Road To Perdition
To celebrate the release of Lawless this week we have been looking back at some of the greatest gangster movies to ever grace the big screen.
But it is not the gangster movies of old that are the best there is one of more recent years that stand head and shoulders above the rest... I am talking about Road To Perdition.
The movie was only Sam Mendes' second outing as a director - however he did have an Oscar already under his belt - but the project couldn't have been more different to American Beauty.
One of the things that was so fantastic about the movie was the way that is looked as Mendes and his cinematography really did bring 1920's America to life.
Of course it is an era that has been covered a thousand time before but they really did make it their own - the film's framing and composition is just beautiful.
A film may look great and have a fantastic script but it is nothing without a talented cast - and it is fair to say that Mendes had that in droves.
This movie is carried by one man and that is Tom Hanks, in what was an unusual part for the double Oscar winner.
Sullivan may have been a killer but Hanks paints him as a family man first which resonates with an audience.
Paul Newman is also on top form in what was to be his last great role before his death. He may have been in his late seventies when he shot the film be he has a real presence and commands ever scene that he is in.
Yes of course with ever movie of this kind it is about guns and gangsters but Road To Perdition, much like the greatest movies in this genre, are about family.
And family ties really are what lies at the heart of this movie as - Sullivan is a family man who is forced to go on the run to protect his son.
But Sullivan has a father/son bond with Paul Newman's character Rooney - while he has a fractured relationship with his own son played by Daniel Craig.
Road To Perdition is a simple story of family, loyalty and betrayal and yet it is told in such a powerful manner.
Road To Perdition is not just one of the greatest gangster movies of recent years but of all time and is a masterclass in acting and filmmaking.
Lawless is out now
Click here to buy Road To Perdition on DVD
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Tom Hanks Sam Mendes Paul Newman