ROAD TO PERDITION (DVD)

Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime film directed by Sam Mendes. The screenplay was adapted by David Self from the graphic novel of the same name written by Max Allan Collins and illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner. The film stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman (in his final live-action theatrical film acting role), Jude Law, and Daniel Craig. The plot takes place in 1931, during the Great Depression, following a mob enforcer and his son as they seek vengeance against a mobster who murdered the rest of their family.

Filming took place in the Chicago area. Mendes, having recently finished 1999 s acclaimed American Beauty, pursued a story that had minimal dialogue and conveyed emotion in the imagery. Cinematographer Conrad L. Hall took advantage of the environment to create symbolism for the film, for which he won several awards, including a posthumous Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film explores several themes, including the consequence of violence and father-son relationships.

Road to Perdition was released on July 12, 2002, and eventually grossed over $181 million worldwide. The film was well received by critics, who mainly praised the direction and visuals, performances (particularly of Hanks, Newman, and Law), cinematography, themes and setting. In addition to Hall s win for cinematography, the film earned five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Newman.

Plot

The film begins and ends in 1931 during the Great Depression with a voiceover from Michael Sullivan, Jr., speaking about his father. Michael Sullivan, Sr. was orphaned and then raised by Irish mob boss John Rooney in Rock Island, Illinois; he is now Rooney s most fearsome enforcer, unknown to his own children. Rooney has come to love Sullivan more than his own biological son, the rash and unpredictable Connor.

Speaking at his brother s wake, Rooney s associate Finn McGovern insinuates that Rooney is responsible for his brother s death. Rooney sends Connor and Sullivan to talk with McGovern, while 12-year-old Michael watches through a hole in the wall, after hiding in the back of the family car. McGovern steadfastly denies that his brother stole anything from the mob before implying Connor was responsible, and Connor shoots him on the spot before Sullivan shoots the other witnesses. Michael is detected and sworn to secrecy.

The next day, Rooney visits the house to intimidate the boy, and Michael soon begins acting out at school. At a meeting with his mob associates, Rooney pointedly humiliates Connor after he halfheartedly apologizes for McGovern s murder. Then he sends Sullivan to collect a debt from a speakeasy owner Tony Calvino.

Connor, jealous and afraid, sends a letter with Sullivan for Calvino. Calvino reads it then reaches for his revolver, but Sullivan kills both Calvino and his bodyguard. The letter reads Kill Sullivan and all debts are paid, and he rushes home. When he arrives he discovers Connor has already murdered his wife, Annie, and their younger son, Peter, but not Michael, who had arrived home late from detention.

Sullivan and Michael flee Rock Island and head to Chicago to meet Frank Nitti. He offers to work for the Chicago Outfit in exchange for permission to kill Connor, but Nitti rejects the offer. Rooney, listening next door with Connor, reluctantly allows Nitti to dispatch freelance killer Harlen Maguire, who doubles as a crime scene photographer, to kill Sullivan. Nitti suggests Michael must be killed as well to prevent him seeking revenge in the future, but Rooney refuses. However, Nitti secretly orders Maguire to kill Michael as well. Maguire tracks Sullivan to a roadside diner. The two meet and have a seemingly casual conversation while Michael hides in the car. Intuiting the danger, Sullivan escapes the diner through the bathroom window and slashes Maguire s tires before driving away.

Sullivan now plots to force the Outfit to give up Connor by robbing the banks that hold its money. He teaches Michael to drive in order to become their getaway driver. Sullivan is impeded when the mob withdraws its money, so he visits Rooney s accountant Alexander Rance. Rance stalls Sullivan until Maguire enters with a shotgun, killing Rance while Sullivan escapes with Rooney s ledgers. However, during the escape, Maguire shoots Sullivan in the arm.

Michael drives them to a farm after Sullivan collapses from his wound, where an elderly childless couple helps him recover. Sullivan s bond with his son grows and Michael comes to realize his father loves him.

The ledgers reveal that Connor has been embezzling from his father for years, using the names of dead men including McGovern. Believing Rooney will call off the hit on him if he knows the truth, Sullivan gifts the couple a chunk of the stolen cash and heads back to Chicago.

