Road to Perdition (2002) Redemption, Rain, and Ruthless Fathers

0:01 Mike Slivin must escape the only life he has known. For his son. He saw everything. They're gonna come after us for his soul. I'd like you to turn a blind eye into what I have to do. Road to Perdition is the best crime drama since The Godfather. Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law from the director of American Beauty. Road to Perdition, Rated R, starts Friday, July twelfth. In a world where podcasts reign supreme, Two Friends Dare to Ask, Do You Even? Movie hosted by filmmaker Enrique Kuto and movie aficionado David de Noyer.

1:01 Spoiler alert. So, since last week's therapy session was so was so successful, I was thinking, this week we hypnotize you Nope, and then we can finally find out if you've actually been abducted by aliens or not, which I think either did happen or you just watched fire in the sky after having some shower wine. Man, I do like fire in the sky, but I've never watched fire in the sky after shower wine. I can say because I haven't had shower wine since the pandemic. I didn't say it was recent. Yeah, that's kind of my point.

1:43 But I also didn't watch Fire in the Sky during the pandemic because I would have been too. Afraid, right, he would have been too afraid. That movie fucking freaks me out. Yes, they had the abduction scene with the with the dude getting it basically like what looks like encased in plastic almost is really disturbing. It's a comedy, David. No, it's not a comedy. Every time that scene, that scene, clips from that scene keep coming up on like my Facebook feed because I don't know I Fire in the Sky celebrat anniversary or what's going on. It's just one that people have been talking about. I was always partial to Explorers. Though that's not Fire in the Sky. Oh I know, but Explorers and Fire in the Sky or two that go together. For the most part, those get paired together a lot where just in general of the of the pop culture geist of space movies for kids at that.

2:29 Point, Fire in the Sky is not a kid's. Lot that it gets talked about as a kid's. Movie a lot. Are you fucking with me? No, I'm not, because it caused a lot of kids trauma. Yes it's no, I'm not saying it is a kid's movie. I'm saying it gets lopped in as to like talked about by by people who saw it as a kid. Is what I'm more so saying. Okay, that was not Ini, That's not what I was saying. Yeah, I was about to say, Uh, I'm pretty sure the big deal about about Fire in the Sky was that it was one of the first like horror movies about alien abduction as opposed to like just a science fiction movie about alien abduction. I'm just curious now when I type on Google what it says.

3:10 About what about Fire and a Sky. While it's not explicitly a kid's movie, it's not rated for adults and maybe suitable for older children depending on their maturity level. That's ai. I mean, I guess it was rated PG thirteen. I think it was PG fire and I know PG thirteen here, right. It's possible that, for whatever reason, I may have a fresher memory. Of I haven't seen it in like five years. Yeah, Oh, it's actually been longer than that. I mean, I haven't seen it since I was probably twenty two or twenty three. Explorers is eighty five. Fire in the Sky's ninety three. Yeah, No, No, I was just I was just I'm just dating them.

3:53 Oh well, it's good, keep it casual. Shut up. So I would just not. I mean they're both, Yeah, they're both space movie, but they're definitely I consider Fire in the Sky so frea good scary yeah, because it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's why I just I'm still chuckling about the about Explorers in it juxtaposed. Well, no, that was that was me speaking out of term. What I'm saying is what I'm saying I was more so of an Explorers person is because that was the one I watched more so I didn't. I saw Explorers first before I saw Fire in the Sky. And what I'm saying is when those two, those two movies have been talked about side by side in regards to space movies that kids saw at a younger time.

4:35 But one was meant to be One was meant. To be for a for a for a more adult audience. Yes, absolutely, Explorers was not. I get that, or just an interesting juxtaposition, you know, it's like, you know, being like, I like teenage mujors deffurnles two Secret of the Us more than serbian film. Hey, that's not exactly the same, but I get what you're saying. Yes, the Fire's guy's really scary. Yeah, I know it is that. I think we can both agree on that. That was so sad because they showed it the Mahoning and I couldn't. I couldn't manage to get it. Just got a I don't know how recent it is, but I know it got either a four K or a blue ray. Yeah, through Imprint, I want to.

5:17 Say, because I bought the I bought the Oh wait no, though the Shell factory has a four K of it. Yeah, wait no, no, it's not four K. It's a blue Hyeah blue ray. Yeah. Google was starting to lie to me. But yeah, before that four K scan, Imprint I think did Yeah, I think Imprint did that four K scan. Yeah, because I have I have the blue. I got it on sale a few months ago. Jeesu, scary. Now Fire in the Sky definitely still holds up. Is unsettling. I haven't seen Explorers in a long time. I actually watched it maybe around the pandemic. Rewatched it because I've always loved Explorers. I always loved the concept. I think the last time I watched it was like twenty eighteen, twenty seventeen, or so, because I remember it was streaming somewhere or I or I found it either on YouTube or something I can't remember which.

6:05 Well, past all of that, Yes, how are you. I am doing fantastic. We just got breaking the curtain here, but we just got back from sim Oways. Broke the curtain. I broke the curtain, the curtain of time. But we just got back from Simuayeland this past weekend and I had a great time and got some new movies. And also I was a little I was a little startled by your haul. Yeah, me too, especially since the first day I only got six and then the last day I just went bug fund nuts. But at the same time, I didn't go in the red and I had that extra money saped up, so I couldn't complain. You didn't go in the red. You budgeted to buy like thirty. I didn't. Wasn't thirty, It was like twenty. Yeah, it was said twenty. Yeah, twenty out to be twenty. But yeah, no, I I had budgeted. I had money set aside for the trip, and then I also had the emergency fund, which I didn't even go into the emergency fund at all, which is one thousand dollars.

6:55 An emergency fund for the trip that was a thousand dollars. Yeah, no, not for I mean just just in general. I always carry usually that I usually carry some form of of that on vacation in cash. No, I have access to it. I mean, okay, that time I did have cash, Yes, I took out I took out cash this time, yes, lordie. Yeah, well remember that, kids, if you ever see David not around the Dane area, rob him. No, I don't. I usually do not carry that much cash, and honestly, I do not take that many vacations. So good luck. Well that's I'm just saying. It could be a very good, very good luck moment. Yeah but no, I had I had budgeted and did not go in the red at all on that trip at all, even with dinner and everything. God damn. Yeah, but I just find that funny, like I always have a thousand dollars for emergencies. It's like, I mean, I have a credit card for emergencies.

7:43 I usually usually have money sucked away. I don't usually carry I don't usually carry cash general, Like wasteland is really the only place I carry cash. I tried to only carry like twenty or thirty bucks. Yeah, although although my mother had like pounded into my head that you have to have twenty dollars in your pocket everywhere you go forever, so. I always there was. There was a time probably from college till probably probably about twenty sixteen or so, is when I stopped doing it. Then I usually had like an emergency hundred on me that was like stashed in my wallet or in my shock sometimes too. It's a lot of emergency money, eh, I mean I was traveling the country and stuff. So my mom was like, you should always have twenty or forty bucks no matter where you know, no matter how many credit cards, yeah, or whatever you have, you should always have that. So I did.

8:30 Yeah, but yeah, I do what you gotta do. But yeah, I mean in this day and age, I usually just carry the money accessible through my card because that's the smartest way to do it. I know, it's just funny for you to put it that way because most people, yeah, have their debit card. Yeah, but yeah, I mean it was I I grew up going on I grew up going on vacation, like to Florida, and I remember like my parents like having like the emergency money. So that was what. I basically ursued it on myself eventually too, when I started doing like road trips or whatnot. The cash just the having having this, having the cash not in your wallet, basically having a spare envelope is what they did. They had like the bank envelope and that was the trip money.

9:11 Well, sure, sure, I've heard of that too. Yeah, I just think I like, I like they did, considering it like I'm carrying money in my bank account with me. It's like, right, I feel like you would have that anyway. Yeah, you'd have that anyway. Yes, But yeah, Cinema Waste Time was fun about. The hotel had tons and tons of problems. I mean, the elevator being out, wasn't the wasn't. Grand three elevators being out? Yes, but more so I mean, I mean, just more so the fact that we got a lot of steps in that week weekend. Yeah, that poor hotel. It fared well, right, it did, didn't burn down, didn't have any issues from what I saw.

9:53 Didn't have any issues. Yes, aside from like having one whole floor that had no elevator. You say that poor hotel, I'm I'm I'm picture like it getting it getting like damage to it via party and whatnot. Is more so what I'm what I'm thinking. Everybody's too old for that now, Yeah, exactly. No, I met that poor hotel because even without all the partying, things are broken all over. I mean that hotel. Those elevators had problems, probably since the partying broke them originally. Yeah, because Wasteland and one other show were the only shows I've ever been to where people drunkenly broke the elevators. I didn't know they broke them there. I only that was over a decade ago. Yeah, I only knew about the other blays a decade. Or more ago. I don't know how intentionally they did it, but the elevators got broken there.

10:34 Yeah. I mean that's a show where they used to have a cop assigned to it. I do remember hearing that, Yeah, because I don't think I ever saw the cop when I when I'm gone there. No, No, that's not true. Actually they did. They used to park a cop car around there, like on like Saturday nights. I mean they used to have a cop stand in the Yeah. Okay, no, I do remember that. I think that was I think that was like when Mary Lee and I and and oh for sure. Yeah. No, they probably stopped that around twenty at the you know, after the lockdown and everything. But anyway, it's a fun show, fun show. Got to hang out with my buddy Ryan. It's always nice to to visit with him. I got to watch you spend all of your money that you brought with you, maybe in person, maybe via I mean I spent account.

11:14 I spent a good amount with with him at Terror Vision, and I would say the second runner up would have probably been it's either a toss between Diaballa or Severn, and I think it might be no, no, it might even be Vinca, no thing about it. I can't remember. That's that's good. That means you spent your money wisely. Oh I remember what I got. I just I. Just don't remember the exact count of which label was which? Do you see that everybody he's experiencing lost time. Hey, it's not clear sign all that that Ryan has amazing. Uh three film packs that you can that you can choose, and I was very mystery mystery boxes with all the movies I got.

11:57 I mean I didn't say anything. Blood Car was great, and then Courtney. I even watched a Door last night, which was really good. Well, I'm happy for you. I can't complain I bought one thing too. Well, you technically bought one, but you got too because you got boarding house and then you bought chocolate strawberry. I didn't buy boarding house. No, I'm saying it was given to you and chocolate strawberry Modela was also given to traded. Yes, shoot, I don't think I bought a thing. I don't think you did. Wow. Even got a nice Goosebumps hat for free. That was a very nice gift. I was gonna buy something at Dia ba Leik, but I think they didn't have it. At the table, they had some stuff I wanted. Both them and Vincent had a couple of things I wanted that I saw Friday, and then by the time I got back there Saturday, they were gone.

12:37 So that's yeah. I didn't worry about it, and then said Sunday, I just went fucking ape shit. Yeah. Yeah, as your wallet gently weeps. So with all that being said, yes, tonight we're talking about a film that I had never seen before. Yeah, I had heard the title a bunch. I knew it was some kind of like prestige movie, and uh, we're we're going with our theme. Of April rain. Take amounts of rain in this one. This is probably the least rneous, but the two rain scenes are critical to the story. I mean I would I can't deny that.

