The movie The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters from 2007 is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. It was a Rocky-like inspirational story of an underdog (Steve Weibe) going up against a cocky, mullet-sporting king of hot sauce and retro video games (Billy Mitchell) for the record of one of the toughest games ever, Donkey Kong. Walter Day was in the middle of it all as the pinstriped-wearing referee, but he’s always had larger aspirations.
The new documentary Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad of Walter Day, directed by Ed Cunningham, is about Walter Day, at the age of 74, finally pursuing his musical dreams. He had a break-up that broke his heart with a lady named Shane Harris nearly forty years ago, and ever since then, Walter has had 138 songs playing in his head about love and loss.
On the surface, this is a very different film than The King of Kong, which was no mistake by Ed Cunningham because he had no desire to simply rehash what came before. Instead of the world of video games and competition, it’s a beautiful love story about another underdog who is finally following his dream after spending his entire life trying to prop up others. That last part is similar to the first protagonist, Steve Weibe’s story, who also makes an appearance since he is another aspiring musician who wants to encourage Day.
“…Walter Day at the ripe age of 74 finally pursuing his musical dreams.”
Walter is enamored with Taylor Swift as a singer/ songwriter and told his producer that he wants to record an opus in the vein of The Eagles meets Journey. This could all go sideways fast, except that Day has the chops as a talented songwriter and is taking lessons in the film to get the singing part down.
Billy Mitchell is still a large part of Walter’s life, and we see more of Mitchell’s softer, caring side this time. He’s there at every turn for Walter in both the big and small moments, which is a beautiful thing to see for someone who became such a notorious pop culture villain almost twenty years ago.
The other major topic of the film is that Walter sold his video game record organization, Twin Galaxies, to an influencer. The new owner then sued both Billy and Walter for millions of dollars, alleging that they cheated on Billy’s scores and trying to use the first documentary as evidence. Billy Mitchell Jr., who is in the military, helps to encourage Walter to stay strong with his court case.
The grand finale of Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad of Walter Day shows Walter in a pivotal life moment when he has a concert in front of his friends and ex-girlfriend Shane. It is the emotional heartbeat of the documentary. You can feel the care that loved ones such as Billy, Steve Sanders (also from the first documentary), and, most importantly, Shane has for the nice, quirky guy who never caught any big breaks in his own life up until this point.
Day, who is normally a confident public speaker, starts out his concert on very shaky vocal ground. It’s quite normal for a 74-year-old who is singing in public for the first time, and you can’t help but feel nervous for him as a viewer. It all comes together in such an emotionally satisfying way that will make you either tear up or want to cheer with a crowd. Love and following your dreams are what this life should be all about, and Walter Day will deny himself those aspirations no longer.
"…...will make you either tear up or want to cheer with a crowd."
