Mystic River - Awards - IMDb Movie of the Year MYSTIC RIVER is a masterful portrait of fate and friendship across generations. Director Clint ... More MYSTIC RIVER is a masterful portrait of fate and friendship across generations. Director Clint Eastwood draws brilliant performances from an outstanding ensemble cast in which Sean Penn's searing portrayal of a father in pain calls to mind a young Marlon Brando. The use of locations in working class Boston presents an authentic background for a story of people whose lives are woven together in a world that they cannot escape. African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) 2003 Won ‎Mystic River (2003) directed by Clint Eastwood • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd 6 “We bury our sins here, Dave. We wash them clean.” Mystic River and Unforgiven are my two favorite Clint Eastwood films and depending on which one I see last I tend to put in first place. Right now I’m inclined to declare Mystic River as Eastwood’s best film, but that is subject to change anytime (perhaps even before I finish writing this review).

Nominated for six Academy Awards, the film won two: Sean Penn for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Tim Robbins for Best Supporting Actor. I was rooting for Brian Helgeland’s wonderful screenplay adaptation from Dennis Lehane’s novel, but it lost out to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Helgeland had previously won… 8 First watch of Noir-Vember . Following the standard police detective plot - murdered girl, multiple suspects, who will turn out to be the killer? - ‘Mystic River’ scores its point by enlisting a set of actors who surpass their level, led by a tremendous Sean Penn; man does that guy have range (I saw ‘Milk’ last week, what a difference). Second positive thing: though crimes seem to bore me without exception, Clint Eastwood sets a pace here that’s not rushed per se, but so captivating from the first minute that the hours seemed to fly by. Got myself some pizza at what I thought would be the forty minute mark, only to see there was barely an hour left! The variety… 6 I might have to watch more of Clint Eastwood's films.

I only wanted to watch this because I was informed by fellow Letterboxd user Philip Carroll in my Gone Baby Gone review that it was based on a Dennis Lehane novel. Added to that, the script was written by Brian Helgeland, who also wrote the script for the excellent L.A. Confidential, so I did have high expectations for this. While I admit some skepticism on behalf of its director, Clint Eastwood, my doubts were indeed put to shame. I have only seen three of the films Eastwood has directed, and I did like both Letters from Iwo Jima and Unforgiven, but he also directed J. Edgar, which wasn't a good… Review by Andy Summers ★★★★½ Clint Eastwood has been one of the few actors who have mastered the art of direction. The switch from in front to behind the camera can be a tricky one and Eastwood without doubt is one of the best. For nearly forty years now he's cut his teeth after watching and learning from the best. Mystic River is a crime film adapted from Dennis Lehane's novel of the same name. It features a stand out cast that bothered the Academy in a big way back in 2004.

Two Oscars for leading lights Sean Penn and Tim Robbins and four more nominations, this was a real return to form for Eastwood after a couple of below par films in "True Crime"… Review by M T ★★★★★ Great acting from everyone involved. Especially Sean Pean that is on his A-game so hard, that I don't even know if he's really an actor. Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon were equally amazing on their own, but of course the suave character is always more appealing in a way. The music is tense and creepy. We get so many little chills, and it helps the tension of the film quite a lot. The story is very intriguing. We never really know what's up and down, and so many things happend to make us think it's one person or another. There's never really a clear answer to whom it could really be before the end of the film.

Of course, it… Staring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburn, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney Oscars: 2 wins, 6 nominations AFI 100 years, 100 _____ tributes: None Runtime: 2h 17min Best quote: "I'm walking to my car, and this guy comes up to me. Asks for a light. I say I don't smoke. He says neither does he. So then my heart starts clocking a buck fifty, 'cause there's no one else here except me and him. So then he pulls the knife on me. Says, 'Your wallet or your life, bitch. I'm leaving with one of them'. So I try to brush past him, and that's when he slices me." "I thought you said you swung at him." "Can I tell the fucking story?!" - Dave & Celest Boyle Jimmy Markum, Dave Boyle and Sean Devine are all friends. One day, they are playing hockey on the street when they decide to write their names in some wet cement drying nearby. However, a car stops and a man gets out pretending to be a cop.