13:18 So before we get to it, though, do you want to talk about what we just got back from seeing? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I knew I was forgetting something. It's all good. I got you. Well, I last week saw The Woman in the Yard. I actually did want to talk to you about that. Which I really recommend people see because it was. Awesome, because they have a feeling like presence. Because I because I didn't know if it was like a POV or what if it was anything like nothing. Like that, I would say they have nothing in common other than there's a house and a familytic. Well, well that's the thing. Yeah, you don't know what the Woman in the Yard is is the whole point of the movie. And there are two really big twists in the third act that tell you basically what's going on. And you do know what's going on. It's not ambiguous, yeah at the end, but it's very like dark and surprising and powerful ending. Hell yeah, And I was not expecting to be crying like a baby when it was over. I went and saw it like two PM, and I really really enjoyed it. It is eerie, simple, creepy, and I thought it was thought out really well. And didn't you know, none of the twists felt like they were forced or an afterthought. It all came together and it fakes you out a lot. It got me wondering if you know it was one of those we're actually impurgatory movies. Yeah, then it got me wondering if it was one of those, like the main character is actually a ghost, but it's

14:48 something else. I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try to get to theater and see it. If not, I'll have to catch on streaming. But I'm gonna definitely try. To What your leg's broken? No, my time table is a bit skewed this week. Well, I mean it'll be in theaters next week, says who the box office receipts. It's actually overperforming. That's great. So, but we saw today another horror release that came out the same weekend which is not overperforming, No, but called Death of a Unicorn. Yes, we did. Death of a Unicorn, the new film from director Alex Starfman, who was a affiliate with A twenty four. He's done some crew stuff from what I can tell, for the most part, this is his directorial debut.

15:29 And I mean, I thought you did a pretty good job. I mean it, I mean it wasn't as much of a horror comedy as I was expecting now, which in a way I was happy about. But then in a way I actually was kind of hoping maybe it could get me to get on its side. The first trailer we saw, we weren't really weren't really feeling I remember that because it was just kind of like it felt like that they didn't get the execution of it right, or just like they were taking it too seriously. We didn't know. And then that second trailer came out and kind of poked a little bit more fun, and then it looked a little bit more up our well, and. The second trailer gave us a lot more of what the plot was. Yeah, that too, because before that we just kind of knew like they had killed the unicorn and now the unicorn another unicorn was coming after them.

16:11 The second one, they gave us the idea of like that the unicorn had healing properties. They didn't want to give up the unicorn's horn, et cetera, et cetera, which made me much more interested. Absolutely. One thing I can say that was one thousand percent positive about that movie was the cast. Yes, absolutely. And the funny thing is, and maybe this is just me being a little cynical on a weeknight, but a few of the casting choices for the smaller roles I recognized from comedy shows and stuff like that, and and I was like, uh, and then they were perfect for yeah, So I was actually like, oh, never mind, they're They're perfectly used. I thought the Jenna Ortaga and Paul run played father and daughter together really well. But my standout by far is Will Polter, who plays Shepherd, who is the son of the rich guy in the movie played by Richard Grant.

16:56 But Will Polter just has so much many manic and hilarious moments that it was like he he kind of stole the movie for me. Oh well, he definitely had a lot to do. I mean he was the kind of tech broie son of these you know, multi millionaire pharmaceutical people. I mean he literally one of my favorites, which I think it's in the trailer, is when they when they first come across the body of the unicorn in the car. He's just like, I don't I don't know if I should be wearing board shorts for this. That was funny. I wish there had been a little bit more of that. Yeah, I was swim trunks. He was. I think this is too serious for me to be wearing swim trunks. Yeah, which I thought was pretty funny. But yeah, overall the movie is basically the story is that father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature's miraculous curative properties. Hmm, And I mean that's basically it.

17:44 Yeah. Oh wow, I didn't realize the director of of The Woman in the Yard. I didn't realize he had directed Orphan, Oh shit, and A House of Wax the Remoard, Yeah were the houses? Where's literally? I actually think that movie. Time has been kind to that movie. But that is such a terrible twist. Basically a tors trap diet did carry On and Black Atom and Jungle Cruise and the Shallows Oh okay, it's that guy and run all night yeah yeah, and NonStop. Yeah. I didn't know it was that guy. Wow. Well what The reason I'm extra shocked does not be not necessarily because all the movies I just listed are the best movies in the world, but because he went from like Black Adam, which was a attempted major blockbuster that I think did Okay.

18:36 I thought it was a bomb. I don't think it was a massive bomb. But Jungle Cruise did really well if I remember correctly. I thought Black Adam was a bomb. Well, no, he's a superhero. When now you're making me chat Yeah, I'm curious too, because I that's what I was on the impression. Of uh no, no successful, moderately two hundred and sixty million dollar budget, did almost four hundred million world wide. Like I said, not a huge success, but a success, and I feel like Jungle Cruise was successful. I love Jungle Cruise. I still I need to pull up my Disney Clubs and check it out. Although maybe that was the no that was that one just barely broke even and probably didn't. Did he do Black Widow then.

19:16 Not that I can see. Okay, Nope, why am I There's something I'm thinking of then? But my point is to go from doing say House of Wax, which was like a pretty big budget horror movie in five. Yeah to doing Orphan and O nine, which was also a pretty big one, and that one was very popular. Yeah to doing Unknown with Liam Neeson, which I didn't love, but it was a big movie NonStop, which I did enjoy a lot, which was a big budget movie. Unknown in NonStop were kind of We're kind of lower tier for me, sure, because I wanted to like NonStop a lot more and Unknown I was. I was fine with NonStop. I just really wanted to like a little bit more. But then like Run all Night. I enjoyed Run all Night Budget, then The Shallows I freaking love, one of the best shark movies of the last decade or more.

19:59 And my my point is, then he does Jungle Cruise, huge big budget movie. Next year he does black Out, I'm huge big budget movie. Then he does carry On, giant big budget Netflix movie, which I did really like, and then goes to The Woman in the Yard, which is like a little low budget thriller. I just love that he's bouncing around and occasionally doing these small movies that just is awesome. Yeah, so that's all. That's why it shocked me. Is. I was just like, Wow, he bounces between like big budget stuff and modest budget stuff quite a bit. So you would give Woman in the Yard a pretty large recommendation then, right. Yeah, Woman in the Yard is a perfect little scary film.

20:40 But the story is thought out, the characters matter, the twists make sense and matter, and it has a pretty deep message. Now, whether you find the deep message trite or not, that your mileage may vary. Yeah, but I thought that the movie felt like it kind of mattered, and you know, not everything can be a terrifier or a maxine or whatever. This is a like the kind of horror movie that most people like, and I am one of most people in that I enjoy those kinds of movies. When I went in, I just wanted to be creeped out, and it ended up doing more than that, which I appreciated. So now I couldn't recommend The Woman in the Yard enough. Also, it was really cool. It was shot in and around Athens, Georgia. Yeah, and there's one shot where you can I totally know the part of downtown they were showing. Yeah, well he was right.

21:34 It's like right by the sinne, right by the barbecue joint. Over there. I can't wait to go back to the Sinna and Athens. But as as far as Deasi of the Unicorn goes, I would I would give it a light recommend. It's not bad. It's a mythical creature feature, and it's it's got some gore, it's it's got it's got some pretty good laughs in it. But overall, I think you can kind of see where it's gonna go. Well, my biggest problem with it would be that just the concept of it being killer unicorns wasn't really enough to carry it that much. Yeah, it just didn't quite do enough for it. And it even has a really odd ending choice because of that too. Yeah, I thought the ending choice was a little strange. Yeah, but I kind of get it. Yeah, It's just it was just a little strange. I think that, you know, this year is a very competitive year for horror movies already, because you had Heart Eyes and Companion and you know, and I think the Woman in the Art. I think that The Woman in the Art will be maligned for being Blumhouse, even though it would totally be an a twenty four movie. Yeah, Like it could totally easily be a Neon release or something, but instead it got put out by a bigger studio, so they'll be like it it was just a place on a farm. It's like, you love stuff like that and you know it. But but no, I think it was a fun time. I mean, I think it's definitely a popcorn flick with your friends. Yeah. Yeah, I wish I had more to say either way.

22:57 Yeah, I mean I think we kind of went in already a little lukewarm on it, and that's no offense to the movie itself. I think it was more so just we knew what we were getting into and nothing really changed from that dynamic. I thought I knew what we were getting into. It wasn't that big of a laugh riot. No. I mean, I'm a hard audience for horror comedy. Al We've talked about that a lot on the show. I'm not a big the biggest fan of horror comedies, but they can click with me. Yeah, Like Hard Eyes clicked with me very much. It's just hard to kind of juxtapose the violence with comedy, especially depending on how you handle the characters and stuff like that. And one thing I'll say before we wrap up with it, is it it killed the characters. I liked first, like the ones that I genuinely like, actually cared about and wanted to see more of the movie of, and then kind of left us with the few that, like we were prepared to see get slaughtered.

23:50 Yeah. But a but that's because all the main characters, aside from the literal two main characters, yeah, were not likable at all. Yeah so by comparison, all the side characters were somewhat like yeah so, and they didn't kill the most likable side character, no, by my estimation, Yeah so, No, I mean, it was a fun time. I think that. Honestly, it's probably it's it's tough because I want to say, like, you know, it's the kind of thing that that maybe it's just me, you know, but but it didn't perform very well at the box office, and I don't have a lot of friends on social media talking about seeing it, which it just shocks me. But that's kind of the thing, is like, buzz is not the reality. No, that's and that's often the case. I mean, like, but I'm surprised because even in my echo chamber of horror loving people, I'm not hearing much about it.

24:39 No, I mean, even Joe Bob groups a pretty quiet on it, and that's surprising. Well, that's surprising when they're quiet about anything. That's what I was saying. Yes so, but no, I think it's worth going to see, especially if you just really, if you want to go to the movies, why not? Why the hell not? So would you like to know what we're talking about tonight? Even though they've sure, I'm sure they've already read the episode by this point and heard us talk about it last year, read the entire episode, the entire episode, then why even listen? I don't know, man, that's dedication. But here we go Road to Perdition from two thousand and two. This is part of our April Showers lineup. And as we already said, there's probably the least amount of rain in this movie. I mean there's some rain, yes, a lot more snow. Yeah, Ill, I mean I can't rain all the time.

25:20 Quoting Edward Furlong to get the show going, I appreciate. That one hour in fifty seven minutes, rateed R for violence and language. The IMDb synopsis of this one says, a mob enforcer's son in the nineteen thirties Illinois witnesses a murder forcing him and his father to take the road, and his father go down a path of redemption and revenge. Well, they take a road to perdition, not down revenge. My synopsis go on, when his sun witness is a hit, a mob enforcer goes on the run to protect them both from his former boss and his dispatched assassins. Yeah, that's pretty pretty much the meat of it. Yeah. Would you like to know what the taglines are? I am curious what the taglines are. Pray for Michael Sullivan.

26:02 That's a terrible tagline. Every father is a hero to his son. That one's all right. Every son holds the future for his father. What every son holds the future for his heard it? Okay? I just what? And last, the innocence of a son is surpassed only by the father's will to save it. Neither of them are really good. That one's neither you mean any of them are really good? That one's okay. The pray for Michael Sullivan, It's like, that's gonna just confuse who's Michael Sullivan? Yeah? Those aren't great. Those aren't great taglines. Yeah.

26:43 So, Rooted Tradition is currently available to stream on Paramount plus twov You can also rent it through Prime and Fandango as well. Our director on the film is Sam Mendez, who gets to start in nineteen ninety one Within My Defense, goes on to shoot Or goes onto a direct cabaret in ninety three, Performance in ninety seven. In ninety nine, shoots a little film called American Beauty. Wow. Follows up American Beauty with wrote a Perdition in two thousand and two, which is also the producer on. Then does jar Head in two thousand and five, Revolutionary Road in two thousand and eight, which he also produces. Away we Go Skyfall in twenty twelve. From Skyfall, goes into King Lear in twenty fourteen, then does Specter in twenty fifteen. Next James Bond Entry. Oh wow, so he got he hooked up with Daniel Craig.

