A History of Violence

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A History of Violence
History of violence.jpg
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 (2005-05-16) (Cannes Film Festival)
  • September 23, 2005 (2005-09-23) (United States)
Running time 96 minutes
Country United States
Germany
Canada
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 in the main competition for the 2005 Palme d'Or. 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 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

Plot [edit]

Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is a local restaurant owner in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana. One night two men attempt to kill anyone who is in the restaurant. When one of the criminals is about to kill the waitress, 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 had dealings with him in the Irish Mob in Philadelphia many years ago. Tom vehemently denies these accusations and claims he has never been to Philadelphia, as well as never meeting him before, but Fogarty remains persistent in his claims and 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 after he brutally assaults a bully at school, 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, Edie confronts Tom, claiming that while he was attacking Fogarty's men, she saw the real "Joey" that Fogerty was talking about. Tom shocks Edie by admitting that he is actually Joey Cusack, and that he had killed for both money and pleasure. He tells Edie that he ran away from Philadelphia to escape his criminal past. Tom stated he spent 3 years changing his life around in order to rid himself of the violent gangster in him, and to start a normal life as "Tom Stall".

After Tom gets out of the hospital, Sam, the local sheriff pays him a visit. Sam expresses his confusion about everything that happened. He tells them that these mobsters wouldn't go to all this trouble if they weren't sure they had the right man. Just when Tom is about to confess, Edie defends him and lies to Sam, claiming that Tom is who he says he is, and their family has suffered enough. At a loss for words after Edie breaks down into tears, Sam leaves. This furthers the tensions in their marriage.

Tom receives a call from his brother Richie Cusack (William Hurt), who also demands his return to Philadelphia, or else he will come see him. 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.

Cast [edit]

Production [edit]

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]

Alternate versions [edit]

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 out of its shattered chest and shoots him.[6] On the DVD, Cronenberg and some of his crew laugh about this sequence being 'an homage—to Cronenberg,' referring to a sequence in the director's film Videodrome, in which a character pulls a handgun from a slit in his stomach.

Adaptation [edit]

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. 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. 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.

Interpretation [edit]

The film's title plays on multiple levels of meaning. Film critic Roger Ebert says that Cronenberg refers to 3 possibilities:

(1) a suspect with a long history of violence; (2) the historical use of violence as a means of settling disputes, and (3) the innate violence of Darwinian evolution, in which better-adapted organisms replace those less able to cope. "I am a complete Darwinian," says Cronenberg, whose new film is in many ways about the survival of the fittest—at all costs.[7]

Cronenberg did not come up with the title, however; that distinction belongs to John Wagner.

Release [edit]

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.

Box office [edit]

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]

Critical reception [edit]

The film received near universal acclaim from 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]

Awards and nominations [edit]

Won
Nominations

The film was also nominated for AFI's Top 10 Gangster Films list.[17]

See also [edit]

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References [edit]

  1. ^ a b "A History of Violence (2005) – Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 7, 2010. 
  2. ^ "A History of Violence (2005)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-09. 
  3. ^ "Citypaper.com article". Citypaper.com article. Retrieved 2010-10-09. 
  4. ^ Newswire article (via Internet Archive)
  5. ^ A History of Violence DVD Extra: U.S. vs. European.
  6. ^ A History of Violence DVD Extra: Scene 44.
  7. ^ a b "A History of Violence::rogerebert.com::Reviews". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 22, 2010. 
  8. ^ "A History of Violence – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved March 22, 2009. 
  9. ^ "History of Violence, A (2005): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 
  10. ^ village voice > take 7 film critics' poll
  11. ^ "Empireonline". Empireonline. Retrieved 2010-10-09. 
  12. ^ "A History of Violence Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 10, 2011. 
  13. ^ "A History of Violence - EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. September 28, 2005. Retrieved January 22, 2010. 
  14. ^ Dargis, Manohla (September 23, 2005). "Movie Review - A History of Violence - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2010. 
  15. ^ "A History of Violence (2005)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 10, 2011. 
  16. ^ "Festival de Cannes: A History of Violence". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-05. 
  17. ^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot

External links [edit]

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