Mystic River (2003)

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them has a family tragedy.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Brian Helgeland (screenplay), Dennis Lehane (novel)

Stars:

Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon

Won 2 Oscars. Another 53 wins & 142 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Penn	...	Jimmy Markum
Tim Robbins	...	Dave Boyle
Kevin Bacon	...	Sean Devine
Laurence Fishburne	...	Whitey Powers
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Celeste Boyle
Laura Linney	...	Annabeth Markum
Kevin Chapman	...	Val Savage
Tom Guiry	...	Brendan Harris (as Thomas Guiry)
Emmy Rossum	...	Katie Markum
Spencer Treat Clark	...	Silent Ray Harris
Andrew Mackin	...	John O'Shea
Adam Nelson	...	Nick Savage
Robert Wahlberg	...	Kevin Savage
Jenny O'Hara	...	Esther Harris
John Doman	...	Driver

Storyline

In the summer of 1975 in a neighborhood in Boston, 3 kids, Dave Boyle and two of his friends, Jimmy and Sean, are playing on the sidewalk when Dave gets abducted by two men and endures several days of sexual abuse. Eventually, Dave escapes traumatized throughout adulthood. Jimmy is an ex-con and a father of three, whose daughter Katie, is found dead and Dave becomes the number one suspect. Sean is a homicide detective, investigating Katie's murder, ends up finding himself faced with past and present demons as more is uncovered about Katie's murder. Learning Katie had a boyfriend, ballistics later turn up a gun belonging to the father, which then puts her boyfriend as the suspect. Will Sean find out who killed Katie? Will Jimmy make it through the investigation? And will Dave ever find out what really happened when he was abducted?

---

Plot Keywords:

based on novel | sexual abuse | childhood friend | child molester | irish american | 

---

Taglines:

We bury our sins, we wash them clean.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mystic River

Filming Locations:

Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$640,815, 12 October 2003, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$90,135,191

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$156,822,020

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

More than 2,000 people who wanted to be extras in the movie showed up at the Boston Teachers Union on September 14, 2002 for the open casting call. Carolyn Pickman of Collinge-Pickman Casting told The Boston Globe a week later that about two-thirds of those trying out would be called to fill a church and a local bar, play spectators at a parade, or walk through other scenes. All types of people from the greater Boston area (and as far away as New Hampshire) attended the call, where they waited in long lines to eventually hand in their applications and get their pictures taken.

---

Goofs

The angle of the Tobin bridge and the view of the Bunker Hill monument keeps switching the neighborhood from Chelsea to Charlestown many times throughout the movie

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Radio Announcer #1: ...before the end of the season last year, and then re-injured it in spring training on a terrific game-saving play. You know, I was talking with...
Sean's Father: What time is this going on?
Jimmy's Father: 7:30 is the pre-game.
Sean's Father: Who'd you say was pitching tonight?
Jimmy's Father: Tiant's pitching.
Sean's Father: Goddamn Cuban, man. He can hurl it.
Jimmy's Father: I'd hate to be facing him.

---

Crazy Credits

The Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Logos at the beginning of the film, are not animated. They are both coloured Grey and stay in the middle of the screen.

---

Connections

Spoofed in The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004)

---

Soundtracks

Semper Fidelis
(1888) (uncredited)
Music by John Philip Sousa
Played by a marching band near the end

User Reviews

A profound and tragic story

This dark, brooding film is a murder mystery that unfolds against the backdrop of early trauma in the lives of three boys in a Boston suburb. The unnamed location, perhaps Chelsea, evokes the clannish, guarded nature typical of Boston neighborhoods that tolerates without welcoming outsiders. The lives of the three main characters diverge with the passage of time, then come together again during the unfolding of the tragic events in the story. Each of the principals has issues they must grapple with each day and their lives and history are woven into an unstable, tattered quilt that threatens to unravel at any time. Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon are all excellent in portraying the emotional strains and the shifting tides that bring them together in this somber character study. Lawrence Fishburne is good as a detective on the periphery of his partner's personal ups and downs and is sympathetic but professional in his pursuit of suspects in the case. Clint Eastwood piloted this film which is one of his best in a great body of work as an actor and director.