Sullivan confronts Rooney at Mass, learning Rooney already knows about Connor and expects he will be killed – if not by Sullivan, then by Nitti s men once Rooney is dead. He still refuses to give up his son and urges Sullivan to flee with Michael and ensure he becomes a better man than either of them.

Later one night, cloaked by darkness and rain, Sullivan ambushes and kills Rooney s bodyguards with a Thompson submachine gun before walking up to Rooney, who looks him in the eye and says, I m glad it s you, as Sullivan shoots him at point-blank range. Having no further reasons to protect Connor now that Rooney is dead, Nitti reveals Connor s location after Sullivan promises the feud ends with his death. Sullivan goes to the hotel where Connor is hiding and kills him in the bathtub.

Sullivan takes his son to his Aunt Sarah s beach house in Perdition, on the shore of Lake Michigan, where he is ambushed and shot by Maguire inside the house as Michael stands on the beach. As Maguire photographs the dying Sullivan, Michael appears and points a gun at Maguire but cannot bring himself to pull the trigger. As Maguire beckons to Michael to give him the gun, Sullivan fatally shoots Maguire. Sullivan tells his son he knew he couldn t do it before dying in his arms.

Michael says his father s fear was that he would follow the same road, and that he has not held a gun since his father died. Michael drives the car back to the farm, saying he grew up there, and now when he is asked if his father was a good man, he just tells them, He was my father.

Cast

• Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan
• Tyler Hoechlin as Michael Sullivan Jr.
• Paul Newman as John Rooney (based on John Patrick Looney)
• Jude Law as Harlen Maguire
• Daniel Craig as Connor Rooney
• Stanley Tucci as Frank Nitti
• Jennifer Jason Leigh as Annie Sullivan
• Liam Aiken as Peter Sullivan
• Dylan Baker as Alexander Rance
• Ciarán Hinds as Finn McGovern
• David Darlow as Jack Kelly
• Kerry Rossall as Rooney s Henchman (uncredited)
• Anthony LaPaglia as Al Capone (uncredited)
• Kevin Chamberlin as Frank the Bouncer
• Harry Groener as Mr. McDougal
• JoBe Cerny as Banker (as Jobe Cerny)

Production

Development

When Max Allan Collins wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition, his book agent saw potential in the story as a film adaptation and showed it to a film agent. By 1999, the novel had reached Dean Zanuck, who was the vice president of development at the company owned by his father, producer Richard D. Zanuck. The novel was sent to the elder Zanuck in Morocco, who was there producing Rules of Engagement (2000). The Zanucks agreed on the story s prospect and sent it to director-producer Steven Spielberg. Shortly afterward, Spielberg set up the project at his studio DreamWorks, though he did not pursue direction of the film due to his full slate.

Mendes sought a new project after completing American Beauty (1999) and explored prospects including A Beautiful Mind, K-PAX, The Shipping News, and The Lookout. DreamWorks sent Mendes Road to Perdition as a prospect, and Mendes was attracted to the story, considering it narratively very simple, but thematically very complex . He specified one theme being the parents world is inaccessible to their children. Mendes considered the story s theme to be about how children deal with violence, and whether exposure to violence would render children violent themselves. Mendes described the script as having no moral absolutes , a factor that appealed to the director.

Writing

Spielberg first contacted screenwriter David Self to adapt the story into a feature film. Self wrote an initial draft that remained close to the source material and retained most of its dialogue. The screenplay was then rewritten by uncredited writers, distancing the script from the graphic novel and leaving the core elements of the story. Some of the harsher aspects of the story were toned down as the script became more streamlined; for example, in some early drafts of the screenplay, Sullivan became an alcoholic, but this element was ultimately absent from the final version.

The story itself is deeply informed by the Lone Wolf and Cub manga series. Novelist Max Allan Collins acknowledged the influence of Lone Wolf and Cub on his graphic novel Road to Perdition in an interview to the BBC, declaring that Road To Perdition is an unabashed homage to Lone Wolf and Cub .