He procedes to take David away in a car with another man. For four days, David is raped and tortured before he escapes. He is never the same again. As the years go by, all all three friends drift apart. Sean (Kevin Bacon) becomes a state policeman; Jimmy (Sean Penn) has a family and owns a a corner store. David (Tim Robbins), who nver fully recovered from his ordeal, has a wife and two sons. In the early morning of the day of Jimmy's youngest daughter's first communion, his oldest daughter is murdered. That same morning, David comes home with a knife wound to his chest and a gash on his hand, both dripping with blood. Sean, with his partner, Whitey (Laurence Fishburn), are on the case. Sean is instantly flung back into his old world with his three friends, trying to figure out who killed Jimmy's daughter. There are many plot turns and suprises that will have you guessing untill the very end of the film, which has a pleasent twist on what really happened to Jimmy's daughter. Clint Eastwood did an amazing job with Mystic River.

His use of camara angles and sudden movements is superb, and the suprise ending which may or may not be what you think adds a special element to the film which complement the great acting by all the stars, including Penn and Robbins, who steal the show. Personal Comments I liked Mystic River. Part Law and Order, part NYPD Blue, you'd never guess it to be directed by Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood users subtle hints to lead the characters to the final end. Mystic River is more about the journey of the three frinds the finding a solution to the problem at hand. Mystic River is a dark and moody film, but that's OK. Clint does a wonderfull job handling the subject material. I thought Kevin Bacon was superb, and Tim Robbins stole the show. Even though Tim's accent came and went in several places, I thought is was negligable to his great performance. What's interesting to note is that Both times David is driven off, he never "comes back"; it is always someone or something different that comes back. Sean Penn's character, Jimmy, is basically a nervous wreck for the entire movie.

Sean Penn's best scene, I felt, was when he was trying to get to the body in the park, and the cops wouldn't let him go. Truly brilliant performance by Sean penn. And what is that thing on Sean Penn's neck??? Plot: A little of this cop show, a little of that one, add in several great actors and one superb director, and you get Mystic River, a brilliant crime drama/murder mystery. Visual Effects: Clint Eastwood used various camera techniquesa nd angles to creat a visual collage of great footage. The once scene near the end of the film, where the gun is pointed at the screen and is fired was amazingly done. Great film shot. Sound: The score was well done, and fit the moody nature of the picture. Character Development: Each chacter develops in their own ways; Some might say David the most, other may say Jimmy or even Sean, but they all take different paths. The Development of each main character is handled well. Atmosphere: Eastwood make it easy to get into by having Mystic River light in the beginning but it does get very dark a moody at the end. Realism: Well done with little to no Hollywoodism here.

Warren�s Rating: Movies it was nominated with for Best Picture: * Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King , (2003); Lost in Translation , (2003); Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, (2003); Seabiscuit , (2003) FINAL RATING Is the movie worth your time to watch? 4-2-04 Nominated for: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Jimmy Marcus, Mystic River Nomination: 4/5 (acting), 4/5 (total); Win: First Having been nominated thrice before, Sean Penn was definatly deserving this time, for Mystic River. How ever, he beat out the one one who should have won, Bill Murray. Sean Penn plays the part of Jimmy Marcus very well; he nails down the Boston accent to a tee. His real triumph is the scene where the police are holding him back from getting a look at his daughter's dead body. No one could have played the scene better. Whene the ending draws near, and we learn what really happened, Penn's brilliant acting shines through.

Sean Penn's performance Nominated for: Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Dave Boyle, Mystic River Nomination: 1/1 (acting), 1/2 (total); Win: Only After his character escapes the tortures of his captors, Tim Robbin's character is never the same again. Tim plays the part of Dave Boyle with a sullen demenor; he mopes around all the time and is never happy about the things that go on in his life. This all stems from him comming home one night with blood on his hands. The audiance is never sure if he is the killer or not, even up to his final scenes of the film. Tim Robbins was a deserving winner of the Oscar, as this was his best role since Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption . mystic river first teaser - YouTube mystic river first teaser Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on May 27, 2006 first teaser of mystic river 2003 comented by clint directed by clint eastwood two oscar sean peen and tim robbins, nominated for best picture of the year , best director... winner of the cesar in france. Category Mystic River : Winner of Oscars for best actors Sean Penn and Tim Robbins - Read expert review at epinions.com Mystic River In Clint Eastwood's MYSTIC RIVER, a murder mystery in South Boston unites three men who have been friends since childhood. Grippingly powerful performances from the entire cast--Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Marcia Gay Harden, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, and Laura Linney--combined with gritty photography, an exceptionally emotional script, and a convincing working-class Boston setting make this film one of Eastwood's most consistent and penetrating works. <br> <br> Though they live in the same h...

