Road To Perdition (2002) - 45 mistakes

Continuity: In the end of the diner scene Jude Law fires after the car with Sullivan and his son. A bullet goes through the rear window but not through the windshield. We see the bullet path go by Tom Hanks' head. Regardless, there's no bullet hole anywhere in the car afterwards.

Factual error: Tom Hanks is driving his car over a bridge in downtown Chicago in 1931. In the background is the elevated train structure. An aluminum bodied train passes on the trestel in the background. This aluminum bodied train is of 1980's contruction. In the 1930's the train cars were of wood construction and painted brown. I remember riding them for they were still in service in the 1950's.

Revealing: At the end when Sullivan is shot in the back while looking out the window, you can see blood come through the front of his shirt, meaning the bullets must have exited his body, yet the window he is standing in front of isn't shattered by the bullets that had passed through him.

Factual error: In the diner scene, the assassin (Jude Law) pours sugar in his coffee. The bottom of the sugar dispenser is exposed to reveal the bar code label. Bar codes were not used in 1931.

Continuity: At the end of the movie when Michael gets shot in the back, blood squirts on the window. Afterwards, when Michael dies and we see his son holding him in the room, there is no blood on the window.

Factual error: The film is set in 1931. In several scenes the character of Michael Sullivan Jr. played by Tyler Hoechlin is seen reading a "Lone Ranger" storybook. The Lone Ranger began on radio in January 1933 - print, movie and TV appearances of the character are subsequent to this.

Factual error: In the scene when Mike Sullivan is shown sitting in his classroom, the American Flag behind him has 50 stars, which it wouldn't have done in the 30's.

Continuity: When the young Sullivan boy goes to get Rooney's over coat, he walks into the room where the coat is and there is a man laying on the couch, if you notice when the man starts talking to the boy, his cigarette is almost gone, and in the next few seconds it flashes to the man again and he has a cigarette that is almost full.

Factual error: If the movie is set during 6 weeks of winter in 1931, then why do we hear the sound of crickets during a couple of night scenes?

Continuity: When Sullivan and his son are robbing banks, there are several shots where you can see four or five getaway scenes. If you look closely, you can see them making a getaway from the exact same scene twice.

Revealing: Towards the end of the scene where Connor shoots the wife and younger brother, he looks at his reflection in the glass at the front door. In the shot of Connor walking through that door onto the porch outside, you can see the icicles hanging from the gutter over the porch actually swinging.

Continuity: In the scene where Paul Newman's character hands Michael, Jr. a silver dollar, the first camera angle (from Michael's perspective) shows the "heads" side presented toward the kid. The next angle (from the opposite point of view) also shows the dollar with the "heads" side toward the camera, which means the "tails" side (an eagle) is what the kid should have seen.

Other: In the scene where Tom Hanks and his son are riding in the car and Hanks is telling about the aunt in Perdition, a shadow is casted onto the hood of the car. However, the reflection of the clouds in the windshield never get blocked out.

Continuity: Look carefully at the Lone Ranger book that Michael Jr. is reading at two points in the movie (once when he's reading in his bed as he and his brother are talking about their dad, and again in the car after his mother and brother are killed.) The picture and caption under it are identical, but the text on the facing page is different each time.

Continuity: When Michael is teaching Michael Jr. to drive, the scene opens with the car parked tight on the right hand side of the road. When Michael Jr. pulls away, the car is in the middle of the road.

Factual error: Near the end, when Sullivan finally catches up to Connor Rooney and shoots him several times, he does so with a clearly uncocked Colt .45 pistol. These are single-action firearms, they will not fire unless they're cocked first.

Plot hole: When Sullivan shoots Connor Rooney at the end, he flicks the door and we see the dead body. However the wall and some of the floor have loads of dried blood on it when he was only shot seconds before.

Audio problem: In the scene where Michael Sullivan robs his first bank before the montage and is in the manager's office, Michael offers him a little present. Sullivan says, "Call it a handling charge," and the camera is focused on the manager, but the words aren't matching what Michael Sullivan is mouthing.

Visible crew/equipment: When Tom Hanks first drives into Chicago among all the 1931 era cars, a giant, modern, swing-arm, stationary crane is reflected in his car window.

Continuity: In keeping with the weather mistakes in this movie, which is set in the winter of 1931, long grass and wildflowers are clearly visible on the roadside as Tom Hanks and Jude law drive up to the diner (the same scene where crickets are heard).