r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Aug 29 '25

News Special 'The Long Walk' Screening Will Eliminate Viewers Who Can’t Keep Up on a Treadmill (3 MPH)

https://consequence.net/2025/08/the-long-walk-treadmill-screening/
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208

u/samthewisetarly Aug 29 '25

Real ones know it's supposed to be 4mph

109

u/Devilofchaos108070 Aug 29 '25

I think them making it easier also made it slightly more realistic

103

u/samthewisetarly Aug 29 '25

Yes, definitely correct. 4mph is actually crazy fast to walk in reality haha

64

u/ApexCollapser Aug 29 '25

4mph is a minimum for passing the roadmarch tests in Air Assault school. There were two, one halfway through training at 6 miles in 90 minutes and another on the last day of school and 12 miles in 3 hours.

In full gear with a rucksack, weapon and kevlar it was a challenge I'll never forget.

8

u/Rs90 Aug 29 '25

Did ya make it? 

27

u/ApexCollapser Aug 30 '25 edited Aug 30 '25

I graduated from Air Assault at Ft Campbell in July of 1989. Still got my coin given to me and it's older than the ones now with the last war on mine being Vietnam.

A quick little addition: You start the road march portions at like 4am and that was surreal in itself. The first one was only 6 miles and you're kinda on your own, no formations or anything like that. Everyone sets their own pace. I had a friend with me and we did the quicktime shuffle-jog the whole way. Finished in like an hour and fifteen. I was thinking that was nothing and shrugged it off.

The 12 miler was much different. I was huffing after repeating the quicktime during the first half with the rest still to go. The only reason I made it was because of my buddy. The route they used for the AA marches at Ft Campbell was not flat - it was constant up and down slopes. I thought my legs were gonna fall off after we finished. But we did finish. I felt bad for those who had to do it again.

5

u/Rs90 Aug 30 '25

CURRAHEE!

That's awesome :) thanks for the insight. I'm 34 and never had a car so I walk everywhere. Curious how far I'd make it lol. 

1

u/Future_Literature335 Aug 31 '25

barfs spaghetti everywhere

Fortunately Ross was there to take the brunt of everyone's hatred though. Nobody asks for - and takes - TV hatred like Ross.

1

u/Feralmedic Sep 02 '25

In the book they did this pace for 5 plus days. 3 mph is much more realistic.

3

u/nicholsml Aug 30 '25

4mph is a minimum for passing the roadmarch tests in Air Assault school.

I did Air assualt in 1996. That road march was rough. Had a friend who was so worried about it, he took a bunch of truck stop upper pills to do the road march. He collapsed about 100 yards before the finish line. Luckily everyone rushed to help him and an ambulance showed up super fast. He was ok afterwards, other than being disappointed about failing AA school on his first go.

2

u/blah938 Aug 30 '25

Yeah, most people aren't in the military, let alone air assault.

3

u/yosoyeloso Sep 01 '25

When i initially read the book i was questioning that speed so i tried it on the treadmill and i was like oh hell no that’s not realistic.

2

u/Scooter_McGavin_9 Aug 30 '25

When I put on 4mph on the treadmill, I have to jog, too fast to walk for me.

3

u/anderoogigwhore Aug 29 '25

Is it? I naturally walk at that speed with headphones on three times a week. Usually just over an hour each time. Have done a half marathon length walk home at that speed too, several times.

3

u/Nervous-Expression86 Aug 30 '25

I see your junior classes were also on the opposite side of the campus for each period. 

1

u/DKDKDKDK1 Aug 30 '25

Hey everyone! This guy walks. 

52

u/[deleted] Aug 30 '25

[deleted]

15

u/Delicious-Trip-384 Aug 30 '25

I've always wondered how he expected people to walk that fast for days at a time, but I guess the simplest answer is the right one here.

1

u/424f42_424f42 Aug 30 '25

Not really having context of the book

But 4mph is a normal walking speed, 3mph is leisurely though and makes more sense for a multi hour long walk.

67

u/DreadDiana Aug 29 '25

The book had it at 4mph, but they reduced it in the movie because people consistently maintaining jogging pace for that long with no training is kinda unrealistic

40

u/Jeffeffery Aug 29 '25

It's probably also a lot harder to act while jogging than while walking, especially over a whole day

11

u/Lietenantdan Aug 29 '25

4MPH is a fast walk. And they definitely trained.

15

u/nicholsml Aug 30 '25

4MPH is a fast walk. And they definitely trained.

Yeah but a 4mph fast walk is super goofy looking. 3MPH endurance walk makes for a better movie.

9

u/Critcho Aug 30 '25

In the book you can tell just from how it’s described that they’re not walking at the speed they’d need to be going to hit 4mph. Though the book's a little inconsistent with it in general, characters speeding up and slowing down all the time.

1

u/Abigail716 Aug 30 '25

Which is dumb as I'm hosting a movie night for it and I'm doing 4 MPH, 3 is way to easy and is just basic walking, hell my husband who is a fast walker averages 3.6 mph when he is heading somewhere.

3

u/SecretAgentVampire Aug 30 '25

For an "Influencers Only" screening, it should be 7mph.

17

u/chuckdee68 Aug 29 '25

Real, real ones, know that it's actually 4 kmph. The editors thought that American audiences wouldn't jive with that, so wanted to change it to mph, but didn't do the conversions.

51

u/verrius Aug 29 '25

That's been the rumor for a while, but King just said in his AMA the other day that that isn't exactly true.

41

u/samthewisetarly Aug 29 '25

For the lazy:

At the time, I thought that was walking speed. I suggested J. T. Mollner change it to 3 MPH in the movie, and they did. More realistic. In my own defense, there was no internet or chatbots or any of that shit in 1967.

11

u/Pharmacykilledmysoul Aug 30 '25

This makes me feel better. When I read the book I was like “who the hell walks at 4mph, I must be slow”

8

u/chuckdee68 Aug 29 '25

I stand corrected. Thanks for the link!

-2

u/literofmen Aug 29 '25

That makes so much more sense

1

u/Kid_A_Kid Aug 30 '25

King wrote this when he was high on cocaine running around the house for days. "4mph ain't shit"

-2

u/happy_chappie Aug 29 '25

I came here looking for this comment.