27:23 Then Yeah, the Laman Trilogy in twenty nineteen, nineteen seventeen, in twenty nineteen, which he's also the producer. Oh Wow, Yeah, that's a big one. Empire of Light in twenty twenty two, which he is the producer on the then directed the franchise in twenty twenty four, and most recently What They Found in twenty twenty five. What they found. Yeah. One of the writers on the film is Max Allan Collins. He is the writer of the graphic novel. He gets his start writing for The Expert in nineteen ninety five, Mommy in ninety five as well is the B movie mom yep, and then does Mommy, Mommy's Day Mommy too? Who wrote that or was it just his characters? That is a writer? Yeah? Okay ninety seven writes that Mike Hammers, Mickey Splaine in ninety eight, Road to Perdition, the graphic novel in two thousand and two, Elliot Ness An Untouchable Life in two thousand and five, The Last Lalla By two thousand and eight, Corey twenty sixteen, and most recently Blue Christmas in twenty twenty four.

28:16 Oh Christmas. Yeah. Illustrator for the Road to Perdition graph novel was Richard Piers Rainer. He is the other writer on the film. And then the final writer is David Self, who gets his start in nineteen ninety nine writing the screenplay for the Haunting remake Okay, then goes on to write Thirteen Days in two thousand, Road to Perdition two thousand and two, and most recently the Wolfman remake in twenty ten. Oh okay, yeah, I want to mention, by the way, speaking of The Haunting, Yeah, we had two almost back to back severe thunderstorms out in this part of Ohio led to a bunch of flooding and stuff like that, and on the second storm, I was like, I got to pick a movie for the storm, and I was really close to it being The Haunting Relike the only reason I ended up going with Gothica instead was I had never seen it.

29:04 What do you think, by the way, many your business? Huh? I love Gotha. I really liked it. Gotta say, like, major props to halle Berry. Yeah, really acted the hell out of that role. And the twist was overall pretty solid, pretty dark. Oh well yeah, yeah, I know it's a super dark twist. Yeah, and I thought that. I thought the red herring of who was behind this was brilliantly thought out and brilliantly executed too. That whole like fake conclusion that you get at that at that point is so good. Oh, even before that, just when we're kind of when she's in the hospital, it seems to be really obvious that somebody put her there because he has a vendetta against her and then you realize, no, he actually cares about her. It's that simple. Yeah, she just really comes off insane. It's super fun and it was a it was a great spooky storm movie night. It's a good one because the night before when we had the storm, which like three days earlier, two days earlier, I did The Castle of Blood aka Donza Macabre, which the four K in that Donza Maa. Ironically, Donza Macabra is actually in Donza Macabre Volume two, which is the name of these set Severn put out of Italian Gothic movies and the third one Spanish Gothic movies. But h man, it's a four K in this in volume two instead of just a blu ray. And it's incredible, amazing, And I think that's one of the first black and white movies I've watched that was like heavily remastered ink on the

30:35 on my big screen, and it just that movie. You seen it. It's been a while since in Castle bo like the last time I saw it would have been when was it Snaps that put out the DVD or even because that's Barbara Steel, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it was Snaps I think it snaps went out of DVD. It was creepy and fun. I mean it's a little cliche, except that it's before the cliches. It kind of established a lot of ghost story cliches. Yeah, great, great, Uh you know dark House, Gothic horror. You also watched Identity, and I was gonna ask you about that. Oh, that's what I watched after Gothica, after Rachel went to sleep, because I decided to well, I stay up usually anyway, but I stayed up to watch how the storm was going. Yeah, just in case, and that was really fun. You like to revisit I've always liked Identity, I will be completely straight up. I like forgot the ending until it started to be revealed and oh my yeah, of course that crazy awesome ending. So that was a great revisit too. And that's a perfect thunderstorm movie.

31:36 Yeah, in mind, I love the atmosphere. I'm not a I'm not a big fan of the of the reveal at the end, but but but I love the atmosphere of the movie. Really. Yeah, it makes all the clues bells. It makes it. I'm not saying it doesn't make it. It's it's it's just it was one. It was one. First of all, I haven't seen it in a long time, Like last time I rented it would have been from the public library when I was a kid, and uh, it was just I remember that. I remember back when I watched it. I really loved that ending. And just more I've thought about and everything. This is not one of my favorites, but I love the atmosphere of the movie a lot. Yeah, I like that ending. Yeah, nothing wrong with it. I mean, like I said, because because the clues and stuff are so wacky, Yeah, it really at least makes it make sense, and it does. There aren't as far as I could tell, there were no holes. It made sense.

32:24 The crazy twist made sense, I mean as much as any crazy ending could make sense. I mean, it's hints were. Years old now, so if we wanted to, we could spoil, but we won't. I wouldn't spoil it, not in a blurb review, you know. But I really enjoyed it because the rule for thunderstorm horror, when when we're talking about, like because there is a thunderstorm, especially severe one, and we get a lot of those in Dayton in Ohio in general, is the horror can't be the storm. Yeah, because you're already anxious about the storm. It's just set in a storm that took out stuff like the perfect storm and stuff like that. The thing I will say in regards at the ending, without giving away any spoilers, is uh, the death, the death with the baseball bat. When they reveal who the killer is, it's just like I want to see that scene personally. Oh, fair enough, because that bad is deep in that man's threat.

33:19 Yeah. No, it's and the killer. It's nuts. No. I enjoyed the hell out of it and a great cast cast. I mean it's it's in that era of getting the giant cast for the supernatural movies that they they don't really do a lot of that anymore, at least. Was like a crime thriller that turns out to be not really supernatural depending on how you like to look at it. Yeah. Yeah, No, I dug the hell out of it. I was so glad I decided to revisit it. It's a great rain storm movie for sure. I literally just asked chat GPT to help me pick a movie. I told it the situation, and it recommended a bunch of them. I got to show you ayah, The Storm with Dennis Hopper, the Desert Motel movie that's in that three pack. That was the fuck what's the title of the Peter Weller movie with the Cult that we watched, Sunset Grill. Oh yeah, yeah, because it was that three pack. It was Sunset Grills, Scorpion Springs, and Eye of the Storm.

34:15 I'd be down Eye of the Storm, Stopper Wild. It's nineties Hopper and you can imagine, so moving back into Road to Perdition. Our cinematographer on the film is Conrad L. Hall. He gets his start in nineteen fifty eight shooting Edge of Fury, goes on to shoot Islands of the Sea in nineteen sixty, Stony Burke out episodes of the Outer Limits, the Ghost of Sierra di Cabre, Wild Seed Harper with Paul Newman in sixty six, Incubus in sixty six, The Professionals Divorce American Style in sixty seven, then goes on to shoot Cool Hand Luke in sixty seven, Wow In Cold Blood follows that up with Hell in the Pacific Rogues Gallery, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid in nineteen sixty nine Trilogy in sixty nine The Happy Ending, Fat City, Electric Glid, and Blue Smile in nineteen seventy five, The Day of the Locust, Marathon Man in nineteen seventy six, goes on to shoot It Happened One Christmas Black Widow in eighty seven with Oh, Debbie something, what is her name?

35:14 That's gonna bug me? Hang on, Deborah, he want to say Deborah Hall, but that's not right. Why am I doing this? We don't know. I used to have this movie. I got it from Twilight Time back on the day. None of us now Deborah Winger, Okay, yeah, Debra Winger, Teresa Russell. It's a pretty solid crime thriller. So he shoots Black Widow in eighty seven, then goes on to shoot Tequila Sunrise in eighty eight. Okay yeah, A civil or excuse me, a class action in ninety one, Jennifer eight and ninety two, Searching for Bobby Fisher in ninety three, Love Affair in ninety four, is civil action ninety eight, American Beauty in ninety nine. Wrote to Perdition in two thousand and two, and then we unfortunately lost him January fourth, two thousand and three, at age seventy six to complications from bladder cancer.

35:57 Wow. I mean I was wondering because his career started so long ago. Yeah, definitely a very seasoned director of photography and man to talk about to to, Like it's funny now thinking back about like American beauty and in this movie especially, like, imagine how excited that dude the director must have been to get the guy who shot Marathon Man. Yeah. One, I think of all the time him and Newman worked together too, which that's part of my part about trivia. I'll get to a little later on as well. I didn't even think about that. I keep I keep my Paul Newman brain is a little is a little Sacks show Like older Paul Newman doesn't always click with me. Yeah, although one of one of my favorite recent discoveries is Nobody's Full Yeah, which is maybe my favorite Paul Newman movie ever.

36:41 I mean, slap Shot will always be mine. But well, you haven't even seen Nobody's. Fun I know, but it's gonna be hard to knock Slapshot off, but we'll see. Moving down to our cast, we had Tom Hanks in the film, who plays Michael Sullivan. Only one hundred credits on his resume by the way. That doesn't surprise me. He's expensive. He's expensive, but I thought he I thought he had a little bit more. But I mean he does have lot. I mean gets to start in nineteen eighty on he Knows You're Alone, Oh yeah, Yeah, The Love Boat in nineteen eighty, Bosom Buddies in nineteen eighty, Happy Days in eighty two, Mazes and Monsters in eighty two, Splash in eighty four, Bachelor Party in eighty four, Volunteers, the Money Pit, Dragnet, then does Big in eighty eight, followed by Punchline, The Burbs, Turner and Hooch, Bonfire, The Vanities, Allegue of their Own in ninety two, Sleep the Sin Seattle, Philadelphia, Forced Gump, Apollo thirteen, Toy Story, That Thing You Do does, Saving Private Ryne in ninety eight, The Green Mile in ninety nine, Castaway in two thousand, then does rote a Perdition in two thousand and two, follows that up with Catch Me if you Can the same year. Then he goes on to do The Terminal, the Da Vinci Code, the Simpsons Movie, which I love his appearance in the Simpsons movie. It's pretty clos hi. I'm Tom Hanks and come to this new place. No nothing was here before. Yeah, No, No Ages and Demons in two thousand and nine, Larry Crown Cloud Atlas, Captain Phillips saving mister Banks, Bridge of Spies in twenty fifteen.

37:56 That's a really underrated one, I really is. Yeah, Sally in twenty six sixteen, The Circle, The Post, News of the World, Elvis, and most recently A Man Called Auto in twenty twenty two. I really like Deman called Auto. That was cute. I like that movie. Moving down to Tyler Hoachlin, who plays Michael Sullivan Junior in the film. He gets to start in ninety nine on Family Tree, Train Quest two thousand and one, then in two thousand and two Stars in a Road to Perdition, goes on to be in Seventh Heaven, Grizzly Raid, CSI, Miami Solstice Castle in two thousand and nine, Teen Wolf, twenty eleven, Hall Pass, Open Gate, Teen Wolf Revelations, The Sticks Everybody Wants Them in twenty sixteen, then goes on to do Stratton fifty Shades, Freed the Domestics, then came You Can You Keep a Secret in twenty nineteen, Supergirl twenty nineteen Batwoman twenty nineteen, The Flash, Arrow, Palm Springs, Teen Wolf the movie in twenty twenty three, and most recently is currently on Superman and Lois from twenty twenty four.

