March 31, 1943, Ronald Walken came into this world. As time went by, this baker's son became a son and dance man and an actor, as well as briefly working as a lion tamer. He also adopted the working name Christopher Walken, and he has set the world ablaze. From his Oscar winning role in The Deer Hunter, to the myriad of oddball characters that he has mastered on screen, Christopher Walken has been an icon for more than twenty years.

Perhaps the most important thing that Walken has given us all is the Walken imitation. Arguably, Walken has been doing imitations of himself for years, especially on Saturday Night Live, where he has ramped up his mannerisms to the max with amazing effect. SNL has used the fact that Walken was the second choice for Han Solo to let Kevin Spacey do his brilliant Walken in a screen test. Jay Mohr, another SNL alumni, has made a living off his Walken. Kevin Pollack has done his Walken on a half-dozen different TV specials. Everybody has a Walken, so it's not surprising that someone made a short film about the phenomena.

Director Philip Zlotorynski made a brilliant little piece of reverential comedy with Walkentalk, a short that is currently making the rounds at various festivals. The theory is this: there is a real condition called walkenitis (aka the Walken Bug, Walken Syndrome, Walken Addicition) that is caused, innocently enough, by watching Walken movies or SNL. This affects the individual with the irrepressible need to talk like Walken in an effort to truly understand what it is that makes him that way. This is all explained on the Walkentalk website and it makes the short a little easier to understand.

The short itself opens with Chris (played by Neil Hopkins) dancing around his kitchen in a reference to Walken's Weapon of Choice video, as well as his song and dance numbers from SNL. Eventually, he goes off to dinner with his brother, played by Jason Cole, to meet his bro's new girlfriend.

As soon as they meet, Hopkins unleashes one of the best Walkens on the planet, falling right next to Kevin Spacey, and probably more realistic than Mohr's. Every line he says is straight from a Walken film. From the best know (Pulp Fiction, Annie Hall, Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult) to rather obscure (Communion, for one), Hopkins delivers them all with a brilliantly placed sense of truth, always trying to make them seem like they are real reactions to the events going on around them. At worst, the gimmick could come off like a cheap and easy improve game, but Hopkins makes it seem real.

The interplay between Chris and his brother's girlfriend, played by Marisa O'Brien, is wonderful, especially when Chris jumps into the sleazy Walken lines. The whole thing sort of spirals, but it's great to watch.

Christopher Walken is our Charlie Chaplin: everybody does and imitation and if he were to enter a contest against the best imitators, he'd probably lose. Still, he has inspired comedy and a great short film. Happy Birthday, Chris. Yeah…that's all.

Chris Garcia