thing. Warhol comes off like the typical self-important/shallow person that he likely was during the 60's during the height of his fame. Upon viewing this doc one gets the impression that some of the various Factory "denizens" - (aside from Gerard Malanga who comes off like an honest person who cared about Williams' sad fate) the majority of them never out-grew the obvious sad & pathetic 'Warhol worship'.

For what it's worth - the review on here by jm10701 reeks of a certain ignoramous who has a jealousy trip, or a bitter person who thinks they have the first clue about Warhol and what possibly could have happened to Williams. jm10701 is also apparently too stupid to realize that Williams didn't "flunk" anything, he graduated from Harvard & worked in the Factory alongside Warhol during two of Warhol's biggest $$$ years in the 60's. Two accomplishments that most people don't get to achieve in life.

The documentary also leads one has to question if Warhol's cruel treatment of Williams likely played a role in Williams' apparent suicide and/or downward spiral into drug use, and it's obvious that there's many un-answered questions and Warhol only made a sad story worse by not assisting the family at a time of need. Highly recommended.

This documentary is about Danny Williams, a filmmaker in the mid 60's tied to Andy Warhol and the Factory. Danny vanished at that time, never to be heard from again. I was expecting a detective story, but rather it is a story told in interviews about his contribution to the Warhol legacy and, more important Warhol's relationship (a few say sexual) with Williams. Along with commentary from people who were there, such as Billy Name, Gerard Malanga, Chuck Wein and John Cale, amongst others, Danny's mom, brother and sister speak. Approximately 10 years ago or so, I watched a documentary about Factory denizen Bridget Berlin, which I thought to be a total waste of time. In this film however she is very interesting. I never heard of Danny Williams before this, but the film shows some short works he did which are almost innovative in the use of light. The title of the film suggests that Danny committed suicide, as he vanished after working on a project with Warhol and seemed to be not his usual self. You will probably like Warhol less as a person after watching this, but see it anyway. The clear eyed recollections of the people interviewed are worth the time. The director Esther Robinson is Danny Williams' niece. I don't know if she actually knew her uncle but I'm very happy she made this film as an homage to his talent and legacy. Its a labor of love and if you are at all interested in Warhol, the Factory or the 60's, I recommend this film fairly highly.

In this movie, some relatives of a minor flunky at Andy Warhol's Factory try to imply that Warhol was somehow responsible for the guy's disappearance hundreds of miles away in the middle of nowhere.

It gives a strong impression (but doesn't say) that the relatives first tried extorting money from Warhol's estate and only decided to make this smear movie when that attempt failed. This attempt should fail too, joining the missing flunky in well-deserved obscurity.

I gave it two stars only because it's slightly amusing that the guy's relatives would have the gall to do something so monumentally and so brazenly stupid. Warhol was a neurotic, talentless jerk, but if he or any of his gang took the trouble to murder a nobody like Danny Williams then pigs can fly and George W Bush is a genius. This movie is toxic garbage.