38:48 Wow, I'm gonna have to look him up because I cannot place him as an. He is playing the new Clark Kent. So when they when they kind of did all the A CW reworking, that's who he is. Now, huh, I mean he looks the part. Yeah. Twenty nineteen's when I think he at first appears as a superhero. Oh crap. He was in Grizzly Rage. Yeah. Yeah, directed by Dave Decoto. Yeah. Wow, Yeah he does. He makes a good Superman. Yeah, he definitely does. I all I really noticed about him was that he looks like the kid from Monster Squad. Yeah, as a kid. He does. No, he absolutely does. We also have Paul Newman in the cast, who plays John Rooney in the film. He gets his start in nineteen fifty one with Tales of Tomorrow, does suspense in fifty two Kraft Theater, the rack Somebody up There Likes Me Until They Sail in fifty seven. Cat and a Hot Tin Roof in fifty eight The Young Philadelphians, Exodus, Paris Blues. Then does The Hustler in sixty one, Hudd in sixty three, The Outrage, Harper, Torn Curtain, Cool Hand, Luke in sixty seven, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids sometimes a great notion, The Sting in seventy three, Towering Inferno, the Drowning Pool, Silent Movie, Slapshot in seventy seven, Quintet in seventy nine, Ford Apache, The Bronx in eighty one, The Verdict in eighty two, Color of Money, Blaze, Hudsucker, Proxy in ninety four, Nobody's Full in ninety four. Then he does Twilight in ninety eight, Message in a Bottle, Rode to Perdition in two thousand and two, Empire Falls two thousand and five, Cars two thousand and six, and Meerkats in two thousand and eight. He unfortunately passed September twenty six, two thousand and eight, at age eighty three, from lung cancer.

40:19 But God love his popcorn. God loves popcorn. Indeed, we also have in the cast Jennifer Jason Lee, Daniel Craig, Paul Turner, Dylan Baker. I mean, there's there's multiple names in this movie. Yeah, Jude Law, Jude Law. Yeah, Jude Law is like way down the cast too. Well, he doesn't appear until an hour until the. Hour in Yeah, so what was your first time? I'm kidding it was tonight. I liked it. Yeah, it was a little I won't say I was underwhelmed by it. But it's definitely a kind of drab, isn't the right? Like dreary? Yeah, kind of movie about crime and revenge.

40:59 I tell you, this has been one that like TNT or TVs has been showing like back in the day, and I would remember like just be like taking a nap during it and waking up a certain parts. Like it's just it's kind of like that dreary Like you said that, that drearyesque movie. That you can sleep through and wake up at. In my opinion, wow, what a pick for a show? Hey what? But no, no, I thought it was pretty solid. My biggest critique is do you want to save it? Okay? Fine? Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, We're okay, save it, save it, save it for your final thoughts. Okay, I mean what I said, Okay, what more can I do? I saw so I caught this on HBO back in the day. Uh, probably like right around the times premiere, so probably like two thousand and three. We were on vacation with the family. They were out getting breakfast, like at the hotel, and I was channel surfing, came across it on HBO and I and I'd not about because I've seen trailers, but I hadn't seen it. Mom and Dad hadn't rented it, and just had distinct memories of the back bathtub execution scene was one of the ones I first saw on not to mention the climax in the rain was another thing, and I just remember watching the end of it and being like, I've got to I've got to see this, like this is awesome.

42:07 So it sounds like you started by watching like the last fifteen. Basically, Yes, I think honestly, I was probably like going back and forth because Mom and Dad may have been in the room, and by that point I don't know if I was regularly watching R rated movies or not, so that might have been one that I was just hiding clicks back and forth with on the go back button. That's the one you hid from your parents, yeah tradition. No, Yeah, So but I was really won over by Tom Hanks' performance when I finally saw it, like I rented it, and I mean it was what really won me over was it's just not the typical role that you would think he would be he would be in. It's very out of cast for him, in my opinion, because he's usually not a gun slinger for that matter, well. He's not a massive gunslinger, no.

42:48 But like, this is a darker role than you would normally. It's not I one at that point in his career. I don't think it's one that you were used to for him. I'd agree and and kind of disagree because he's still kind of America's dad. He's just America's crime dad, crime dad. Yeah, of course, you know maybe. I mean he had. Done so like he had done Dragnet before this, and he had also done saving Private Rot, So I mean, yeah, I don't know, it was I just didn't expect him to be a hit man like it. It's not the type he's the hit man with a heart of gold that's doing it because like he has every excuse in the book to be a murderer, which I'm not saying is a bad thing, Like it's good to have that element of, you know, I'm a bad person who does bad things, but I'm more than just that.

43:36 I've always appreciated that. But he has like every trope of like I'm doing it for my family, and I'm doing it because like he was like a father to me. So now you know, I killed people, and I always thought that those people deserved it, right, what do you mean these criminals? Lie? I'm I don't know. You know, he's not a bad character. He's just kind of his flaws are, if intentional, very small. Yeah, because his flaws are being kind of naive. I could see that, except he's also like very intense and he knows exactly what to do when these things go down because he's been a like a lifelong criminal. Yeah, And it's kind of like it's always fascinated me that like criminals always have families, you know. It's like, oh, what do you do? Oh, I'm a hit man for the Mafia of Rock Island, Illinois.

44:21 It's like, oh yeah, it's like, yeah, I have two little boys and a wife at home. Oh, like like in a compound. No, they just live off of a main road. What do you mean they've been murdered you know, it's like that, you know, that's always well, it's kind of like in real life. I always go wow when I always hear about so many stunt people having families. Yeah, like, ah, good, that way. That way, no one worries when you jump off that roof. That's fair. So we the movie opens and we're seeing a body of water and we're seeing Michael Sullivan Junior standing in front of it, and he basically says, you know, nobody really knew who Michael Sullivan was. And he ends it by basically saying he was my father. And I learned more about him in the six weeks that I spent with him than I did it his entire life.

45:01 Yeah, And that part I really like because early on there's a part where he comes up to tell his dad dinner's ready, yeah, and his dad's like, you know, emptying his pockets and there's a gun and stuff, which gives your first hint that like something is not kosher. And the way his dad reacts but just saying thank you, it's so formal. His dad was definitely not an involved parent because he was too busy doing all that messed up stuff. And I can appreciate the idea that in that like six weeks that they were running from death on their road vaguely to perdudition, tradition is a place, but it's also a state of mind. I mean, I like that quite a bit, and I like that point.

45:50 I think that that is a really good point that's nailed in that opening narrations, which you know, I usually like, although it's all it's like extra cliche when it's based on a book. Although it's yeah, yeah, I mean, but I mean it has pictures on every panel. Well, when you knew if it was a panel it would have to have pictures, right, It's it's a comic. Did you mean every page it has pictures? You know what? I know what I meant. I was trying to understand you communication. So we see Michael riding through town and he's running an errand for his mom. He goes to the local general store where there's a pissed jar just in the chilling in the middle of the room. It's a big jar full of yellow liquid, just sitting there.

46:32 I don't know what that was about. Oh, we started riffing because when the clerk stopped looking, he takes like, what I'm guessing is like a candy bar or something off the counter. He steals a candy bar, and you made the riff of shoplifters will have to drink from the picture. Yeah, likes all shoplifters mustering from jar of pissed, no exceptions. So he's riding back to his house, gets into a snowball fight with I think it's his brother briefly, and shortly after that his father comes home and his mother it's it's him, his brother's mother, and they're getting ready for dinner. And like you said, he goes upstairs. His dad's putting away like his wallet, taking still ballot, takes his gun out, unloads it, and then he's like, hey, dinner's ready, and he's like thanks, And we see a long shot of a hallway as this happening. He's always like back from him for a bit.

47:13 Yeah. Yeah, he's clearly just not really there. Yeah, and we do get an explanation for kind of why he had a little bit of distance toward his oldest son. Yeah. As we go on, one thing I was kind of bummed about was I I kind of wanted more from Jennifer Jason Lee same. She's really great in the role but she always brings a hardness, like an undertone of like hardness, yeah to her characters, which makes sense when you're married to like a crook. And it becomes very clear she knows what he does for a living. She's not some dumb you know, She's not like in Denial or something. Well, and there could have honestly been more scenes with her, and they may have cut him just to get him more of a gruffness or something I don't know, could have been something along those lines.

47:54 To give him more of a gruffness. Give give Hanks if they if they had scenes together or whatnot, because we only see her with him couple times and that's that's about it. Well, they're not long for this earth, they're not. I mean, that's kind of the boilers. Oh well, I'm so sorry spoiling the whole damn movie. So uh, we find out that Michael used to work or Michael was an orphan and he got picked up by one of the local gangsters, John Rooney. I didn't think he was an orphan. He just had no father. We had no father, and Rooney took him in. Basically, do you see me as an orphan? Is that? That's not what I'm saying. What it says was orphaned and then raised by the Irish mob boss is in the description, so. That the vibe I got was that he just had no dad, so he just kind of was getting in trouble and then he got taken under the wing of the mob boss, which makes perfect sense.

48:40 Yeah, which is John Rooney, who was played by Paul Newman, who's actually based on a real gangster, John Patrick Looney. And John Patrick Looney was an American political fixer Irish mob based in Rock Island during the early twentieth century, and Hanks's character is based off of one of his right hand guys named Dan Drost, so loosely based off accounts of that, so you can read more about that, but basically what happens is you find out that Rooney is holding a wake for one of his brothers that has passed, and so Michael and Michael Senior and Michael Junior are going to go to the wake and Rooney, you know, greets the boys and you know, gives him a big hug and everything, and he even says before Michael Senior before tells Junior in the car that is awake.

49:22 I don't want to see those dice out. And the first thing that Rooney does and he sees the kids is let's go down the basement and they're throwing dice and making bets. Yeah, they're having a nice time. They are having a nice time. So they end up getting some money one off of Rooney. So that's when he sends Michael Junior upstairs, and that's when we meet Connor Rooney who was played by Daniel Craig, who was sitting in his father's office just smoking a cigarette and hanging out. Basically. Yeah, he seems to be also having quite a nice time. Having quite a nice time because Michael asked him. He's like, you know, I need to get some money, and he's like, yeah, come back later, I'm busy, and he's just laying on the couch smoking a cigarette. No, he had to get a coat, a coat. Yeah, well the money's in the coat. Oh well. Yeah.

50:03 So while this is going on, we see that this this wake is huge, by the way, because there it's at Rooney's house and it is packed wall to wall with people. Yeah, there's there's probably easily one hundred people in this big house. And that is when Finn McGovern insinuate, inuates that Rooney is responsible for his brother's death and almost makes a scene at the wake, and that's when Connor and Michael will have to walk him out to his car and he's like, you know, we'll talk about this later. And that's when Rooney actually sends them to go talk to him later the next day, talk to talk. They specifically just talk. Even says that. So by this point, you see Michael laying in bed that night. He's reading his Lone Ranger book, which is kind of what he does throughout the movie whenever he's waiting around. He's got this Lone Range book that he reads. And his brother is like, you know, do you know what dad does? And he's like dad works for mister Rooney.

50:51 And he's like, yeah, but what does he do? Yeah, and he's because Daniel Craig had I can't remember what he says to the kid, it's fucking hysterical because he notices always smiling. It's because it's all fucking hysterically. At that point. Yeah, great performance. And the little kid even says that you see Michael Junior pop up just like what did you say? He repeats it immediately, which is what kids are good at yeah, good at repeating, especially if there's swear words in it. So next night, that is when Connor and Michael decided to go out and speak to McGovern and he loads of his car, he gets his gun, he goes into the car and he's driving in picks up Connor. But we noticed that Michael is hiding in the back of the car. Yes, because he's become very curious.

51:32 Very curious on what his dad does. So they pull up outside of this factory. It's in the rain, and they get out. They go inside and Michael Junior wants to see what's going on, so he goes to peek through the door, but doesn't want to cause a scene or let anybody know he's there, so he finds a hole. He doesn't want to get caught. Doesn't want to get caught. Yeah, he's a hole in the side, and he goes to look through it, and that's when we see that McGovern is talking to Connor and he's upset because he believes that he's basically had ship pulled on him to a point of having both money go on and the reason that his brother is dead, and he's blaming them for it. Well, yeah, and their whole argument is like, we'll make it right. You know, this was not exactly what you think it was. Yeah, and then after all that's like, but your but your brother was a was a liar.

