The Road to Wellville (film)

The Road to Wellville
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alan Parker
Produced by	Alan Parker Armyan Bernstein Robert F. Colesberry
Screenplay by	Alan Parker
Based on	The Road to Wellville by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Matthew Broderick Bridget Fonda John Cusack
Music by	Rachel Portman
Cinematography	Peter Biziou
Editing by	Gerry Hambling
Studio	Beacon Communications
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	October 28, 1994 (1994-10-28)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Box office	$6,562,513

The Road to Wellville is a 1994 American comedy-drama film adaptation of T. Coraghessan Boyle's novel of the same name, which tells the story of the doctor and clean-living advocate John Harvey Kellogg and his methods as employed at the Battle Creek Sanitarium at the start of the 20th Century. It was written and directed by Alan Parker.

The Road to Wellville stars Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Kellogg, Matthew Broderick as sanitarium patient William Lightbody, Bridget Fonda as his spouse Eleanor, John Cusack as budding health-food entrepreneur Charles Ossining, Dana Carvey as the doctor's adopted son George and Colm Meaney as Dr. Lionel Badger.

It was filmed in New Paltz, New York at the Mohonk Mountain House. Also used were the North Carolina towns of Winnabow and Wilmington.

Plot

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins) has opened a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he puts into practice his unusual methods for maintaining a healthy body including colonic irrigation, electrical stimulus and sexual abstinence, as well as vegetarianism and physical exercise.

The sanitarium attracts a number of well-to-do patients including William and Eleanor Lightbody (Matthew Broderick and Bridget Fonda), who are suffering from ill health: William from the effects of overindulgence in liquor, an addiction to opium caused by Eleanor's attempt to use "Sears White Star Liquor Cure" to keep him from drinking, and a digestive problem that has caused him to restrict his diet to dry toast and water; and Eleanor following the premature death of their child. On their way to Battle Creek, they meet the enterprising Charles Ossining (John Cusack), who is hoping to make his fortune by exploiting the craze for health food cereals. Eleanor explains to Charles she has become a "Battle Freak"--someone who repeatedly visits the Sanitarium--and will be making her fourth stay there. Ossining finds a partner in the devious Goodloe Bender (Michael Lerner). Having enlisted the services of George Kellogg (Dana Carvey), the doctor's estranged (and strange) adopted son, they attempt to produce "Kellogg's Perfo Flakes" in an ersatz bakery located in a barn at a hog farm. Bender hired Bartholomew Bookbinder, who he described to Ossining as "one of Kellogg's top men, and now he works for us. He's good, and he's cheap." Ossining later discovers Bookbinder worked on Kellogg's dairy farm, and had never produced breakfast cereal before.

In the sanitarium, Will Lightbody is separated from his wife and begins harboring lustful thoughts toward Nurse Graves and fellow patient Ida Muntz (Lara Flynn Boyle), who suffers from "greensickness"--a disease which turns the skin a shade of green. Eleanor, meanwhile, befriends Virginia Cranehill (Camryn Manheim), who has a modern attitude toward sexual pleasure, influenced by the works of Dr. Lionel Badger (Colm Meaney). Will finally succumbs to Ida's charms. Later he discovers that Ida has died (Greensickness is a form of pernicious anemia, which is treated by increasing the body's intake of iron. Kellogg's dietary treatments were an essentially iron-free diet). Following the death of a patient in the sinusoidal bath, as well as the discovery of yet another death, Will has a breakdown, flees the sanitarium, gets drunk and eats meat. At the restaurant he meets Ossining and agrees to invest $1,000 in his health food business. Will returns drunk to the sanitarium, where he is reprimanded by Dr. Kellogg and abandoned by a distraught Eleanor.

Ossining's business is a disaster. Perfo was advertised as a "celerized" food--one containing extracts of celery, which was believed to have special healing properties. Bookbinder created many batches of Perfo, all inedible. George dumped the unwanted cornflakes into the hog trough. After attempting to eat every batch, and having to throw them all away, Ossining decided to sell the product as a health food for pigs--when he is stopped by George, who explained not even the pigs would eat it. He and his partners resort to stealing Kellogg's cornflakes and repackaging them in their own boxes. Charles goes to the Post Tavern Hotel, the finest and most expensive hotel in Battle Creek, to call on Bender. The desk clerk tells Bender has disappeared in the middle of the night, leaving a substantial hotel bill which was presented to Charles; upon turning around Charles is met by two sheriff's deputies who inform him Dr. Kellogg has filed suit to stop the production and distribution of "Kellogg's Perfo" and is seeking substantial damages. Ossining meets his aunt, a potential investor, at a visiting day at Kellogg's sanitarium, where he is exposed as a fraud and arrested.

Nurse Graves attempts to seduce Will, but he is guilt-stricken and spurns her advances. He goes to find Eleanor, only to find her and Virginia receiving clitoral massages from Dr. Spitzvogel (Norbert Weisser) at the same time Dr. Badger is masturbating. Will, incensed, thrashes Dr. Spitzvogel with a branch and takes Eleanor away. George pays a final visit to his father but things go wrong. He subsequently burns the sanitarium down. In the chaos, Ossining makes his escape. Kellogg does seem to reconcile with George in the mud bath at the aftermath of the fire.

In a final coda, the Lightbodys are happily married with four daughters. Will receives a cheque for $1,000 from Ossining, who has become a cola beverage tycoon. Dr. Kellogg rebuilds the sanitarium and lives well into his seventies, still extolling the virues of a healthy lifestyle, before dying of a heart attack diving off a high board into a lake as members of the press look on.

Cast

• Anthony Hopkins as Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
• Matthew Broderick as William Lightbody
• Bridget Fonda as Eleanor Lightbody
• John Cusack as Charles Ossining
• Dana Carvey as George Kellogg
• Michael Lerner as Goodloe Bender
• Colm Meaney as Dr. Lionel Badger
• John Neville as Endymion Hart-Jones
• Lara Flynn Boyle as Ida Muntz
• Traci Lind as Nurse Graves
• Camryn Manheim as Virginia Cranehill
• Roy Brocksmith as Poultney Dab
• Norbert Weisser as Dr. Spitzvogel

Critical reception

The film was poorly received at the time of its release, with a good deal of criticism of the scatological nature of the film. Hopkins' portrayal of Kellogg was also singled out for criticism. The film has a 44% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Not all the reviews were negative. Writing in Bright Lights Film Journal, Tanfer Emin-Tunc commented: "It is a sophisticated blend of humor and documented historical material that seeks to question the various forms that race and class have assumed in twentieth-century American society."

The film flopped at the box office, opening at #5 with $2,580,108 in its opening weekend and grossing only $6,562,513 domestically in its entire run.

External links

• The Road to Wellville at the Internet Movie Database
• The Road to Wellville at AllRovi
• The Road to Wellville at Box Office Mojo
• The Road to Wellville at Rotten Tomatoes