| A History of Violence | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | David Cronenberg |
| Produced by | Chris Bender J.C. Spink Toby Emmerich Kent Alterman Cale Boyter Josh Braun Justis Greene Roger Kass |
| Screenplay by | Josh Olson |
| Based on | |
| Starring | Viggo Mortensen Maria Bello Ed Harris William Hurt |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
| Editing by | Ronald Sanders |
| Studio | New Line Productions BenderSpink Media I! Filmproduktion München & Company |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | May 16, 2005 (Cannes Film Festival) September 23, 2005 (United States) |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $32 million[1] |
| Box office | $60,740,827[2] |
A History of Violence is a 2005 American crime thriller film directed by David Cronenberg and written by Josh Olson. It is an adaptation of the 1997 graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke. The film stars Viggo Mortensen as the owner of a diner who is thrust into the spotlight after killing two robbers in self-defense.
The film was put into limited release in the United States on September 23, 2005, and wide-release on September 30, 2005. It is notable for its distinction of being the final major Hollywood motion picture released on VHS.[3]
William Hurt was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while Josh Olson was nominated for Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay).
Contents |
Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is a local restaurant owner in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana. One night two men attempt to kill one of the employees and rob the restaurant. Tom deftly kills both robbers, and his actions make him an overnight celebrity. He is soon visited by scarred gangster Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) who alleges that Tom is actually a gangster named Joey Cusack, who used to run with him in the local Irish Mob in Philadelphia. Tom denies these accusations and claims he has never been to Philadelphia, but Fogarty continues to stalk the Stall family. Under pressure from Fogarty and his newfound fame, Tom's relationships with his wife Edie (Maria Bello), teenage son Jack (Ashton Holmes), and young daughter Sarah (Heidi Hayes) become strained.
After an argument with Tom over the use of violence, Jack runs off and is caught by Fogarty. With Jack as his hostage, Fogarty and his men go to the Stall house and demand that "Joey" return with them to Philadelphia. Tom kills Fogarty's men with the same precision he used against the robbers, while Jack kills Fogarty with a shotgun in defense of his father. At the hospital, Tom shocks Edie by admitting that he is actually Joey Cusack, and that he ran away from Philadelphia to escape his criminal past and start a new life. This furthers the tensions in their marriage, and after an argument they have violent sex.
Tom receives a call from his brother Richie Cusack (William Hurt), who also demands his return to Philadelphia. After traveling to Philadelphia and confronting his brother, Tom learns that the other mobsters whom he had offended in Philadelphia took out their frustrations on Richie, preventing him from moving up in the criminal organization. Tom offers to make peace, but Richie orders his men to kill him. Tom defends himself and kills Richie and the guards.
Tom returns home, but the atmosphere is tense and silent as the Stalls sit around the dinner table. The fate of his marriage and the future of his life as Tom Stall is uncertain, but Jack and Sarah indicate their acceptance of their father by setting a plate for him and passing him some food.
Most of the film was shot in Millbrook, Ontario, and the climactic scene was shot at the historic Eaton Hall Mansion, located in King City, Ontario, Canada.[4]
The U.S. and European versions differ on only two fight scenes: one where Tom breaks the nose of one of Fogarty's thugs and one where he stomps on the throat of one of Richie Cusack's thugs. Both scenes display more blood flowing or gushing out of the victims on the European version. In addition, a more pronounced bone-crushing sound effect is used when Tom stomps on the thug's throat.[5]
A deleted scene, known as "Scene 44", features a dream sequence in the diner, where Fogarty tells Tom he will kill him and his family; to which Tom responds by shooting him with his shotgun at close range. He then approaches Fogarty's lifeless and mangled body which suddenly raises its head, pulls a gun and shoots him.[6]
The film is loosely based on the original graphic novel. Screenwriter Josh Olson intended from the very beginning to use the original story as a springboard to explore the themes that interested him, and Cronenberg admitted that he did not know the screenplay was an adapted work until he began discussing Olson's second draft. The diner scene that sets the story in motion is nearly identical, and the basic cast of characters remains largely unchanged. The particulars of the plot are very different, especially as the story progresses.
The protagonist's name is changed from Tom McKenna to Tom Stall; John Torrino becomes Carl Fogarty, Tom's son Buzz becomes Jack, his daughter Ellie becomes Sarah, and Sheriff Carney's first name changes from Frank to Sam. The town in which the story takes place is changed from River's Bend, Michigan to Millbrook, Indiana, and the origin of the mobsters is changed from Brooklyn to Philadelphia. According to the German press kit, David Cronenberg and screenwriter Josh Olson changed the Italian-sounding names because they did not want the audience to anticipate Tom's mob ties too early in the film. In the film's audio commentary, Cronenberg says that Joey and Richie were Italian in Olson's screenplay, which he changed to the Irish surname Cusack, because Viggo Mortensen and William Hurt would not make convincing Italians, and he wanted to keep the film away from "the Sopranos Syndrome."