52:12 Yeah, your brother was a crook. He was a liar. And he even makes he make McGovern makes note that, you know, oh Connor with your frequent trips to Chicago. And then Connor pulls out a pistol and shoots him dead right in the head. And that's when Michael Senior pulls on a machine gun or Thompson and blasts the other three guys that are with McGovern. So now they've got four dead bodies. On there, and the young boy has witness seen it all and he's trying to figure out what to do. And then of course they immediately noticed movement. Connor immediately sees him through the hole. So Michael goes running towards the fence, tries to climate. Of course, rain's coming down at this point. He can't do it, so then he just basically cowers in the rain. And that's when Michael Senior walks up and he's getting ready to you think often, but then he realizes that it's his son. Yeah, pretty quickly he notices. But then Daniel Craig's character walks up and looks at him and then goes, he one of yours.

52:57 Yeah, He's like, he's my son, and he's like, can he keep a secret? And he's like, yeah, shouldn't be anything to worry about. He's my son. So that's when Connor is just like, all right, well you guys go back to town. I'm just going to enjoy a nice stroll in the rain and walks. On, Yeah, I'm sure nothing bad will come of that. So Michael absolutely saw everything, and that's when Senior swears him to secrecy. Rooney then sends Sullivan the next day to collect a debt from Tony Calvino, and so we think everything's fine. But the next morning, as they get up, Rooney is already at the house as Michael Junior is leaving, and he gives him a coin because he's like, you know, hey, you know, I'm a man of my word. You know, secrecy is everything. So he gives him this coin, saying that it's just about the dice. Does not mention anything about the previous night.

53:40 He's about the dice. Yeah, just about the dice. So Michael Junior goes off to ride his bike, and that is when, like I said, Rooney sends him to go Senior to collect a debt, and Connor is jealous and afraid he's also made a fool in front of everybody. The next the next time, they have a meeting with everybody because they're meeting around on the table at Rooney's house that night, and that's when he's like, you know, do you have anything to say? And he's like, you know, oh, I would just like to say I'm sorry or you know, it's my apologies, and he won't say it specifically, and Rooney gets pissed and starts banging his fists on the table. Yeah. Yeah, things are going south very quickly. So that is when Senior is getting ready to leave. He gets into his car and Connor comes out with a letter to give to Calvino and he's like, you know, he's what's to saying. He's like, oh, Calvino's behind on some payments, so you know, just give him the note.

54:26 He'll know what it's for. So Senior goes to collect. He goes into Calvino's club and that's when Calvino secretly takes out a pistol before he walks in, because he's like, you know, hey, Sullivan's here, and you know, we don't know why he's here. He's like, oh, he's probably. Here to collect, takes out a pistol and hides it under a pamphlet on his desk, and that is when Sullivan walks in, gives him the note and he's like, you know, do you know what it's for. He's like, ah, you know, I'm laid on payments. He opens it and he's looking at it and he's reading it, and then that's when Sullivan realizes that the gun's into there, so he clickly grabs it, shoots Calvino in the head and also shoots the other guy. And that's what he sees. The note says, kill Sullivan and all debts are paid. I mean, that could mean, that could mean anything. I mean, there are plenty of guys named Sullivan.

55:09 Right, So Calvino and his bodyguard are dead now, and that's when Sullivan rushes home, but it is too late because right as he is rushing home, we also see that Junior is returning to the house and he notices that Connor is coming down the stairs having just killed missus Sullivan and the other son. Awkward. Yeah, great moment though, when he's walking up to the window and little little Sully sees sees him in the window, Yeah, and thinks he's looking right at him. Yeah, as he takes his mask off, which is chilling, chill. But then when you see that he's looking at his own reflection in the window and that's why he's doing that. That was a really great piece of visual storytelling that really stood out to me.

55:53 Well, and not to mention the execution scene of the two of them is she's taken her son out of the bathtub and the door just slightly swings open, and then Connor mass steps into frame and we don't see the actual impack. We just hear the shots. Yeah, yeah, I mean, which I mean, I feel like people would talk a lot about it if they'd, you know, just shown him executing a mother and child. I mean, they can't all be vigilanti, I guess, I guess not. That movie is insane. Yeah, that one moment alone, Yeah, that one moment. It's kind of like in Precinc thirteen. You always forget about us all on Precinc thirteen, forget about the ice cream truck incident. Yeah, she just wanted her her flavor, but that was not the ones you wanted to want. So uh Naturally, Mike Senior comes home, he lets out a scream because he sees what's going on, and that's when he decides that him and Michael Junior have to go on the road because now they got to figure out what they do at this point, because he wants he wants Connor's blood.

56:47 He knows that Connor did this immediately well, and. He seems to have a plan immediately of what needs to be done. Yeah. So first he goes to like, I guess the spot where they do business. Yeah, and he meets with the the guy who seems like he's a representative. Yeah. They go to Rock Island, which is and they flee Rock Island god to the head of Chicago to meet Mobster. Before that, he's told to take the money and go to Ireland. Oh yeah, yeah, forgot about that. Yeah. So they so he goes to he goes to one of the one of the other associates and he's like, you know, hey, there's twenty five thousand dollars in here. This is a message from Rooney. He says, you know, take it if you want more, there is absolutely more available. And that's when Sullivan's like, all right, well I've got a message for him and just shoots the guy in the head.

57:27 Well, and he doesn't just shoot him though, it builds up. Yeah. Yeah, it seems like he doesn't really want to know. But he's also like, now I gotta shoot this guy. I've gotta do it. Yeah, yeah, this is give him a message for me. So Sullivan and Junior decide to drive to the Chicago outfit and that's when he goes to meet Prank Needy and Needy even he's like, you know, what what can I do for you? He's like, you know, I heard what happened. I'm sorry. And he's like, well, I would like to come work for you, but in order for me to do that, you need to turn a blind eye to what I have to do. And he's like, well, what do you mean. He's like, I'm going to kill the man who killed my son and wife. Yeah, and he explains that basically he'd love to have him work for him. He's a good he's good at what he does. Yeah, but that can't be yeah, because the people who are protecting him, are protecting Rooney the younger Rooney, Yeah, which I found to be a really interesting argument though.

58:17 Needy of course played by Stanley Tucci by the way, too phenomenally. Yeah. But I always found that interesting because his point is, like, the people who protect you protect him, Well, they didn't protect him from him. From him, No, but Connor did that on his own accord. Connor did that outside of outside of the family. That's what I mean is, shouldn't the reprisal come from the people are to be protecting Sullivan? Yeah? No, because my point is that he's being disingenuous. Oh yeah, because he's saying like it's the same people that protect you. It's like, no, generally speaking, if somebody steps out of line like that, they would immediately he wouldn't even have to go get revenge, no, because he'd be taking care of Yeah. But because he's Rooney's son, he's protected, He's more than anything. Yeah.

59:00 Yeah. And that's and that was the part where like I felt for Sullivan's being pissed about it. It felt for him being betrayed because it's like, why are you protecting him? I mean, he killed my family? Yeah, without getting approval and and you know, killing a guy's family is extra awful. Well, and then the best reveal is so Sullivan leaves naturally because he's like, you're not gonna help me, then I'm going to take care of it myself. And his Needy's guy follows him on the elevator, but he side steps out of the elevator to basically not be tracked. And that's when Needy goes next door into a room, revealing that both uh, I'm blaking on his name. Uh, well, both the Rooneys yeah, both Rooney yeah, both uh, John and Connor are there, and he's just like, you know what what you know, what do we do at this point?

59:41 And he's like, well, I've done what I can, so you know what can we do? I mean, I suppose you shouldn't kill a man's wife and one of his sons. Yeah, But instead they're gonna go ahead and dispatch a freelance killer and uh and photographer. Yes, And that's when we meet Harlan MacGuire played by Jude Law, who is dispatched to kill Sullivan for what was it to you? Sixteen hundred a day, sixteen sea and the. Photographs are his Yeah to sell as he sees fit. Because we meet him going to a crime scene where a manager has been stabbed because he has supposedly raped another man's wife. And the guy is laying with the knife in his chest and he's paid the cops to give him two minutes. Yeah, except the body starts coughing.

1:00:27 So that's when Maguire goes over and puts a cloth over his face and smothers him. Yeah, just kind of speeds it up a little bit, and then gets his photographs. So now we already know, yeah, that this guy is something. Yeah, because actually we see that before they say they're hiring him. Yeah, because that's when he says over the phone how much it costs, and that the photographs are his business. So by this point, Sullivan Senior and Sullivan Junior are on the road. They're not sure what to do, so he's just driving at this point, he hasn't gotten a plan together. And that's when they decide to stop off at a diner because they've been driving for a bit and he's like, you know, are you hungry? And he's like, no, I'm just gonna sit in here and read my book. I think we skipped a bit, did we skip a bit, well. We skipped the funeral. Oh, because they are they're heading to perdish, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So because he calls home knowing that the funeral is likely happened. Yes, after he was told like go home and bury your wife and chat son, he calls home. His sister answers and he basically says like, we're headed to your house, and she's like, he'll be back there in a couple of days. And then as soon as she hangs up, the assassin picks up the phone and says, operator, my call was just cut off. Could you reconnect us? And now he shows up at the hotel they were staying at. Yeah, they're already gone. So now he's on their track. He's on the trail, and he has a pretty good idea.

1:01:43 And then we get to that door of the diner. Yeah. So they pull off at a diner and he's like, you know, I'm just gonna stay in here and read my book. And you can tell seniors a bit frustrated, but he just lets it go and he goes inside and gets something to eat. Meanwhile, Harlan pulls up and Sullivan's junior does not see it. He goes inside the rest and immediately spots Sulivan sits down at the table right across from them and takes up his camera and starts changing the film. Yeah, and actually this is probably one of my favorite scenes in the whole film. Yeah, because as they're talking, Sullivan does not know who this guy is, and he's like, ask him, you know, oh, so is that for your job or for pleasure? That camera? He's like, oh, both, I shoot, you know, for the news or for a shoot the papers. And he says he I shoot the dead and he's like for newspapers, Like, oh which paper?

1:02:26 He's like, anybody wire me? Yeah, I'm kind of a freelance. And the whole time, like they're ordering food and they're talking and it's just kind of they show their flask. Yeah, they both are sneaking drinks. I'm guessing a reference to post prohibition or may have been during They never say the exact year, but we know it's in the third year, which I think at that point prohibition would be over, but it's probably still guarded echoes of it. So as soon as he realizes who this guy is, and he realizes pretty quickly, Yeah, he heads to the bathroom tries not to make a scene, and the reason he can is there's a police officer sitting at the at the diner counter, and that's one of my favorite parts because he first walks up, he sees Sullivan sitting in the booth, but then he looks at all the cars and he sees the cop car. So now he's waiting for the cop to leave. Of course, the cop leaves, but then comes back in because he forgot something.

1:03:16 But one of my favorite fake outs is we see the cop go out the door, a car starts and we think it's his car, and then the cop comes back. He's like, oh, got to pay, and that's when Sullivan's just running. He's in his car, just bolting out. As the assassin steps out and looks, he sees and another wonderful touch his tires flat and it's just a stake knight from the diner and that just that Really I dug that a lot because it's like, what else would he have gotten? But then McGuire starts opening fire. So you've got Junior in the car who is right in the window, and Sullivan's like, get down. He's like what He's like, get down? And he gets down just before the bullet goes right through the back window, and. The naturally the cop is like, hey, what are you doing? Dead cop shoots the cop dead and that's when we realize this guy is is really yeah, not all his dogs are barking.