70 Reviews Mystic River : Winner of Oscars for best actors Sean Penn and Tim Robbins Review by three_ster Pros: Eastwood, Robbins, Penn, Fishburne, Bacon, great story, great Direction, Wonderful film in every aspect Cons: none Normally I have good taste in movies, or I stumble across the ones who end up being nominate my the Motion Picture Academy for Oscars. However, when Mystic River came out, I kept having things come up that prevented me from seeing it in the theaters. This left me at a slight disadvantage regarding knowledge of the nominees when I was watching the last Academy Awards show. What made it worse, so to speak, was when it won the award for Best Actor (Sean Penn) and for Best Supporting Actor (Tim Robbins). Lots of the time when that happens, you have raised expectations for how the movie will play out, and you now expect to like it when you see it. I had already had high expectations when I saw the Director and the Cast listed, so the academy award wins just added to it. I now had unreal expectations when I rented it just as it hit video stores this week. Fortunately for me, the movie lived up to everything that I expected from it.

Mystic River first of all, was Directed by Clint Eastwood. While he has been a great actor, and carried many films, I think his best work has come while Directing Films. Before this one, he Directed True Crime, Absolute Power, A Perfect World, and Unforgiven. All the movies were quite good, and starred top-notch actors in roles that they would not normally be seen in. When it came to Mystic River, Eastwood completely outdid himself in every sense of the word. The film soared through a story that was rich with character-development, with sub-plots that make the audience feel like they are a part of the story, and a musical score that digs deep into your soul and pulls out all of your emotions. This is one of those films where the Director knew exactly what type of a message he wanted to convey, and succeeded beyond anything even he could have expected. The film stars Sean Penn as Jimmy Marcus, a loving father who would do anything to protect and honor his 3 children. Tim Robbins is Dave Boyle, in the role of one of his very close friends.

Their wives are played by Marcia Gay Harden (from Welcome to Mooseport and Space Cowboys) and Laura Linney (from The Mothman Prophecies and The Truman Show). Both are very well cast in their roles as wives who are tested under the worst circumstances possible. To top it off, Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Bacon are cast as two detectives who are investigating the case at the center of this story. The casting director for this film should have been put up for an Oscar of her own, because the film was well-rounded in all aspects of acting. The talent of all of the people did not go to waste either, as Eastwood found a way to work the talents of each of them in the story in a well-woven story The movie starts with a scene involving the 3 childhood friends. Thos were Jimmy (Sean Peen), Dave (Tim Robbins), and Sean (Kevin Bacon). While playing street hockey, they take the opportunity to carve their names into a section of wet-concrete, so that their names will stay there for a long time. But, just as they complete their carving, a dark sedan pulls up behind them and a man jumps out.

He is dressed, and acts as though he is a police-detective, and talks down to the boys about what they have done. After talking with them for a short while, he commands Dave to get in the car to &#147deal with him. The young Dave gets into the car, and as he is looking back from the rear-window of the car driving away, our stomachs sink in the realization that something is terribly wrong. 4-days later, Dave escapes from the tortures that he is going through, and the movie quickly forwards 20-odd years to the current time. Many things have now changed, and the three kids ( now men), have grown up under different circumstances, and are no longer as tights as they once were. Jimmy now runs a convenience store, Dave seems to be out of work, and Sean is now a Boston Detective. While Dave and Jimmy are still friends, Sean has moved out of the old neighborhood to a place where he can forget the past. Dave has many issues still with what happened to him as a child, but it does not end there.

Jimmy and Sean are always constantly thinking about how their lives would have turned out different if it had been them getting into that car instead of Dave all those years ago. All 3 of them are brought back together when a tragedy strikes the main character Jimmy Markum. They all reunite to show their support for Jimmy, and the interactions between the characters is what makes movie history. While on one hand we have Dave who is trying to be there for Jimmy, on the other hand we have Sean who is investigating the tragedy, but while doing so gathering evidence that is disturbing and difficult to swallow with his present company. He also becomes tasked with the rage that the characters exhibit, and he must end up being the level-headed person of the group. When you think of a movie that is given the title &#147great, there are a few things that come to mind already. First, for a movie to be great, it has to be a gripping story that does not leave itself any holes with which to unravel. It must be well written, there must be good acting, and there has to be a script that can hold all of those things together. On top of that, and most importantly, the story must be believable.

If the audience is going to be swept up in the story, and forget that they are just watching a film, they have to be able to suspend their disbelief and get lost in what they are seeing. The big bonus, is if you can have a musical score that will accompany the emotions that the audience is feeling, and heighten the drama that surrounds the scenes. With Mystic River, Clint Eastwood was able to do all of those things, and then add things to the movie that make it stand out among many other dramas, and ahead of most recent movies. In fact, at the end of this movie, I was actually left starring at the credits, listening to the ending music, just soaking up what I had just seen on the screen. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins give stellar performances as two of the leads in this film. They were well deserving of the Oscars that they receives, and they showed off what their years of acting as honed them into. They are both gems on the screen, and when you throw Fishburne and Bacon into the mix, all you come away with is more fire-works. The story works, because it could happen to anyone of us, and it plays upon the fears and emotions that all of us could go through.

