A Walk Among the Tombstones (film)

A Walk Among the Tombstones
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Scott Frank
Screenplay by	Scott Frank
Based on	A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block
Produced by	Danny DeVito Michael Shamberg Stacey Sher Brian Oliver Tobin Armbrust
Starring	Liam Neeson Dan Stevens David Harbour Boyd Holbrook
Cinematography	Mihai Mălaimare Jr.
Edited by	Jill Savitt
Music by	Carlos Rafael Rivera
Production companies	Cross Creek Pictures Endgame Entertainment 1984 Private Defense Contractors Exclusive Media Jersey Films Double Feature Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	September 19, 2014 (2014-09-19)
Running time	114 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$23–28 million[2][3]
Box office	$62.1 million[4]

A Walk Among the Tombstones is a 2014 American neo-noir action thriller film^[5][6][7][8] written and directed by Scott Frank, and based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Lawrence Block. It stars Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, and Boyd Holbrook. The film was released on September 19, 2014. Critical reception was mixed and the film grossed $62 million worldwide.

Plot[]

In 1991, Detective Matthew "Matt" Scudder, in a car with his partner, is urged to get help and is told he is not a reliable backup. Scudder then enters a bar and gets shots with a coffee. Two armed men come in and kill the bartender. Scudder fatally shoots one, pursues and kills the second assailant, and the getaway driver.

Eight years later, a drug addict named Peter Kristo approaches a retired Scudder, asking him to help his brother Kenny Kristo (a drug trafficker whose wife was kidnapped and murdered). Kenny tells Scudder that after he delivered the ransom as instructed, the kidnappers directed him to a car containing his wife's dismembered body. Scudder ultimately agrees to find them.

Scudder researches similar killings at a public library. He reads about victims Marie Gotteskind and Leila Anderssen. He meets TJ, a homeless streetwise youth. TJ helps with the research.

Based on an article, Scudder goes to a cemetery and speaks with a groundskeeper, Jonas Loogan, upset that Scudder reminds him of finding trash bags with body parts of the dismembered Leila in the cemetery pond.

Scudder talks to Leila's fiancé, Reuben, who saw two men drag her into a van driven by a third. Out the window, Scudder sees Loogan exiting an apartment building. In a rooftop shed, Scudder finds photos of Reuben and Leila having sex. Loogan arrives and admits that he helped kidnap Leila. He had conspired to take Leila away from Reuben, who is a drug dealer, and help her stop using drugs. Instead, the other two tortured and killed her. He gives Scudder one name, "Ray," and jumps off the roof to his death.

The two kidnappers, Ray and Albert, surveil the home of Yuri Landau, another drug trafficker. After realizing Landau's wife is bedridden, they prepare to leave for a new target. However, they see his 14-year-old daughter, Lucia, and Ray decides to kidnap her.

Scudder eventually learns that the victim Marie Gotteskind was a DEA agent and determines that whoever murdered her also has her files, which they have been using to choose their victims. Meanwhile, Scudder grows closer to TJ, encouraging the boy to study and avoid a life of crime. During a conversation with TJ, Scudder explains why he retired. During the shootout in 1991, one of his stray bullets "took a bad hop" and killed a 7-year-old girl. He quit his job and has been sober ever since.

Kenny brings Scudder to Yuri Landau's home, where the kidnappers call and arrange to exchange ransom for Lucia at a cemetery. Scudder, Kenny, Landau, Peter, and TJ go to the cemetery. After a stand off, Lucia, with a finger cut down to the bone, is returned to her father. Once Albert discovers the ransom money is counterfeit, a shootout ensues. Peter is killed, and Scudder wounds Ray. Albert and Ray escape in their van, with TJ hiding in the back.

After Albert and Ray arrive at their place, TJ sneaks out of the van. He tells Scudder their address. Albert kills the wounded Ray in the basement and goes back upstairs to find Scudder, Kenny and TJ. Scudder overpowers and cuffs Albert. Scudder and TJ leave Kenny to decide what to do with Albert. Kenny knocks Albert unconscious with a bottle. He goes into the basement where he finds Ray’s body and tools used for dismembering bodies. While Kenny is downstairs, Albert wakes up and frees himself. Scudder, having placed TJ in a taxi to his apartment, returns inside the house and sees Kenny's bloody corpse. Albert attacks him, and after a fight, Scudder kills him.

Scudder returns home to find TJ sleeping on the couch and spots a drawing that TJ made of himself as a superhero, with a sickle on his costume representing his sickle cell anemia.

Cast[]

Development[]

A film adaptation of Block’s novel had been in development for several years with a script from Scott Frank. In 2002, Harrison Ford was attached to star and D. J. Caruso to direct.^[9] In May 2012, Liam Neeson had reportedly signed on to play Matthew Scudder in the film, with Frank himself directing, and production slated to begin February 2013.^[10]

Filming began on March 3, 2013 in New York City.^[11] Producers invited author Block to the set to watch filming. On the casting of Neeson, Block said, "Readers often ask who'd be my ideal Matt Scudder, and I usually change the subject. But now it's safe to tell you that, ever since I saw him in Michael Collins, Neeson has been up at the top of my personal Scudder wish list. I couldn't be happier about either the star or the writer/director, both of them genuine artists and brilliant professionals. My book's in good hands."^[12]

The film was completed on October 8, 2013 and classified by the MPAA as rated R for "strong violence, disturbing images, language, and brief nudity".^[13] On October 18, 2013, Block tweeted that he had seen the film and revealed producers were aiming for a September 2014 release.^[14] On January 30, 2014, it was announced the film would be released on September 19, 2014.^[15]

Release[]

A Walk Among the Tombstones grossed $26 million in North America and $36.1 million in other territories for a total gross of $62.1 million, against its $28 million budget.^[4]

The film earned $428,000 from Thursday night from 1,918 theaters, and $4.7 million from 2,712 theaters on its opening day.^[16][17] It debuted at number two at the box office on its opening weekend earning $13.1 million behind The Maze Runner ($32.5 million).^[18]

Reception[]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 163 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Walk Among the Tombstones doesn't entirely transcend its genre clichés, but it does offer Liam Neeson one of his more compelling roles in recent memory, and that's often enough."^[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale.^[21]

Richard Roeper gave the film a B+ rating, calling the film "a stylish and smart thriller".^[22] Manohla Dargis in The New York Times called it "one of those rare cinematic offerings: intelligent pulp" but also noted that the film "can be tough to watch, particularly its fleeting images of tortured women".^[23] In Variety, Andrew Barker found it a well-made thriller "with a good deal of panache and style".^[24]

References[]

External links[]

• A Walk Among the Tombstones at IMDb
• A Walk Among the Tombstones at AllMovie

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