Some of the characters names were slightly changed from their original versions from the graphic novel: the surname of the real-life gangsters John Looney and his son Connor were changed to Rooney, and the surname of Tom Hanks character and his family was streamlined from the original O Sullivan to simply Sullivan. One significant addition to the script was the creation of Maguire to provide a persistent element of pursuit to the Sullivans departure from the old world.

Hanks and cinematographer Conrad Hall requested Mendes to limit violence in the film to meaningful acts, rather than gratuitous carnage. Hanks character, Michael Sullivan, is known as The Angel of Death in the graphic novel and invokes fear in those around him, but his infamy is downplayed in the film. Mendes, who described the graphic novel as much more pulpy , sought to reduce the graphic novel s background to its essence, seeking the nonverbal simplicity of films like Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), and films by Akira Kurosawa that lack dialogue. Duplicate language in characters confrontations in Road to Perdition was trimmed to the absolute minimum. Mendes described Road to Perdition as a poetic, elegiac story, in which the pictures tell the story . An example of one such unspoken scene in the film was the piano duet between Rooney and Michael Sr., intended to convey their relationship without words. In the final 20 minutes of Road to Perdition, the script was written to have only six lines of dialogue.

Max Allan Collins originally wanted to write the adapted screenplay, but was not given the opportunity. He chose to stay out of the scripting process out of respect for the different style of writing for a different medium, though he served as a consultant in the process. Collins praised the addition of Maguire and considered the minimalist use of dialogue to be appropriate. The author also applauded the film s version of Rooney as more overtly a father figure to Sullivan.

Collins opposed the profanity in the script, as the vulgar language did not fit his vision of the 1930s. He also contested the path of Sullivan s son in the film. In the graphic novel, the son kills once, and in the film, he does not kill anyone. Collins also disagreed with the narration technique of the film. In the novel, the son narrates the story as an adult, becoming a priest, while in the film, he narrates while still a young boy.

Casting

Tom Hanks was sent a copy of the graphic novel by Steven Spielberg while he was filming Cast Away. Initially too busy to make sense of the story, he later received David Self s adapted screenplay, to which he became attached. Hanks, a father to four children, described Michael Sullivan s role, I just got this guy. If you re a man, and you ve got offspring ... emotionally, it s devastating.

Tyler Hoechlin was chosen from over 2,000 candidates to portray Michael Sullivan s son. The actor was 14 years old at the time of filming. For scenes in which Hoechlin s character assisted his father as a getaway driver, Hoechlin was trained by a driving instructor.

Paul Newman was unanimously the first choice for the role of John Rooney. The actor prepared by requesting Frank McCourt, the Irish-American author of Angela s Ashes, to record a tape of his voice.

David Self, who created the Maguire character, explained, He gets so jaded from exposure to this world, he steps over the line from being the storyteller to being the story maker. To capture the seedy countenance of the character, Jude Law was given a sallow skin tone that reflected the wear from working in a darkroom. Law s teeth also received a lower gumline and had a rotted look. He was also given a weak, thinning hairline. Maguire s apartment also displays a collection of photographs of dead bodies, some of them actual police stills from the 1930s.

Stanley Tucci was selective about roles in gangster films, believing that Hollywood stereotyped Italian-Americans as gangsters. However, attracted by the prospect of working with Mendes, the actor accepted the role of Nitti, a real-life Mob boss from Chicago.

Anthony LaPaglia was cast as Al Capone and filmed a single scene, which was omitted from the final cut, and can be found in the DVD s deleted scenes. Mendes believed that Capone was more menacing as an unseen presence. Actor Alfred Molina was approached to portray Capone, but Molina was forced to turn the role down due to scheduling conflicts with Frida (2002).

Filming

Mendes sought to produce a period film that would avoid clichés in the gangster genre. He chose to film Road to Perdition on location in Chicago, IL including downtown at the University Club of Chicago, the Chicago neighborhood of Pullman, the Charles G. Dawes House in Evanston, Illinois, as well as the far west Chicago suburb of Geneva, Illinois. General Jones Armory, the state s largest location mainstay which houses units of the Illinois National Guard, was provided to the studio by the Illinois State Film Commission. Sets were built inside the armory, including interiors of the Sullivan family s home and the Rooney mansion. The availability of an inside location provided the crew complete control over the lighting environment, which was established with the rigging of scaffoldings.

