Road to Perdition

Director: Sam Mendes

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/01/2013
UPC:	0883929302895
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	R
Source:	Paramount Catalog
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:57:00
Sales rank:	8,026

Special Features

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

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom Hanks	Michael Sullivan
Paul Newman	John Rooney,Composer
Jennifer Jason Leigh	Annie
Jude Law	Harlen Maguire
Stanley Tucci	Frank Nitti
Daniel Craig	Connor
Tyler Hoechlin	Michael Sullivan, Jr
Liam Aiken	Peter Sullivan
Dylan Baker	Alexander Rance,Crime Scene Policeman
David Darlow	Kelly
Doug Spinuzza	Calvino
Rob Maxey	Drugstore Owner
Nicolas Cade	Boy Michael Fights
Craig Spidle	Rooney's Henchman
Ian Barford	Rooney's Henchman
Stephen Dunn	Finn McGovern's Henchman,Finn McGovern's Henchman
Paul Turner	Finn McGovern's Henchman
Maureen Gallagher	Michael's Teacher,Michael's Teacher
Kevin Chamberlin	Frank the Bouncer
Juanita Wilson	Brothel Maid
Roderick Peeples	Nitti's Henchman
Keith Kupferer	Nitti's Henchman
Lee Roy Rogers	Secretary
Kathleen Keane	Irish Musician
Kieran O'Hare	Irish Musician
Jackie Moran	Irish Musician
Brendan McKinney	Irish Musician
John Sierros	Rooney's Business Associate
Jon Sattler	Rooney's Business Associate
Michael Brockman	Rooney's Business Associate
John Judd	Rooney's Business Associate
Christian Stolte	Rooney's Business Associate
Jack Callahan	Rooney's Business Associate
Kurt Naebig	Tenement Murderer
Monte	Living Corpse
Duane Sharp	Father Callaway
Diane Dorsey	Aunt Sarah
Michael Sassone	Motel Manager
John Sterchi	Cop at Diner
Robert Jones	Farmer at Diner
Lara Phillips	Ruby the Waitress
Harry Groener	Mr. McDougal
Mina Badie	Betty the Waitress
Ed Kross	Young Bank Manager
Heidi Jayne Netzley	Prostitute
Phil Ridarelli	Hotel Manager
Peggy Roeder	Farmer Virginia
James Greene	Farmer Bill
Jobe Cerny	Banker
Lawrence MacGowan	Banker
Timothy Hendrickson	Banker
Marty Higginbotham	Banker
Alfred Molina	Actor
Ciar?n Hinds	Finn
Dylan Barker	Alexander Rance
The Monte Carlos	Living Corpse

Technical Credits

Max Allan Collins

Richard Piers Rayner

David Self

Joan Bradshaw	Executive Producer,Producer
Doug Coleman	Stunts
Allen L. Hall	Special Effects,Special Effects
Michael J. McAlister	Special Effects
Sam Mendes	Producer
Walter F. Parkes	Executive Producer,Producer
Debra Zane	Casting
Dean Zanuck	Producer,Producer
Max Allan Collins	Screenwriter
Richard Piers Rayner	Screenwriter
David Self	Screenwriter
Bob Beemer	Sound Effects
Tara B. Cook	Producer
Cherylanne Martin	Producer
Thomas Kittle	Special Effects
Michael Petrucci	Special Effects
Jerry King	Key Grip
William S. Judkins	Stunts
Frank Calzavara	Stunts
Kelly Borisy	Key Grip
Jim Roorda	Key Grip
William Dambra	Special Effects
John J. Rigden	Special Effects
Tom Lowell	Stunts
Joey Box	Stunts
Allen Robinson	Stunts
Kevin Sorensen	Stunts
Bill Young	Key Grip
Gary L. Karas	Special Effects
Frank Toro	Special Effects
Kerry Rossall	Stunts
Richard Shuster	Stunts
Darrell Davis	Stunts
Jim Mammoser	Stunts
Rich Wilke	Stunts
Fred Thorne	Stunts
Rick LeFevour	Stunts
James Fierro	Stunts
John Pritchett	Sound/Sound Designer
Scott Hecker	Sound Editor

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Road to Perdition
1. Chapter 1 [6:19]
2. Chapter 2 [4:04]
3. Chapter 3 [4:16]
4. Chapter 4 [5:04]
5. Chapter 5 [6:59]
6. Chapter 6 [3:36]
7. Chapter 7 [4:38]
8. Chapter 8 [6:06]
9. Chapter 9 [5:15]
10. Chapter 10 [4:24]
11. Chapter 11 [5:09]
12. Chapter 12 [2:59]
13. Chapter 13 [4:34]
14. Chapter 14 [8:01]
15. Chapter 15 [1:34]
16. Chapter 16 [2:46]
17. Chapter 17 [2:42]
18. Chapter 18 [6:09]
19. Chapter 19 [7:35]
20. Chapter 20 [3:33]
21. Chapter 21 [5:37]
22. Chapter 22 [1:58]
23. Chapter 23 [7:04]
24. Chapter 24 [6:27]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Road to Perdition
Road to Perdition: Chapters

Editorial Reviews

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.