A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless cannibalistic bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a rusting shopping cart of scavenged food--and each other.
Written by Sean Pollock
The old man's line about having a son was not in the script and was ad-libbed by Robert Duvall after they were all tired from many takes.
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Goofs
Factual errors:
In the beginning, the Man is shown to only have two bullets in his revolver. But when we see the front the revolver after he cocked the hammer and pointed the gun at the urinating gangster we see two rounds in the cylinder. The cylinder will rotate again if the hammer is pulled back, so when he fired seconds later the hammer would have hit an empty chamber.
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Quotes
[first lines]
Wife:
What's happening? Why are you taking a bath? The Man:
I'm not. See more »
Crazy Credits
Over the end credits, we hear the sounds of children playing. What the world must have been like in happier times.
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