1:04:01 So Sullivan's get down the road. And that's when Mike pulls him out of the car and he's just like, you know, when I tell you to eat, we eat. You know, when I tell you to get down, don't ask questions like do you understand what's going on right now? Like I'm trying to protect you. And Junior is like, I don't need you to protect me. You were never there, like when I was a kid, You've never been there. Still is a little kid, but no, but yeah, he's just kind of like, you know, I've always taken care of myself. Yeah, and that's when he basically tells him, look, there's only one way I can think of to get us out of this, and I need I can't do it by myself. And in my opinion, this is I mean this so what makes this movie good and great to people who have a lot of affection for it. I'd probably have a lot of affection for it. I have watched a few more times. Yeah is this part? Yeah, because this part is not like any movie like this I could really think of. And that is he says, he tells his son, I'm gonna you need to be able to drive a car because we're gonna rob banks.

1:04:53 Yeah, We're gonna rob the outfits money. Yeah. Well, and that's the thing though, so we start to think there to rob banks. Basically it's gonna be bank robbery. But then you see him walk into a bank. After a very funny scene teaching his son how to drive like like a thirties car, which was very funny, he walks into the bank and talks to the bank manager and we realize exactly what's going on. He's not robbing any bank, the bank of any money on the books. He knows where all the banks are hiding money for mister Capone. Yes, which I was like, well, that's Ballsy. Who is originally in the movie. In a deleted scene that is on the blu Ray, Alfred Molina plays him. God damn it, why would you cut out Alfred Molina playing Capone?

1:05:35 Because they it's actually my trivia later but basically what they said was that they they felt it kind of slowed down the movie a little bit, that the scene didn't have to be there, it was just extra floddery. I get that because the movie is not like I mean, it's it's deliberately paced. So it's a little slow. Yeah, but it isn't even over two hours. It holds back. But man Alfred Molina is such like because the moment you said copone is like, well who plays it? I love Moline and yeah he's he's so good. So now he's you know this first place that he robs of the gang's money. The first thing the guy says, which I love. He just says, like, you know, they'll find you. He's like the name sloo, nobody spell it for you. And then what's the best My favorite part is you know he's filling the bag with the money and then he's got the last two sexts, like no, no, you keep those. But if I find out that the papers report that like some local farmer like lost their money or whatnot, I'm not gonna be happy.

1:06:29 Well, and he says, like considered it a transaction fee. And then he says, tell him I stole at all and keep that. Keeping yourself and he's like, you trust me to you trust me to keep my mouth shut? And he's like, yeah, bankers are always honest, so. He says, he says, he always trust bank and then he just shoves it in his pocket. Yeah, he just walks out. So now he's just calmly robbing all of these places of money that they can't call the police about. And we assume to do something big with the money. Yeah, but of course, how long can you do this before people start to catch up up with you and they start the crime bosses immediately start to theorize where he's going to hit next. And our assassin is now camped out in a hotel room across the street from one of these banks. Yeah, that has a bunch of money in it.

1:07:13 And one of my favorite things on the last thing with that first robbery is Michael Junior pulls up super slow in the car and when he gets in he's like, yeah, yeah, we're not in a hurry or anything. I mean, in a way, they're not, you know, but yeah, yeah, no, that was really funny. Yeah, it looked so slow. So the mob with draws their money from the banks and that interferes with his plans. Obviously. So that actually leads to him going to this hotel room because they've set up the all Rants. Alexander Rance is basically the guy that's handling the finances. He's their accounting, their accountant, Yeah, and he's got all the paperwork and they're keeping it up him hidden in this hotel and Mike knows exactly where he's at. Well, he's in this fancy hotel, yeah, which has a stock ticker put in it. Yeah. So it's it's very clearly like the place you know he would he would be, and that's why he finds it. He's like, I went to the fanciest plays I can find, because you're a guy, you know, who likes the best.

1:08:04 So McGuire is across from across the street from this hotel room, and the blinds are the curtains are kind of drawn to a certain way where he can see not not much, but when somebodys standing in the middle, he can absolutely see them. And he sees just some activity as Michael is enter the apartment, but he doesn't see him yet. He just sees Rants acting a little funny and then immediately puts together that he's there. So Michael goes to Rants and he's like, you know, I want the files, and so he pulls out this giant trunk. He's messing with these keys, finally gets the last key because he drops the keys at one point, he's like, oh, I just guess I'll have to start all over. And that's when Mike Pully goes. He goes, you have one more trunk more try and he's like, oh, there goes yeah, and Dylan Baker is playing Rants. So he opens the trunk. There's nothing in the trunk. Mike immediately knows it's the setup as mguire comes through with the shotgun just starts blasting. They trade some fire and actually end up killing Rants in the firefight as he runs into the other bedroom.

1:08:50 It's a great shootout and it's definitely a nice payoff after a movie that's been you know, the action is definitely occasional and it's overall not like a crazy shootout kind of movie, but this one's pretty great with Buck shot in him shooting his pistol lege. He even shoots this glass lamp right by McGuire, which shatters glass and cuts his face, and so he that's how he's able to get over then he. Gets him a little. Yeah, I think I think I think he actually hit the lamp and him Okay, I think that's why the bullet that broke the lamp and got the glass in him also, like gray raised him a little bit of face or whatever. Well, we think it might have just shot him right in the head because he falls on the ground and he doesn't get back up. Yeah, he's bloody, he's crying. And that's when he gets out with the ledgers. And during the escape, McGuire also shoots Sullivan in the shoulder because he gets out on the street and that's when McGuire starts shooting from the window and hits him right in the shoulder as he's hanging out the car as he's there driving away.

1:09:40 Yeah, and that's when we end up, I guess, sort of on. The road back to the road to Perdition. So Michael's driving and his dad's like, you know, I'm fine, I'm fine, keep driving, And that's when he ends up passing out and he pulls off to the side and he finds this little elderly couple that has this farm, and they end up taking care of them for about a couple of days or. So yeah, it seemed like maybe more like a week probably, Yeah, because he's almost totally healed up. Yeah, I mean, I mean we don't see the wound, but I mean, like his bandages start being very clean. Yeah. And this is a really cute, kind of very good scene dust Bowlly feeling, although I think it's later than the dust bowl kind of thing where they're on this farm. Yeah, these this kindly old couple don't ask a lot of questions. Now they take the bullet out with no problem.

1:10:20 I forgot it. Yeah, I mean that's a good point too. Yeah, for whatever reason, they're just being super nice. I mean, I will say, especially in that era, a man traveling alone with his son is a level of desperation that was very very common during the Great Depression, especially where it would just be like we're desperate, we don't have anywhere to be or anywhere to go. So one thing that seems really good for young Sullivan is he starts working the fields m and he's a hard worker. It seems like that's good for him. It seems there is a lot of moments where it seems like this is like the best thing, Yeah that's ever happened to that kid getting to be in the fresh air away from all the trouble.

1:11:00 Well, it leads to a really good scene between him and his father where he wakes up one night because he had a bad dream and his dad's sitting there going through the ledgers trying to figure out, you know, what's going on, all the money and whatnot, and his uh Michael even asked his father. He's like, you know, did you love Peter more than me? And he's like and he's like, you know, no, you know I loved you. I loved you both, you know, equally, And he's like, well, you know, it just seems like you were nicer to Peter. And he's like, well, maybe it was because I saw him as a kid like him, as him as a kinder kid, and I saw a lot of you and me, and I didn't want you to grow up to be like me. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very it's a it's a good one. He is he was such a sweet kid, which seems harsh at first, and yeah, as to where you were more like me me, yeah, And that's an intense element and an element that does elevate this movie a lot, because I don't want it to sound like I didn't like the movie. I did, Yeah, I just it's just totally brand new to me. And I think a lot of people have a lot of nostalgia for this movie and rightfully so. Yeah, and that whole sequence is really great because think about the situation. He's not a good guy. Hmm.

1:12:01 He's done a lot of bad things. He didn't have a father of his own. Yeah, so there's got to be this element of worrying that you're screwing up because you didn't really have an example other than this crime boss that while yeah, he loved you like a son, he also used you to kill people. Yeah, and then you know, didn't punish his own flesh and blood when he killed your innocent way family. Yeah. Yeah, So it's it's you know, it's pretty poignant moment for him to say, yeah, that you reminded me of me, and that made me worry, Yeah, and that made me want you to know me less. So he ends up going through the ledgers after Michael goes back to bed, and that's when he reveals that Connor's name is on all of these slips on people that are now dead, and Connor has been embezzling money from his own father.

1:12:47 Well, he's been hiding money under account names of dead Pete dead men. Yeah, but he caused. To be dead, including McGovern What a great name. So that is when he thinks that he's basically at the ticket now to have Rooney call off the hit and he can go back to his life. So he wakes Junior up in the morning and he's like, you know, let's go. And as they're leaving, they passed the old couple and he's like, we left you something back there. It turns out to be a huge bag full of money with a thank you note. Yeah, And it's a sweet little moment. Yeah, and I remember you were just like you were like, yeah, that's clean money, and all of a sudden was like, this is the thirties. Yeah, just take a bag of money. You have a bag of money. And so he ends up finding Rooney at a church and Rooney has just taken his his bat or not communion, communion, thank you, I want to say confession, and that's when he sits back down. He realizes that Michael is behind him and he's like, you know, can we talk. So they go into the basement of the church and that's when he reveals the ledgers to Rooney, and Runey's like, you know, I I know, like I've known this, and he's just like, you know, I still can't let you just kill my son.

1:13:49 Yeah, which I mean, I get, but his son's a a real fuck up. Yeah. And Ruoney has known this for a while. And Rooney even states that he expects that Connor will either be killed I Sullivan or Needy's men after Rooney has died, but until then he is not calling off this. He's like, I'm not gonna let you. I'm not gonna he says, you want me to give you the keys to his room so you can go in and shoot him in his bed. Yeah, And I'm not gonna do that. But it is funny because you know, Rooney's son thinks, like, when my dad's gone, I'm gonna run all this. And the moment he said that, my first thought that I said to you was I was like, no, they're going to finally get rid of you. They're going to kill you, dude. Yeah, you're not. You're not You're a liability, not a not a yeah not you're not helpful.

1:14:30 When it leads to one of my favorite lines from Rooney, which is there are only murderers in this room. Michael, open your eyes. This is the life we chose, the life we lead, and there was only one guarantee. None of us will see heaven. And that's when Michael says, Michael could. And so at this point he's taking a stand for his son. No, and I do like that. I I will say I started to feel very conflicted because his son could potentially never die, yeah, if he had just let it go. Yeah. But he won't. No, he won't. He needs revenge. Yeah, But I do think that that makes sense to his character. Yeah. But still it is a criticism I have of that character is that I got that he has this attitude of like, you know, I want I only want my son to be safe. It's like, well, they literally told you could just go away. Yeah, that they give you all the money you want in the world and you could just go anywhere. Yeah, and they won't look for you.

1:15:22 Well, he even says, you know you should. I'm giving you the chance to leave, raise your son and let this go like this that you know, if you want to be the father, now you can let Michael live the life and this is done. You don't have to pursue this vengeance at this. Point, right, and he's not interested in that. He is very interested in vengeance. He is very interested in vengeance, which leads us to the climax of the film. It is a nice rainy night in Chicago finally, and that's when Rooney is being escorted out by his bodyguards. They get to a car and they're knocking on the door to get let in, and that's when the driver's head just falls forward, revealing he's dead. They know they're about to be ambushed, so he's looking around, no one's there, and then all this sudden, the bodyguards just start dropping it. Well, as we see the Tommy gun being fired from pretty far away.

