Road to Perdition

Theatrical Release Date: 2002 07 12 (USA)

UPC: 678149014723

Studio: DreamWorks

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Adult Language]

Summary: The acclaimed graphic novel from crime writer Max Allan Collins becomes this big budget Dreamworks drama from director Sam Mendes and screenwriter David Self. Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan, a morally conflicted Depression-era hit man committing murder in the name of his employer, John Rooney (Paul Newman). A kindly, aging Irish crime boss who raised Sullivan as his surrogate son, Rooney is affiliated with Al Capone in Chicago and thus wields great power in the "Tri-Cities" of Moline, IL; Rock Island, IL; and Davenport, IA. Curious about his father's mysterious profession, Sullivan's son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), stows away in his father's automobile one night and witnesses the execution of a man at the hands of Sullivan and Rooney's biological son, Connor (Daniel Craig). Although Michael keeps his promise to remain silent about what he's seen, the paranoid and unstable Connor tries to wipe out the entire Sullivan clan anyway, succeeding only in killing Sullivan's wife, Annie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and youngest son, Peter (Liam Aiken). Enraged at this and another surprise betrayal by the Rooneys, Sullivan embarks on a path of bloody retribution, Michael in tow. Although he intends to leave his boy with relatives in the rural town of Perdition once the coast is clear, he ends up exposing Michael to the goriest aspects of his talents, slaughtering former associates as he dodges contract assassin Maguire (Jude Law) and cripples the cash flow of the Rooney and Capone organizations through a series of bank robberies, attempting to force either mob family to offer up the sequestered Connor as a sacrifice. Inspired by the popular Japanese comic book series Lone Wolf and Cub and based loosely on an episode from the life and career of notorious real-life crime figures John and Connor Looney, Road to Perdition co-stars Stanley Tucci as legendary Chicago mobster Frank Nitti. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Category: Crime

Awards: Best Cinematography (Runner-up) – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Young Performer – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – null Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor [Runner-up] – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Young Actor/Actress – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Cinematography – American Society of Cinematographers Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association

Features: Deleted scenes
HBO's making of documentary
Feature commentary with director Sam Mendes
Production notes
Photo gallery

Road to Perdition

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 02/25/2003

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 117 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: Spanish,French,English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. The Winter of 1931 [6:19]
2. The Wake [4:04]
3. Speeches [4:16]
4. What's Papa's Job? [5:04]
5. Stowaway [6:59]
6. A Man of Honor [3:36]
7. Natural Law [4:38]
8. Collecting Debts [6:06]
9. Two Fathers, Two Sons [5:15]
10. Road to Chicago [4:24]
11. Mr. Nitti [5:09]
12. Meet Maguire [2:59]
13. Road to Perdition [4:34]
14. The Diner [8:01]
15. Driving Lessons [1:34]
16. Dirty Money [2:46]
17. We're Bank Robbers [2:42]
18. Runny Eggs [6:09]
19. The Farmhouse [7:35]
20. Only Murderers [3:33]
21. The Rain [5:37]
22. Lexington Hotel Room 1432 [1:58]
23. The Lake House [7:04]
24. He Was My Father [6:23]

Karl Williams

An elegant, mournful gangster picture that joins the ranks of Miller's Crossing (1990) and The Godfather (1972) as an example of the genre's best, this adaptation of a fact-based graphic novel is another showcase for the visual talents of director Sam Mendes, following up his Oscar-winning cinematic debut, American Beauty (1999). The film's power is due in no small part to a superb script from relatively new screenwriter David Self, who enlarges upon the source material's themes until they've reached Shakespearean proportions, while cleverly touching upon the tale's themes of fathers and sons, coming of age, violence, and damnation. Audiences may have a difficult time grappling with the emotional reserve, itchy trigger finger and ultimate fate of hit man Michael Sullivan, played by one of its favorite, most likable leading men, Tom Hanks, but the fact is that the character rings true to his circumstances and allows the star an opportunity to more freely employ the gruff, flinty toughness, the sharper edges of intelligence, and the irked, tired refusal to suffer fools gladly that are so often lurking just below the surface of his more popular roles (in many ways, Hanks' Sullivan seems to be the black sheep brother of Captain John Miller from 1998's Saving Private Ryan). Despite this, the film's one flaw is that it allows Sullivan so much screen time that not every viewer might realize that he's only a supporting player: the protagonist is not the father but the son, Michael Jr., well played by Tyler Hoechlin as a youth whose future prospects are cloudy at best but become more certain as events unfold. It's his point of view being shared, the ultimate fate of his soul that's at stake, and his character that's being emotionally tracked, but his denouement may feel anticlimactic compared to the father's spectacular, heart-breaking exit. It's a trifling flaw in an otherwise top-notch film that's certain to be reconsidered in later years as the century's first great gangster flick. The cast is terrific (Jude Law--in a role wholly invented for the film--and Paul Newman, in the underappreciated winter of his career, deliver awe-inspiring performances as well), but it's that corker of a script from Self, trenchant and devastating, breath-taking in its ability to ply the screen with elegant visuals followed up with sparkling dialogue and unexpected confrontations, that lights up the screen and the memory. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Maurie Gallagher  Actor 
Michael Brockman  Actor 
Duane Sharp  Actor 
Roderick Peeples  Actor 
Keith Kupferer  Actor 
Phil Ridarelli  Actor 
James Greene  Actor 
Ian Barford  Actor 
Rob Maxey  Actor 
Jon Sattler  Actor 
Lance Baker  Actor 
Nicholas Cade  Actor 
Jackie Moran  Actor 
Craig Spidle  Actor 
Timothy Hendrickson  Actor 
The Monte Carlos  Actor 
Stephen P. Dunn  Actor 
Kevin Chamberlin  Actor 
Kathleen Keane  Actor 
Heidi Jayne Netzley  Actor 
Christian Stolte  Actor 
Diane Dorsey  Actor 
Lawrence MacGowan  Actor 
Lee Roy Rogers  Actor 
Jobe Cerny  Actor 
Peggy Roeder  Actor 
David Darlow  Actor 
Michael Sassone  Actor 
Mina Badie  Actor 
Lara Phillips  Actor 
Doug Spinuzza  Actor 
Marty Higginbotham  Actor 
Ed Kross  Actor 
Kurt Naebig  Actor 
Kieran O'Hare  Actor 
John Judd  Actor 
Paul Turner  Actor 
John Sterchi  Actor 
Jack Callahan  Actor 
Harry Groener  Actor 
Dylan Barker  Actor 
Brendan McKinney  Actor 
John Sierros  Actor 
Joan Bradshaw  Executive Producer 
Thomas Newman  Composer (Music Score) 
Walter Parkes  Executive Producer 
Richard D. Zanuck  Producer 
David Self  Screenwriter 
Sam Mendes  Director 
Sam Mendes  Producer 
Dean Zanuck  Producer 
Tom Hanks  Actor 
Paul Newman  Actor 
Jude Law  Actor 
Jennifer Jason Leigh  Actor 
Stanley Tucci  Actor 
Daniel Craig  Actor 
Tyler Hoechlin  Actor 
Liam Aiken  Actor 
Dylan Baker  Actor 
Ciarán Hinds  Actor 

Country: USA