Atmospherically, the landscape is a violent and magnificent canvas on which is told a mythic story of a father and son in the last period of lawlessness in American history.

Sam Mendes

Mendes collaborated with costume designer Albert Wolsky, production designer Dennis Gassner, and cinematographer Conrad Hall to design the film s style. Wolsky designed costumes that were very controlled, with soft outlines and very soft silhouettes . Gassner built sets that could capture the cold look of the era. Mendes sought a muted palette for the film, having dark backgrounds and sets with dark, muted greens and grays. Mendes filmed Road to Perdition using the Super 35 format.

The director filmed exterior scenes in Illinois in the winter and the spring of 2001, using real weather conditions such as snow, rain, and mud for the scenes. Mendes considered the usage of bleak weather conditions and the intended coldness of Gassner s exterior locations to define the characters emotional states. Pullman became a key location to reflect this theme, having several settings, including the town s historic Florence Hotel, easily redressed by the crew for the film. Filming concluded in June 2001.

Cinematography

To establish the lighting of scenes in Road to Perdition, Mendes drew from the paintings of Edward Hopper as a source of inspiration, particularly Hopper s New York Movie (1939). Mendes and cinematographer Conrad Hall sought to convey similar atmospheric lighting for the film s scenes, applying a less is more mantra. Hall also shot at wide apertures that retained one point in the depth of field sharply focused. Hall considered the technique to provide an emotional dimension to the scenes. The cinematographer also used unconventional techniques and materials to create unique lighting effects. One of Hall s methods was to use black silk in daylight exterior scenes to filter the light enough to create an in-shade look.

Hall purposely distanced the camera from Hanks character, Michael Sullivan Sr., at the beginning of the film to establish the perspective of Sullivan s son, who is unaware of his father s true nature. Hanks s character was filmed as partially obscured and seen through doorways, and his entrances and exits took place in shadows. A wide lens was used to maintain a distance from the character.

Shots in the film were drawn directly from panels in the graphic novel, illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner. An instance of the direct influence is the scene in which Michael Jr. looks up at the Chicago skyline from the vehicle, with the skyline reflected in the vehicle s glass.

A seamless 40-second driving scene, in which Michael Sullivan and his son travel into Chicago from the countryside, was aided by visual effects. The live-action part of the scene was filmed at LaSalle Street, and due to the lack of scenery for part of the drive down LaSalle Street, the background of Balbo Drive was included with the use of visual effects.

Music

See Road to Perdition (soundtrack)

Themes

Consequences of violence

important, in this story, is what the violence does to the person who pulls the trigger, and what it has done to them over the years, how it has gradually corroded them. It has rotted their insides.

Sam Mendes

The film s title, Road to Perdition, is both Michael Sullivan and his son s destination town and a euphemism for Hell, a road that Sullivan desires to prevent his son from traveling. Sullivan, who chooses his violent path early on in life, considers himself irredeemable and seeks to save his son from a similar fate. Said Mendes, is in a battle for the soul of his son. Can a man who has led a bad life achieve redemption through his child? Hanks described Sullivan as a man who achieved a comfortable status through violent means, whose likely repercussions he ignored. Sullivan is a good father and husband, but also has a job that requires him to be a violent killer. The film explores this paradoxical dichotomy. When Sullivan is faced with the consequences, Hanks says, At the moment we re dropped into the story, it is literally the last day of that false perspective. To keep Sullivan from justifying his violent actions in the film, Mendes omitted scenes in the final cut that had Sullivan explaining his background to his son.

In the film, most of the numerous acts of violence are committed off-screen. The violent acts were also designed to be quick, reflecting the actual speed of violence in the real world. The focus was not on the direct victims of the perpetuated violence, but the impact of violence on the perpetrators or witnesses to the act.

Fathers and sons

The film also explores father-son relationships between Michael Sullivan and his son, Sullivan and his boss, John Rooney, and between Rooney and his son Connor. Sullivan simultaneously idolizes and fears Rooney, and Sullivan s son feels the same about his own father. Rooney s son, Connor, has none of Sullivan s redeeming qualities, and Rooney is conflicted about whom to protect: his biological son or his surrogate son. Connor is jealous of his father s relationship with Sullivan, which fuels his actions, ultimately causing a domino effect that drives the film.