I highly recommend everyone see this movie, and in my opinion it was the best film of 2003. Mystic River (2003) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error With a childhood tragedy that overshadowed their lives, three men are reunited by circumstance when one has a family tragedy. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 33 titles created 11 Mar 2012 a list of 32 titles created 24 Feb 2013 a list of 25 titles created 08 Dec 2013 a list of 29 titles created 23 Aug 2014 a list of 35 titles created 08 Nov 2014 Search for " Mystic River " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 2 Oscars.

Another 53 wins & 131 nominations. See more awards » Videos Nicholas Van Orton is a very wealthy San Francisco banker, but he is an absolute loner, even spending his birthday alone. In the year of his 48th birthday (the age his father committed ... See full summary » Director: David Fincher In the late 1960s/early 1970s, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree. Director: David Fincher Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen. Director: Christopher Nolan Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally. Director: Ben Affleck A grief-stricken mother takes on the LAPD to her own detriment when it stubbornly tries to pass off an obvious impostor as her missing child, while also refusing to give up hope that she will find him one day. Director: Clint Eastwood An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.

Director: Brad Anderson In turn-of-the-century Vienna, a magician uses his abilities to secure the love of a woman far above his social standing. Director: Neil Burger Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years by Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker. Director: David Fincher A freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con. Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu A divorced woman and her diabetic daughter take refuge in their newly-purchased house's safe room, when three men break-in, searching for a missing fortune. Director: David Fincher Stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rain-storm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they're being killed off one by one. Director: James Mangold An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.

Director: Gregory Hoblit Edit 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? Written by michigans_finest We bury our sins, we wash them clean.

See more » Genres: Rated R for language and violence | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 15 October 2003 (USA) See more » Also Known As: $640,815 (USA) (10 October 2003) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia In Dennis Lehane 's novel, the surname of the characters of Jimmy and his family is Marcus, however in the film, it is Markum. See more » Goofs Jimmy's Cross tattoo on his back changes size from small to large. See more » 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? Sean's Father : Goddamn Cuban, man. He can hurl it. Jimmy's Father : I'd hate to be facing him. See more » 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. See more » Connections (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) – See all my reviews Twenty years ago, the boys Jimmy Markun, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle are neighbors and pals, playing hockey on the street. One day, Dave is kidnapped by two men, being sexually abused, but escapes from them four days later. In the present days, each one of them followed one way in their lives: Jimmy (Sean Penn) is married with Annabeth Markum (Laura Linney), has three daughters and has a small business. Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a detective, and his pregnant wife left him six months ago. His colleague is the detective Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne). And Dave (Tim Robbins) is a traumatized man, married with Celeste Boyle (Marcia Gay Harden) and having a young son. When the nineteen years old daughter of Jimmy, Katie Markum (Emmy Rossum), is found dead in the neighborhood, the three friends in childhood meet each other again, in the investigation of the murder. A tragic event happens in the conclusion of this investigation. This movie is excellent.

Yesterday, I saw it on DVD and I was impressed with the direction of Clint Eastwood and the performance of the cast. It is almost impossible to highlight one actor or actress, but I was stunned with the performance of Sean Penn. It is a film based on the acting, and not on special effects, shootings or race of cars. I was very impressed, since the tragic story of the loss of the youth is very real, full of human flaws, disturbances, prejudice and judgements. The destiny of this movie in the future may be to be considered a contemporary classic. My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): `Sobre Meninos e Lobos' (`About Boys and Wolves') 88 of 126 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Sean Penn and Tim Robbins Turn in Award Winning Performances in Mystic River - Read expert review at epinions.com Sean Penn and Tim Robbins Turn in Award Winning Performances in Mystic River Review by dragonfire88 Pros: Cast, acting, directing, and story Cons: Turned predictable near the end. Clint Eastwood has been an actor for years. Later in his career, he started to direct as well.