Much of the story of the graphic novel is a lengthy flashback detailing Tom's falling out with the mob. While the film is completely sequential and makes a brief and vague allusion to the trouble Tom caused as a mob member, the graphic novel details at length a heist perpetrated by Tom against the mob. Olson opted to focus on Tom's struggles against his past and his relationship with his family, largely to the exclusion of the details of his falling out with his brother and the Mob.
The most profound alterations of the original novel's plot concern the character of Richie and his fate. In the comic book, he and Tom are childhood friends; while in the film they are brothers (they were not brothers in Olson's original screenplay; Cronenberg changed them to brothers to give their relationship more resonance). In the novel, Richie is captured by mobsters and mutilated after the incident that sends Tom on the lam: Richie's limbs are cut off and his eye taken out, yet he is still kept alive to be suspended from the ceiling in a harness and tortured for years. During the dramatic climax of the graphic novel, Tom comes face to face with Richie, and Tom suffocates him in an act of euthanasia. In the film, Richie is depicted as Tom's brother; he is a mob boss who tries to have Tom killed. However, Tom ultimately overcomes Richie's henchmen, and subsequently kills his brother.
While in the comic, Tom's family is supportive and completely understanding, the film depicts his family struggling with the startling truth about Tom. The lengthy subplot concerning his son Jack turning to violence after his father's example does not exist in the comic, nor does the emotionally charged fight (and subsequent rough sex on the stairs) between Tom and Edie. In the comic, Edie shoots Torrino, and in the film, Jack shoots Fogarty. The comic concludes with Tom violently defeating the mobsters that haunted him, whereas the film ends with Tom's silent return to his family, a change that drastically shifts the tone of the film towards a more familial focus.
The film's title plays on multiple levels of meaning. Film critic Roger Ebert says that David Cronenberg refers to three possibilities:
Cronenberg did not come up with the title, however; that distinction belongs to John Wagner.
Thematic similarities between the film and the works of Sam Peckinpah have been much commented on: in an interview, Cronenberg did not deny this but also emphasized that there were significant differences in terms of both plot and style. Olson has acknowledged the debt the film pays to Peckinpah, especially the film Straw Dogs. He has also cited David Peoples' and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (there is a sly reference to pig farming by William Hurt's character) and the 1947 Jacques Tourneur thriller, Out of the Past.
A History of Violence premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2005, and was released in the United States on September 30 following a successful limited release on September 23, 2005. It also holds the distinction to be the last major film to be commercially released in the VHS format.
The film started with a limited release in 14 theaters and grossed $515,992 at the box office, averaging $36,856 per theater. A week later, it went on a wide release in 1,340 theaters and grossed $8,103,077 in its opening weekend. During its entire theatrical run, the film grossed $31,504,633 in the United States and $60,334,064 worldwide.[1]
The film was received very positively by critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes claims 87% of critics have given the film positive reviews (based on 201 reviews).[8] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 81 out of 100, based on 37 reviews.[9] It was ranked the best film of 2005 in the Village Voice Film Poll.[10] Empire named the film the 448th greatest film of all-time.[11]
Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers gave the film four stars, highlighting its "explosive power and subversive wit", and lauded David Cronenberg as a "world-class director, at the top of his startlingly creative form".[12] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film an A, concluding that "David Cronenberg's brilliant movie" was "without a doubt one of the very best of the year".[13] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film a "mindblower", and noted Mr. Cronenberg's "refusal to let us indulge in movie violence without paying a price".[14] Roger Ebert also gave the film a very positive review, observing that "A History of Violence seems deceptively straightforward, coming from a director with Cronenberg's quirky complexity. But think again. This is not a movie about plot, but about character." He gave it 3 and a half stars (out of 4).[7]
In his list of best films of the decade, Peter Travers named this #4, praising director David Cronenberg:
Is Canadian director David Cronenberg the most unsung maverick artist in movies? Bet on it... Cronenberg knows violence is wired into our DNA. His film showed how we secretly crave what we publicly condemn. This is potent poison for a thriller, and unadulterated, unforgettable Cronenberg.[15]
|
The film was also nominated for AFI's Top 10 Gangster Films list.[17]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||