Because Sullivan shields his background from his son, his attempt to preserve the father-son relationship is actually harmful. Tragedy brings Sullivan and his son together. Sullivan escapes from the old world with his son, and the boy finds an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with his father. Tyler Hoechlin, who portrayed Michael Jr., explained, His dad starts to realize that Michael is all he has now and how much he s been missing. I think the journey is of a father and son getting to know each other, and also finding out who they themselves are.

Water

Water served as a motif in the film. It was developed after researching the wake scene at the beginning of the film informed the director that corpses were kept on ice in the 1930s to keep bodies from decomposing. The notion was interwoven into the film, which linked the presence of water with death. Mendes reflected on the theme, The linking of water with death ... speaks of the mutability of water and links it to the uncontrollability of fate. These are things that humans can t control.

Release

With filming concluding in June 2001, the studio intended a United States release for the following Christmas. However, in September 2001, Mendes requested more time. It was rescheduled for release on July 12, 2002, an unconventional move that placed the drama among the action-oriented summer films.

Reception

Box office

Road to Perdition opened in 1,798 theaters in its debut weekend, competing against several other new releases including Reign of Fire, Halloween: Resurrection and The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. It ended up grossing $22.1 million, placing second to holdover Men in Black II. It eventually grossed $104.5 million in the United States and $76.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $181 million.

Critical response

Road to Perdition received positive reviews from critics, with Conrad L. Hall s cinematography, the production design, and the lead performances of Hanks and Newman being praised. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 81% based on 216 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site s critical consensus reads, Somber, stately, and beautifully mounted, Sam Mendes Road to Perdition is a well-crafted mob movie that explores the ties between fathers and sons. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B+ on an A+ to F scale.

Reviewer James Berardinelli, on his own ReelViews web site, praised Road to Perdition for its atmosphere and visuals, but he considered an emotional attachment to be lacking except for Sullivan s son. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised Hall s cinematography and the thematic use of water. He, too, felt an emotional detachment from the characters, saying, I knew I admired it, but I didn t know if I liked it ... It is cold and holds us outside.

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution enjoyed the film s cinematography and Depression-era setting, as well as the performances of Hanks and Newman. Gillespie expressed the wish that the film lasted a little longer to explore its emotional core further. Eric Harrison of the Houston Chronicle considered Road to Perdition the most brilliant work in this genre since the uncut Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Harrison considered Self s script so finely honed that the story can change directions in a heartbeat.

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised Hanks, Newman, and Craig but called Law s performance almost cartoonish . Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also complimented Hanks and Newman: act together with the confidence of titans, their talents in the service of character, never star ego. Travers cited Hall s breathtaking cinematography and composer Thomas Newman s evocative score.

Paul Clinton of CNN said: While these deeply human issues are touched upon, they re never fully explored, and that undermines the sense of greatness to which this movie obviously aspires . Clinton considered Craig s character one-dimensional to the extreme . He found the cinematography too overpowering for the film s storyline, which he considered weak . J. Hoberman of The Village Voice described the film as grim yet soppy. He added: The action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed. Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post thought that the script lost its path when Sullivan and his son fled their old life.

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipient	Result
Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Paul Newman	Nominated
	Best Art Direction	Dennis Gassner and Nancy Haigh	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Conrad L. Hall (posthumous)	Won
	Best Original Score	Thomas Newman	Nominated
	Best Sound	Scott Millan, Bob Beemer and John Pritchett	Nominated
	Best Sound Editing	Scott Hecker	Nominated
British Academy Film Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Paul Newman	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Conrad Hall (posthumous)	Won
	Best Production Design	Dennis Gassner	Won
Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture	Paul Newman	Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography	Conrad Hall (posthumous)	Won
Critics Choice Movie Awards	Top 10 Films		5th place
	Best Picture		Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Paul Newman	Nominated
	Best Young Performer	Tyler Hoechlin	Nominated
Saturn Awards	Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film		Won
	Best Young Actor	Tyler Hoechlin	Won

In April 2006, Empire recognized Road to Perdition as No. 6 on its list of the top 20 comic book films.

