Road to Perdition (2002)

◄ Road to Perdition (2002)

Anachronisms

Parts of the American flag are visible in Michael Jr.'s school. From the spacing of the visible stars, the flag clearly has 50 stars, not the 48 it would have had in the 1930s.
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When Michael and his son first arrive in Chicago, there is a brief shot of bright silver metal cars on the El. They were introduced in the 1980s. In 1931, the cars would have been made of wood and painted dark brown.
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Michael Jr. reads "The Lone Ranger" in 1931. It was created for radio in 1933; the books were published even later.
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When Michael and his son first arrive in Chicago, a brief shot shows their car traveling into town. In the Chicago skyline, half of a (skyscraper) construction sky crane can be seen at a distance.
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In the opening credits, a high-voltage power line tower is in the background. They didn't exist in 1931.
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The Catholic clergy's vestments have a more modern "poncho" style chasuble. In the 1930s, they would have worn the "fiddle-back" style.
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In diner scene, the ashtray on Maguire's table is modern pressed metal. In 1931, it would have been glass or ceramic.
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The music playing in the background during the diner scene is "Queer Notions", which was recorded in 1933.
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When Mike Sullivan walks through the nightclub to get information from the owner, the club members are wearing "Flappers" and "Sheiks." Both were very popular clothing styles from 1925 to 1928. In 1931, they were considered outdated.
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The Englewood Diner is a 1941 Sterling Diner built by J.B. Judkins of Merrimack, Massachusetts. The Judkins company started building diners in 1936.
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While driving into Chicago, Sullivan passes an athletic field with modern outdoor lighting.
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Continuity

The bullet hole in the rear window of the Sullivan's car disappears and reappears.
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Maguire's coffee cup magically appears between shots.
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The heavy rain storm that occurs that fateful night doesn't appear to wash away the snow. The snow outside the Sullivan's house can be seen the next morning to be the same as it was before, even with well-worn tyre tracks in it!
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When Sullivan leaves, the garage doors are open at an angle, and he doesn't close them. When he returns, the doors are perfectly straight as he backs in.
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In the first scene with Connor, the first shot shows his cigarette with a long build-up of ash on the end. In the very next shot, however, the cigarette has regenerated to near-full length, with very little ash.
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When Mr. Rooney speaks to the crowd at the wake, he initially stands on a chair. In the next shot, he stands beside the chair, which is sideways to the crowd. In the next shot, the chair is facing the crowd.
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When Michael, Sr. is assembling the Thompson submachine gun, in the overhead view, the magazine is on the table to the right of the case. In the next cut, the magazine is still on the table but positioned closer to the lamp. In the next scene, after Michael, Jr. walks in, the magazine is missing; it's no longer on the table, and as Michael, Sr. turns, we see that it's not mounted on the gun.
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In Rance's hotel room Rance is presumably naked under a bathrobe and he makes a big spectacle of sitting down and crossing his bare legs and feet when he calls room service for a boiled egg, but when Sullivan enters the room shortly thereafter (as Rance is eating his egg) Rance is still unclothed in the bathrobe, but now has on black socks and dress shoes but his legs are still bare.
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Michael Sr. tells Michael Jr. that this is no longer their home, then walks away from his son to the car. But when he gets there, his son is already in the car.
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When Michael is shot at the beach house, blood is spattered on the large window. The blood is gone in later shots.
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In the classroom scene, when young Michael writes on the blackboard 'I will not fight with other boys', the close up shot shows that he's writing his punishment for the third time, but in the pull away shot, there are only two lines of writing showing.
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In the gun fight in Mr Rance's hotel room, Jude Law's character (McGuire) is firing a pump-action shotgun and he shoots Tom Hank's character (Sullivan) in the arm. Yet later, when the farmer performs surgery on Sullivan's arm, he removes a bullet, which could not come from a shotgun.
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Factual errors

The bullet removed from Sullivan's arm has no rifling marks, and appears to be .45 caliber, rather than the .32 that Maguire was using. It's also completely un-deformed, which would be impossible.
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Incorrectly regarded as goofs

In the diner scene, a bottle of HP Sauce is on Sullivan's table. HP Sauce is available almost exclusively in the United Kingdom; it wouldn't have been in an average American roadside diner in 1931. Director Sam Mendes used to be the artistic director at the Donmar Warehouse in London and developed a fondness for HP Sauce. He deliberately had that bottle placed there.
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Revealing mistakes

When Sullivan and his son drive off the road after the diner scene, tire tracks are already there from previous takes.
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Spoilers

The goofs below may give away important plot points.

Audio/visual unsynchronised

During the shoot-out in Mr. Rance's hotel suite, Sullivan shoots at Maguire from behind the empty trunk. The reports heard from his .45 pistol are out of sync with the shots he fires.
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Boom mic visible

Reflected in the window of Michael's first bank robbery.
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Continuity

When Michael guns down John Rooney he clearly has not shaven for a number of days. However when he kills Connor Rooney on the same night he is clean shaven, but then when Michael returns to Michael Jnr the stubble appears again.
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Factual errors

When Michael is recovering from his gunshot wound, he is flipping through the papers taken from the accountant and sees multiple receipts made out to Connor Rooney. The word "receipt" on every one of them is misspelled.
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Revealing mistakes

When Michael Sullivan is in the car with Michael Jr. before he robs a bank, he puts the pistol slide forward, then pulls the slide back again. By doing that, he would have sent the first round out of the chamber.
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Revealing mistakes

When Michael Sullivan shoots Connor Rooney in the bathtub, he fires his .45 pistol three times, and three shell casings hit the floor. When he fired the shots, the slide of the pistol never retracted, so the chamber never actually opened to eject the spent bullet shells.
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