1:16:05 And we're not hearing the bullets. That this is all done with music and and like there is no real sound effects happening. At this point. We see the umbrella explode from bullets, and the bodyguards to are exploiting from bullets and Rooney Paul Newman is just standing in the rain, looking down, waiting to face what it's going to be the man that kills him. Yeah, and then as Sullivan walks up to him, he says, I'm glad it's you. Yeah, I'm glad it's you. And then Sullivan lays on that Tommy gun trigger for a good five seconds. Oh, he pumps that motherfucker so full of lled you could take a proficiency test with him. I mean, and you know, for those who know anything about guns, the Thompson submachine gun one of the reasons that it was so formidable. Yeah, the reason it was such a choice of the gangsters and the crooks and everything because there were a lot of There were other submachine guns, mostly European ones, Yeah, which shot nine millimeters bullet is the Thompson submachine gun shoots forty five ACP and those are big heavy rounds. Yeah, so you're talking about tons of knockdown power and you're getting fifty rounds in like a minute and a half. Yeah, it's a hell of a gun.

1:17:15 So my point is that he was dead as a door fuck. Yeah, he was speaking of Thompson's. Do you know what was one of the first films to feature the Thompson sub machine gun? What Scarface in nineteen thirty two. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, there's a rumor that they're actually using real bullets in that movie and having people dive out of the way. But I don't know how true that is in Scarface in nineteen thirty two Scarface. Uh, I mean it wouldn't entire I mean, that's pretty freaking dangerous. It's it's on the IMDb, and it's one that I've heard outside of IMDb. Because it was nineteen thirties. Yeah, so who knows, who knows? So by this point Rooney is dead. He's gotten the first part of his vengeance, but now Connor is the one that has to pay. And Connor's held up in this nice hotel, which we see Sullivan walking down the hallways.

1:18:00 Well, and earlier we'd had him complain he felt like a prisoner, yeah, because they keep making him stay away in a hotel room. Yeah, So he has taken a bath and we see Sullivan walk right in fire three shots, walks out, and then one of my favorite shots is there's a mirror on the back of this door that swings, and as it swings, you just see Connor's dead body and then the door just closes. It just reveals him through the window on the or the mirror on the door. Yeah, is a really brilliant way to do it, highly effective and One of my favorite moments is right before he goes there, because he walks up to the elevator where there's a guy guarding. Yeah, the guy just lets him out there, let him go because he's just like, I knew this was happening. Well, and he's like, we already know that that dude's dead and that you did it, So like, yeah, I guess. They're like, well, is what it is? You did what you did?

1:18:42 So that's when they get back on their road and they're driving out to Perdition. They get to the Ants Beach house and once there, they're running on across the beach and we see that Mike Senior or Mike Junior had said something along the lines of like that there was a dog there. That's that's like what his memory was, because he'd said they take him there when they're like four or five years old. Yeah, And so he's running on the beach, she sees the dog that all comes running at him. Mike goes into the house to find Sarah, but Sarah's not there, but he goes into his kitchen. There's a giant window facing the beach and he's just looking out of the sun and then all of a sudden three shots are fired into his back. Yeah, And and they take their time setting this up. Yeah, because for a moment, I wondered if this was going to be over, if it was gonna end with that moment. But Yeah, he gets shot. We reveal that it's the assassin photographer and as he's laying there, cameras trying to get he's getting that picture. He takes one shot and then Young Sullivan comes in.

1:19:36 Yeah, we hear we hear a click, and he turns around and sees that Junior has the gun on him and he's like, you cked up his gun. Yeah. He's like, you're you're not You're not gonna shoot me. You're not gonna do this, and he's like you and they point the gun at him, and you think that he's gonna do it, and then we hear a shot ring out and it's revealed that Mike Senior has shot McGuire in the back. And the whole time that this is going on, Senior is telling him, don't. Don't do it, like he's shaking his head, don't. Do it, don't do it. And this is the part of the movie that does really make it great is that moment where he's looking at his son and he's like, I couldn't do it, and he's like, I know, I know, And that is what made the movie work. And that's why I'll say, I don't think it's a plot hole that he wants vengeance even though he so badly wants to protect his son. It's a flaw within him. Yeah, And he's expressed clearly that he's afraid of his the sins of him. It's it's the lady. The sins of the father shall be visited upon the children. So that's what he's afraid of. So him not shooting him was it was, you know, really really important. His father then dies in his arms. It's very very sad, it really is.

1:20:45 Then we see him standing on the beach and he says he never held a gun again. Never held a gun again, and he even ends up driving back to the elderly couple's farm. In a voice over, he is standing and we see that he says, you know that he this is where he decided to grow up, and he adds a he's not held a gun since his father's death. And people always ask him, you know, who was Michael Sullivan And he just tells them was he a good man? Or was he a good man you know? Or or was already good at him at all? And he simply answers, he was my father. Yeah, And that is two thousand and two's Road to Perdition. And it's a pretty pretty solid flick. Yeah, there's a lot going on, there's a lot to like. It made me honestly want to revisit American Beauty, which I haven't seen since it came out been.

1:21:26 A long time, probably since college, since I've seen that one. I mean I saw it. Let's say that came out, what ninety nine? Oh yeah, then I watched it on tape at like two thousand and two thousand and one. Yeah, I did not understand a lot of it, but I knew everybody loved it. Last time I watched it, I really liked it. But that was also like a decade ago. So I would, I would. I would definitely be up to revisiting him. So would you like to know what the budget was on this film? Oh? Gosh, that that that the way you said that and guessing it was quite a bit. Yeah, ninety close eighty Oh okay, yeah, that's pretty high, Bud So. Eighty million dollar budget. Opening weekend, which is July fourteenth to two thousand and two, takes in twenty two million. Oh, that's really good. Grosses worldwide one hundred and eighty one million dollars. That's a hit, Yes, especially in that era. Yeah.

1:22:07 Yes, it was so shot in Grand Rapids, Zeeland and West Olive, Michigan, along with Aurora, West Dundee, Chicago, and Geneva, Illinois. Okay. Max Allan Collins published wrote A Perdition in nineteen ninety nine. His book agent immediately saw potential for a film adaptation and showed it to a film agent. The novel was sent to producer Dean Zanik, who went who then sent it to Steven Spielberg, who shortly set the project up at DreamWorks, but did not seek to direct due to a full slate of projects. That makes sense, so instead he tapped the guy who did American Beauty. Sam Mendez was sent the project. After completing American Beauty. He was also exploring other prospects such as A Beautiful Mind, k Pax, The Shipping News, and even The Lookout. I feel like those would have been a little too obvious. The Lookout is one of my is probably one of my favorites off that list with Joseph Gordon Levitt and Jeff Daniels.

1:22:51 No, that's a good, good film. I'm just saying, like a little bit too on the nose, Yeah, Like I could see why I wanted to do something different. The story is deeply informed by the Lone Wolf and Club Mangus amonga series. Collins acknowledged the influence in a BBC interview, declaring that Road to Perdition was an unabashed homage to Lone Wolf and Cub, so ripoff A ripoff indeed? Well, I oh man, I love Lone Wolf and Cub. The movie is loosely based on the actual events and real enforcer for mobster John Looney, who was betrayed by him. The film is set in nineteen thirty one, and costume designer Albert Wolski had real trouble finding distinctive clothing from that period, as this was at the height of the Depression. Fashions lacked any flamboyantce of the nineteen twenties in the style of the later thirties when gangsterism was fashionable. Failing to find any usable real clothes from thirty one Wolfski came across a weaver in upstate New York who was able to make all the required clothing using the same weight of fabrics that were used in that period. Once woven, the costumes then had to be aged and died.

1:23:47 Also, that means they were two years away from the end of prohibition. Yes, so that makes sense that so sneaking. The Booze was somewhat of a big deal. Paul Newman was unanimously the producer's first choice for the part of John Rooney. In order to court Newman to appear in the film, Sam Mendez paid the actor a visit at his apartment. The first thing Newman said to him when he opened the door to Mendez was, Jesus, you're young. A One day, when the cinematographer Conrad L. Hall was setting up a shot of Paul Newman, Hall looked through the viewfinder and began to cry. When asked what was wrong, he just said he was so beautiful. He was so beautiful. This is the final live action feature film for both Hall and Newman before their respective deaths. They had worked together on several times before, most notably Cool Hand Luke in nineteen sixty seven.

1:24:28 Wow that is quite a journey. Yeah. Up until the killing in the warehouse, Michael Sullivan Junior has little access to his father. Consequently, Sam Sir Sam Mendez made sure that the father figure was always filmed from afar or through doorways in the mirrors to emphasize the distance. Once father and son find themselves on the run, this changes and close ups are employed more and more frequently. Well, that's definitely accurate. I mean I noticed it a little bit. The scene in which Rooney demands his son Connor apologized for murdering Fin McGovern will, continually saying try again and then striking the table anger was Paul Newman's idea, which director Sam Mendes liked and decided to keep in the film. The nervousness scene and the surrounding actors in the room was genuine. Huh Yeah, people were like ash shit. Paul Newman's at it again.

1:25:12 For the bank robbery sequence, Tyler Hoachland had to learn to drive, something he was only too happy to do. Hoachland mastered it easily, but just to be on the safe side, a stunt driver was sitting in the back with his own set of driving controls. I mean It's not just any car either, it's like a freaking model t Yeah. The piano piece that Paul Newman and Tom Hanks play at the opening funeral was performed by them. Sam Mendez confessed that Paul Newman walked on his hands between takes to amuse the crew on set. Paul Paul Newman. Yeah, that's a spry o man, no shit. Makeup artist Daniel C. Strifige's first instruction of the cast was to stay out of the sun as much as possible, as the film was set in midwinter. Mm.

1:25:53 Yeah, yet rains to create a villain that could challenge the physically imposing Tom Hanks. Director Sam wanted Jude Law to seem rodents. Like imposing Tom Hanks. Jude Law worked with a magician to learn how to lace a coin through his fingertips, a trick he performs in the film. Yeah, and he's really good at it. Ye, he is. I'd wondered if they'd cut to another person's hand because he was He had the I can't do that night for years. Yeah. I either I could get across the coin across my knuckles, but his grabbing with the thumb to bring it back around. Yeah, I couldn't even try. I don't have that dexterity at all. McGuire's crime scene photography work is based on author Wigi Falling, a famous crimestce photographer in the nineteen twenties and thirties who bribed policemen to tip him off to crimes and road accidents so that he could ribe on the scene first and take the photos. His seemingly psychic ability to arrive there before thirty before the authorities did result in his nickname Wiji, which was corruption term Wija. He sold his photos to tabloid newspapers. The photos in McGuire's apartment are real nineteen thirties crime scene photos, some of which were taken by Wigi.

1:26:55 Huh eh, Yeah, that's dark dark, yeah, dude. To stereotyping issues only, Tucci generally avoided roles in gangster movies. However, the prospect of working with Sam Mendez was enough for him to reconsider his stance. Oh, he also got to work with with Newman. Yeah, I mean that's a pretty good, pretty good reason. Tom Hanks's son Chet Hanks, has said this is his favorite performance and film of his dad. In every one of my dad's films. I can see him because he's always being himself, but that role is the farthest from his normal self out of any of the movies he's done. Now, he says, I mean, I feel like, you know, he was very different in the Terminal. But that's just that's I love that movie. That's fine. You don't like you don't like the Terminal line, It's okay.