Home media

Max Allan Collins, who authored the graphic novel, was hired to write the novelization for the film adaptation. Collins initially turned in a draft that contained 90,000 words, but the licensing at DreamWorks required the author to use only the dialogue from the film and no additional dialogue. Collins reluctantly edited the novelization down to 50,000 words and later said he regretted taking on the task. In 2016, Brash Books published Collins original version of the novelization as Road to Perdition: The New, Expanded Edition

Road to Perdition was released on DVD on February 25, 2003, in both full screen and anamorphic widescreen versions. The DVD s features included an audio commentary, deleted scenes, an HBO Making of documentary, and a photo gallery. Work on the DVD began on the same day the film s production began, and a collaborative effort among the director, the studio, and the DVD production crew shaped the DVD s content. Due to a limit of space on the DVD, the film s deleted scenes were chosen over a DTS soundtrack. Instead, the DVD included a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. A special edition DVD containing both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks was also released, excluding the Making of documentary to fit both soundtracks.

Road to Perdition was released on Blu-ray Disc on August 3, 2010, featuring a widescreen transfer, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, and all of the features from the DVD release.

Condition

New

Age Group

Adult

Rating MPA

Not Rated

Format

DVD

Brand

Paramount – Uni Dist Corp

Amazon ASIN

B00384Q770

UPC / EAN

678149014723

Size

7.5" x 5.25" x .50"

Year

2002

ReleaseDate

2002-07-12

RuntimeMins

117

RuntimeStr

1h 57min

Awards

Won 1 Oscar, 23 wins & 82 nominations total

Directors

Sam Mendes

Writers

Max Allan Collins, Richard Piers Rayner, David Self

Stars

Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Rob Maxey

Produced by

Joan Bradshaw, Tara B. Cook, Cherylanne Martin, Sam Mendes, Walter F. Parkes, Dean Zanuck, Richard D. Zanuck

Music by

Thomas Newman

Cinematography by

Conrad L. Hall

Film Editing by

Jill Bilcock

Casting By

Debra Zane

Production Design by

Dennis Gassner

Art Direction by

Richard L. Johnson

Set Decoration by

Nancy Haigh

Costume Design by

Albert Wolsky

Makeup Department

Audrey L. Anzures, Kathryn Blondell, Linda Rizzuto, Ron Snyder, Daniel C. Striepeke, Kathe Swanson, Linda Boykin-Williams, Aimee Lippert, Tony Mirante, Suzi Ostos

Production Management

Erica Frauman, Michael J. Malone, Cherylanne Martin

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Steve Battaglia, Doug Coleman, K.C. Hodenfield, Jeff Okabayashi, Richard S. Lederer

Art Department

Paige Augustine, Steven Lee Baer, Chris Baker, Thomas E. Brown, Tony Chance, Daniel B. Clancy, Scott Edward Collins, John 'Whitey' Crisman, Chris Cummings, James M. Davis, Guillaume DeLouche, Jeff Dieter, Jann K. Engel, Tom Gagnon, Scott Getzinger, Michael D. Gianneschi, Ted Haigh, Doug Harlocker, Aaron C. Holden Jr., Larry Laurent, Leslie 'Tinker' Linville, Blake E. Matthys, Cyril H. Matthys, Quentin Matthys, Thomas Minton, Larry Misselhorn, Robert Bruce Myers, Jon Nicholson, Benjamin Nowicki, Troy Osman, Jeff Passanante, William Patterson, Bill Phillips, Walter J. Piers, Joel Prihoda, Thomas J. Ridgen, Kerry Sanders, Henry Schaub, David Tennenbaum, Scott Troha, Daryl Ziemke, Richard F. Anderson, Phillip Ellman, Anthony Joseph Fatigato, Thomas J. Glynn, Mike Monckton, Michael Mosley, Tom Osman, Tyler Osman, Rocco Francesco Paolone, John H. Schulz, John J. Slove Jr., Mark Sparks, Mike Villarino, Mark Weissenfluh

Sound Department

Bill Banyai, Benjamin Beardwood, Bob Beemer, Lane Burch, Carmen Flores De Tanis, Matthew Dettmann, Joe Dorn, Rickley W. Dumm, John P. Fasal, Gary A. Hecker, Scott Hecker, Jason W. Jennings, Kenneth L. Johnson, Gary Lewis, Howard London, Scott Millan, Eric A. Norris, Mark Pappas, Fred Peck III, John Pritchett, David M. Roberts, David Stanke, Bruce Tanis, David Weisberg, Ronald L. Wright, Larry Hopkins, Todd Niesen, Andy Potvin, John Soukup, Mike Wood, Ronald L. Wright

Special Effects by

William Dambra, Edward Gettis, Allen Hall, Matthew Hall, Gary L. Karas, John D. Milinac, John Rigden, Frank Toro, John Cluff, Ryan Evans, Thomas Kittle, Chris Peterson, Michael Petrucci, Rob Yale

Visual Effects by

Matthew Adams, Ted Andre, Lynn Basas, Paul Clemente, Kyle DeVriendt, Michael L. Fink, Paul Howarth, Krystine Lankenau, David Lingenfelser, Michael J. McAlister, Dante Quintana, Sean Rourke, Tiffany Smith Llorens, Arthur Sutherland, Tracy Takahashi, Jonathan Alvord, Jeffrey Edward Baksinski, Dennis Hoffman, Andrew Hofman, Fred Jimenez, Kevin LaNeave, Vincent Lavares, Simon J.H. Smith

Stunts

Joey Box, Frank P. Calzavara, Doug Coleman, Darrell Davis, James Fierro, Billy Judkins, Rick LeFevour, Tom Lowell, James R. Mammoser, Bob Marrocco, Allen Robinson, Kerry Rossall, Rick Shuster, Kevin Sorensen, Fred Thorne, Rich Wilkie, Daniel W. Barringer, Kim Kahana Jr., Chris Palermo, Allen Robinson, Shirley Smrz

Camera and Electrical Department

Kelly R. Borisy, Cortland Boyd, Clyde E. Bryan, Vince Cordero, François Duhamel, Ross Dunkerley, Adam Fogelson, Fred Folmer, Christopher Glasgow, Jack Glenn, Chris Glomp, David Golia, James Hartnett, Matthew Haskins, Mauriece Jacks Jr., Jason Johnson, Gerald A. King, Robert Krzeminski, John Lacy, Kevin J. Lanke, Joseph M. Lyons, Glen Purdy, James F. Roorda, P. Scott Sakamoto, Kory Salajka, Mike Schwake, Tom Stern, Jason Storandt, Rick Thomas, Suzanne Trucks, Bill Young, Kevin Bassett, Chris Buzek, Mark Castelaz, Kelly Diehl, Curtis Failor, Matthew Haskins, Timothy Jipping, Brian Paul Kelly, Donna McLain, Les Nagy, Vasco Nunes, Terry O'Deen, Richard Sobin

Casting Department

Judith Bouley, Leslee Feldman, Tom Gustafson, Barbara Harris, Mickie Paskal, Terri Taylor, Rachel Tenner, Pamela Lynn Thomas, Jamie Biehl, Kendra Carter, Stephanie Glazer, Liz Goldsmith, Kevin Vargus

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Patrick Caulfield, Marcy Grace Froehlich, Laurel Frushour, Gretchen Gain, Jennifer Jobst, Susan Kowarsh, Robert Q. Mathews, Heather Pollock, Eva Prappas, Kenn Smiley, Jane Blank, Gordana Golubovich, Sukari McGill, Gina Panno, Damien Quinn

Editorial Department

Gary Burritt, Martin Cohen, Sven E. Fahlgren, Celia Haining, Phil Hetos, Lea Morement, Aaron Richmond, Dan Schalk, Jennifer Stellema, Alejandro Valdes-Rochin, W. Kale Whorton

Location Management

Stephen Andrzejewski, Brady Breen, Steve Cudzilo, Demetra Diamantopoulos, Wileen Dragovan, Tim Hillman, Martin L. Hudson, James R. McAllister, Maria C. Roxas, John David Wolfe, Melanie Cassidy, Kristin Dehnert, Carrie Goodman, Todd Havern, Brian S. Kalata, Martha Lafage, John Wolfe