1:27:35 What's wrong with the Terminal? The Terminal just I don't know. Like the reveal at the end is really sweet. I will give you that, like with the whole, With the whole, I don't Oh, actually, I don't want to spoil it, so never mind. I don't know what you have against the Terminal like that. It's fine, it's not it's not one of my favorites. Wow, you heard it here first David does not like Foreigner. That's not what that's about, okay. Sam Mendez claimed that Tom Hanks performed the scene in which Sullivan outdraws the gun to speak easy without any stunt double. He was very impressed with his deafness. The diner, which Michael and Maguire meat, was bought on the internet by production designer Dennis Gasner for twenty thousand dollars. I mean it is a trailer sized diner, and those were very common back in those days.

1:28:18 Frank Needy was a chainsmoker in real life, so Stanley Tucci had to get through approximately eighty cigarettes in one day. That sounds awful. That sounds like hell. The movie is dedicated to cinematographer Conrad el Hall. It was his final feature film. He would posthumously win the Oscar for Best Cinematography for his work on the film Wow. A major difference between the graphic novel and the film is that in the book, Michael Sullivan Junior can and does kill alongside his father during their spree. He grows up to become a priest as a penance for his crimes. That's very different. Yeah, that's extremely different. Yeah. Rain served as a motif in the film. It was developed after research for the wake scene at the beginning of the film and formed the director that corpses were kept on ice of the nineteen thirties to keep bodies from decomposing. The notion was interwoven into the film, which linked the presence of rain with death. Mendez reflected on the theme linking the rain with death speaks to the multibility of rain and links to the uncontrollability of fate.

1:29:14 These are things that humans can't control. Okay, that's a good point. Yeah. And while nominated for Academy Awards for Best Supporting with Paul Newman, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound, the only award the film took home was Best Cinematography for Conrad L. Hall. Oh. I mean it does look great. Yeah, And I'm sure that they were influenced by it being his last film of a very storied career. They wanted to give him a win, even if he couldn't be there to enjoy it. So what are your final thoughts on two thousand and two's Road to Perdition. It's a pretty solid film. I liked it. The performances are really they're very good. The dynamic of a father and son where the father is irredeemable. Yeah, I do appreciate.

1:29:55 I like the idea that he basically learns what it is to actually be a father by the end of it. That that clicked with me very much, And as we talked about it, that kind of kind of dawned on me more. It's a pretty solid film. I think that. I mean, I'm shocked I never got around to seeing it, but it did come out during like an odd time for me, Like I was just about eighteen when it would have hit home video and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, it's a classic. I would definitely say it's a rented. I don't. It wasn't quite like a like a seminal classic to me, but it could be. I got the future rewatches and whatnot yet. No, it's a rented for me as well. I think the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous in it. You can tell that Conrad had really studied some of these nineteen thirties paintings that they talked about in the trivia as well. It's got a great performance by great performance by everybody. But I just the performance in Hanks in this movie just stands out to me so much. It's just it's not something I'm used to seeing him do. I know I've said that before, but it's just like I was really excited to see him step into this role.

1:30:56 I honestly, for me, Newman was the standout human's great. I felt like every shot of him after Sullivan's family is dead. Yeah, he just has so much pain and turmoil on his face. He knows what's coming for him well, and he just knows that it's his fault. Yeah, all of it, Yeah, is his fault. And that really resonated with me very much well. And I love the fact that, like you mentioned earlier, the violence is absolutely is in the film, but it's not in your typical gangster style of just like blastom, shoot him up. It's all done in an artistic style and it's all done to play into the next scene as well. It's thoughtfully done, yeah, because it's not about witnessing the violence, it's about what the violence does and what it is. Yeah.

1:31:39 But yeah, it's absolutely renting for me. So that is one that I cannot recommend enough. We always like get on the show with a couple of recommendations. I have two this week, starting with nineteen nineties Miller's Crossing from the Coen Brothers, currently rentable on Private Fandango. It says Tom Reagan, an advisor to a prohibition era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties. One of Gabrielle Burne's finest performances. You also have Albert Finnie in it. It is a really really solid gangster movie. So if you're into that, that's one and then tying into the family gangster element, I'm gonna go with two thousand and Five's A History of Violence, currently also available on Prime and Fandango. Mild manner Man becomes a local hero through an act of violence which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core. I actually got to show you this a couple of years ago for your first time, which was that I'm sorry, History of Violence with a Yeah, yeah.

1:32:26 I like that movie. I actually thought it was gonna be a lot more shocking, Yeah, but it was. But it still it's got shocking violence. Yeah, it's it's an interesting movie. Makes a great pairing with a No Country for Old Men. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah. So I picked a recommendation that I actually only saw maybe a month or so ago, and it's from twenty twenty one. Okay, it's No Sudden Move Yes, by Steven soder. It was almost one of my recommendations, no joke. And it's on Max right now, and that's where I caught it. I kind of ended up on a Soderberg tear. Yeah, I forget what. Oh it started when we saw Presence started putting on Soderberg movies. Yeah. And the concept, according to I Am Tob, a group of criminals are brought together under mysterious circumstances and have to work together to uncover what's really going on when their simple job goes completely sideways. It's got Don Cheetle and Benicio del Toro as well as David Harber and Brittan Fraser. Oh yeah, Fraser's in it. It's it's it's great, great performances.

1:33:23 It's a great slow burn crime drama. Like I was. I was hooked to that movie when I put it on. So yeah, No, Sudden Move is fantastic recommendation. Yeah, it had to me. It had that similar vibe where I could, like, I don't know where it had that chill thirties forties era vibe. Yeah, it's the best way I could put it. Well, another one it was actually fifties. Another one I'll recommend just because I love the movie and I wanted to get a little bit more notice is The Cotton Club Francis four COPEOZ The Cotton Club, which recently got re released about five or six years ago. In addition called Encore, which is like a new newer version that he put out that has more musical numbers. It's got Nicholas Cage, Richard Gear, James Ramar, Fred Gwynn, Bob Hoskins.

1:34:05 I mean is it's a great, great little gangster movie that I cannot recommend enough. Yeah, I've not heard of that. Oh dude, I'll bring over the Cotton Club. It's great. You would love it, Okay, so we'll definitely check that out. Well, we'll have to see. Do we have any emails this week on the show. Perhaps, Well, then let's get into them. I believe we actually got one like about an hour before you and I met up. Awesome. So this one the subject line, and by the way, I want to mention you could send us an email at do you even movie at Pod at gmail dot com. Do you even movie pod at gmail dot com. The subject line it's my birthday. Hi. My name is Alex. I've been a longtime listener for all the weekly spooky stuff and do you even movie?

1:34:45 My birthday is April twenty eighth, and I was hoping you guys could do an episode for me. One of my all time favorite Halloween movies has to be hocus Pocus. Haha. A bit corny, but it's a classic. Dave is wearing a hocus poke sure underneath his eyes. I am under my Halloween shirt or your Halloween shirt. If not that one. I was actually in a movie called Crooked Arrows. It's like The Mighty Ducks but with lacrosse. Interesting. I think it would be super cool to hear you guys talk about a movie that I was in. I play ten bears, a small, small speaking role. I'm in most of the movie but just had one line. It was a ton of fun and a great experience. Hopefully you guys could do that. Thanks for your time, Alex.

1:35:33 Thanks so much for the email. Alex. And hocus Pocus is definitely a possibility. It probably won't be anytime soon. I was parking up that hocus Pocus tree for Halloween time for a while. Yeah, it's it's It's definitely one that I would I would probably put it closer to Halloween, but it's definitely one we'll take notice. And I just looked up Crooked Arrows and I'm gonna put this on my watch list and definitely check it out because I've seen this advertise on Peacock already. Oh so it's streaming on Peacock on Peacock nice yep, so I'll definitely check that out. But yeah, thank you look into that for thank you for the email, and yeah, hocus Pocus will be coming to the show. I'm going to force it on hen at some point. I I just don't have the level of nostalgia a lot of people do for it. My nostalgia has has gone down a bit for it, but I still love it. Ouch Dave is getting hateful over here.

1:36:15 This sequel just didn't help me much. Oh oh wow, so you let the sequel hurt the original. I did let the sequel hurt you. No, no, no. What I let hurt the original was the explosion of hocus Pocus that is on Halloween time at ABC Family. And also how like a lot of channels starts showing it when it when it was when I was a hipster and that was my movie which was never it was cool? Then? Oh okay, okay, I mean I think the last well, I think one of the first times I saw hocus Pocus was a teacher showed it in middle school. You told me that. Yeah, so it's been and I've watched it a couple of times since I have nothing against it. It's just not in my rotation. One of my grandma's favorite movies. I but she was the one that showed me growing up, so I have an affinity for it because of that.

1:36:55 But also, yeah, I just find it a lot of fun. But yeah, well, definitely, we will definitely be talking about it eventually on the show. Wow, So what David's saying is he hates your. No, that's not That's not what it is. It's more so that April is currently scheduled unfortunately. Well, I mean it probably rains once in hocus Pocus, you can make it worse. Actually it doesn't rain. Oh wait a minute, Uh, it's storms. We don't necessarily get rained. Yeah, Dave lawyering up. I'm gonna have to double check though. But yeah, but would you like to know what we're talking about next week on the show as we continue with April showers? Sure? So we are diving into twenty nineteen's Crawl from Alexandra Aja Man. I am looking forward to revisiting that.

1:37:36 That is a wild, wild movie, tying back into Hard Rain, because now not only is their flooding, but now there are alligators mixed in with the flooding or crocodiles I can't remember which. I'm pretty sure they'd be allegan alligators, crocodiles or not in the United States. Yeah, shut up. And it's available to watch free on. Pluto TV YEP, currently rentable on Prime and Fandango as well. And I believe didn't did they do a four K of that recently or did Shout announce four K of that recently awesomely? Possibly? I know we saw it in theaters and that was a lot of fun in theaters. No, that was a total hoot. Yeah, yeah, four K just came out recently, thought so yeah. So yeah, Crawl from twenty nineteen is going to be next week's episode as we continue into April showers, and that should be a very good time.

1:38:17 Yeah. So we want to remind you guys, if you like what you heard tonight, why not leave us a comment on YouTube if you're watching, if you're listening on a podcast, leave us a review on the podcasting app of your choice, especially Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We really do appreciate it and it helps get other movie lovers to join in on the conversation. Yes, if you comment on an episode on Spotify, I will read it and reply to you. I'm always happy to Spotify's really trying to get social. Yeah, so if you get a chance, hit us up and for all the information you could ever want to know, you can go to douevenmovie dot com. Yes you can. And like I said, we are going to be wrapping up April Showers with two more episodes and then moving into May. And I still don't know what we're gonna be talking about yet, so I gotta talk to you about that.

1:39:06 I would assume movies. I hope. So maybe we go to books or even we talk about you know, Ovaltine, Ovaltine. That was the first thing commercial, son of Them. That's my favorite one in that movie. Yeah, yeah, I don't believe you. Yeah, but you don't because there are a lot of great lines in the Christmas That's that's probably one of my favorites though. It's just the way the way he says, the way he says son of a Bitch. No, no, I mean that movie is just, you know, the most one of the most quotable movies of all time. It is. I love that movie with all my heart. But yes, but that is gonna do it for us tonight, So. I guess we're gonna get out of here. But I want to thank you guys again for joining us for another episode of Do You Even Movie Again? Send us an email do You Even Movie Pot at gmail dot com with suggestions, comments, gripes, whatever it is, or to bully David more therapy because you know, maybe next time we'll say, well, we'll see. Still, I'm still waiting to hear if your insurance is going to cover me or not.

1:39:59 So until next time, my friends, don't forget to bring an umbrella. And well you just might not have a father, I guess. So we'll see you next. Road to Perdition barely