Music Department

Bill Bernstein, Julian Bratolyubov, George Budd, Todd Homme, Thomas Pasatieri, Armin Steiner, Chris Tedesco, Thomas Vicari, John M. Williams, Michael Zainer, Julie Butchko, Thomas Cavanaugh, George Doering, Mark Eshelman, Sean M. Hickey, Jason Lloyd, Stephanie Murray, Thomas Newman, John Rodd, Chas Smith, Pat Weber, Paul Wertheimer

Script and Continuity Department

Larry Leahy, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, Steven Zaillian

Transportation Department

Bud Belyeu, Robert Dulys, George Hartmann, James Hogan, Robert Neilson, Armand Paoletti, Joseph Paoletti, Jason Sanders, Ed Wirth, Linda Barnes, Pat Carman, Bernard Glavin, Roger Halvorsen, Kurt Knudsen, Robert Wallace

Additional Crew

Stacy Adamski, Brenda Berrisford, Amanda Brand, Chris Castaldi, Michael Clossin, Renee D. Czarapata, James D'Damery Jr., Orbert Davis, Maria DeVane, Katherine Ferraro, Nate Flansburgh, Peter Friedlander, Karen Garlich, Dhana Gilbert, Joyce Green, Russell Green, Kurt Greufe, Michael Grillo, Melanie Holloway, Mark Howard, Joy Johnson, C. David Jones, Kyoko Kageyama, John Karalous, Renee Kitterman, Ross L. Kulma, Adria Later, Jill S. Litwin, Michael B. Louis, Brian Lunt, Kathryn Madden, David Malley, Alicia Marotto, Larry McCaffrey, Harrison McEldowney, Amy McKenzie, Carla Meyer, Kathryn Mindala, Steven R. Molen, Leslie Morris, Darice O'Mara, Rosemary Orlando, Christine Pawlowski, Ruth Pollock, Alicia C. Pritchett, Gabriela Rios, Chad Rohrback, Chris Romberg, Jennifer Sanger, Ryan Suffern, Lloyd Thomas, Tyler Thornberg, Jim Turner, Hayley Williams, Glenn Williamson, Chris Arrington, Kevin Bassett, James Currie, Kevin Du Toit, Bradley Grant, Patrick Gregston, Peter Hansen, Susan Hartmann, Matt Hickey, Matthew Jewett, Michael Judd, Warner Loughlin, Harry Lu, Eric Mattson, Justin Miedwig, Heather Sharpe, Mark N. Woods, Ryan Worrell

Thanks

Conrad L. Hall, Anthony LaPaglia

Genres

Crime, Drama, Thriller

Companies

Dreamworks Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, The Zanuck Company

Countries

USA

Languages

English

ContentRating

R

ImDbRating

7.7

ImDb Rating Votes

267364

Metacritic Rating

72

Short Description

Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime film directed by Sam Mendes. The screenplay was adapted by David Self from the graphic novel of the same name written by Max Allan Collins and illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner. The film stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman (in his final live-action theatrical film acting role), Jude Law, and Daniel Craig. The plot takes place in 1931, during the Great Depression, following a mob enforcer and his son as they seek vengeance against a mobster who murdered the rest of their family.

Filming took place in the Chicago area. Mendes, having recently finished 1999 s acclaimed American Beauty, pursued a story that had minimal dialogue and conveyed emotion in the imagery. Cinematographer Conrad L. Hall took advantage of the environment to create symbolism for the film, for which he won several awards, including a posthumous Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film explores several themes, including the consequence of violence and father-son relationships.

Road to Perdition was released on July 12, 2002, and eventually grossed over $181 million worldwide. The film was well received by critics, who mainly praised the direction and visuals, performances (particularly of Hanks, Newman, and Law), cinematography, themes and setting. In addition to Hall s win for cinematography, the film earned five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Newman.

Box Office Budget

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$22,079,481

Box Office Gross USA

$104,454,762

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$181,001,478

Keywords

Based on comic book,dog,bicycle,assassin,murder