He has directed several movies, and won the Oscar for best director for his work on Unforgiven. In the fall of 2003, his newest movie, Mystic River was released. Dave, Jimmy, and Sean were playing street hockey. They lost their ball down the sewer and were writing their names in wet cement when a car drove up. A man got out, claiming to be a cop. After talking to the boys for a few minutes, he took one off in the car. Dave was missing for several days until he was able to escape the men. Years later, the three weren’t close anymore. Sean was a homicide detective and worked in Boston. Jimmy and Dave still lived in their old neighborhood. Dave was married to Celeste, and they had a son. Jimmy owned a small grocery store. He was married to Annabeth, Celeste’s cousin. He had three daughters. Katie, his oldest daughter, stopped in the store to talk to him before she went out with her friends. Her boyfriend, Brendan, was waiting in her car for her. They were keeping their relationship from Jimmy. Katie and her friends stopped at a few bars. Dave was at one of them and saw her.

That night, Dave was late getting home and he looked like he’d been in a fight. He told Celeste that he fought off a mugger, and maybe even killed him. Celeste sent Dave off to get cleaned up. The next morning she looked through the papers for something about the mugger, but she didn’t find anything. Katie didn’t show up to work at the store that morning. Her bed hadn’t been slept in when Jimmy looked in her room. He went in and started calling her friends, but he didn’t find her. A few hours later he went to church where one of his younger daughters was having first communion. At the same time, Sean and his partner arrived at a scene where there was an abandoned car with blood around. A search was started for the owner. Jimmy arrived and recognized Katie’s car. Her body was found nearby. Jimmy and Annabeth had to deal with losing a daughter. Sean and Whitey were investigating Katie’s murder. Her relationship with Brendan was discovered. Celeste did what she could to help Jimmy and Annabeth. Celeste also had growing doubts about Dave’s explanations for what happened that night. One of Dave’s hands looked really bad, and he gave different explanations about what happened to different people.

In addition to working on the case, Sean was also dealing with some issues in her personal life. CAST Jason Kelly - Young Jimmy Connor Paolo - Young Sean Clint Eastwood directed Mystic River. The movie was released in the fall of 2003. The movie was 137 minutes long and rated R. It was based on the book by Dennis Lehane. I haven’t read the book, though I did take a peek at the ending of the book in a store after I saw the movie. The ending was the same. This is not a movie for children. The movie is now available on VHS and DVD. When Mystic River was released, it didn’t make it to the theater here in town. I was disappointed because I had seen previews for the movie and thought it looked good. After the movie won some Oscars in February of 2004 it finally came to the theater here and I was able to see it. I did like the movie for the most part. It wasn’t the fastest paced movie, but I didn’t think it was boring. The movie kept my interest. I didn’t expect some things that happened, though it did turn predictable near the end.

I was a bit disappointed when that happened, but I still enjoyed the movie overall. The investigation into Katie’s murder was the main focus of Mystic River. Sean and Whitey were conducting their investigation throughout the movie. They uncovered some things, including that Katie had been planning a trip with her boyfriend. Two men that were connected with Jimmy were asking their own questions and reporting to Jimmy. He was determined to find out who killed his daughter. Jimmy had been a criminal when he was younger. He’d spent a few years in jail, and once he was out, he turned his life around. After Katie was killed, Jimmy seemed to be sliding back toward his criminal past to get justice for his daughter. There was some mystery in the movie related to why Katie was killed. She was only nineteen and had no enemies. Sean and Whitey did uncover some things related to the case that were surprising to me. The reason for why Dave was so late getting home was brought up at different times during the movie. As time went on, Celeste doubted her husband’s story more, and that caused tension in their relationship. Sean was having problems with his marriage, and that was shown a few times. There was something a bit strange going on in his relationship with his wife.

That wasn’t fully explored though, so I was left wondering a bit about how their relationship ended up in that state. I enjoyed most of Mystic River. The movie was progressing along and I was very interested in what was going on. I did wonder if maybe one thing had happened, but I wasn’t really sure. Some things were shared that I didn’t expect, making certain things more interesting to me. Then later in the movie, it turned predictable. As soon as a certain conversation took place, I just knew that one character was going to do something. I don’t want to say anything too specific here and ruin the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. I wasn’t happy the movie turned in that direction, and I was disappointed. The event didn’t happen immediately, so there was some build up. Maybe some people wouldn’t pick up on what was coming. It was very obvious to me, though I hoped there would be a different outcome. I thought this event was rather tragic, especially considering something else that was discovered. Mystic River was a very serious, powerful movie. It dealt with some disturbing things and issues. Dave lived through a horrible experience as a child. It still affected him as an adult.

Dave acted a little strange at times. The movie also showed how people dealt with a tragedy in their family. Jimmy had a somewhat shady past, but he loved his family. He was devastated when Katie was killed. The scenes where he identified her body and later saw her body at the funeral home were powerful and moving. Jimmy and Annabeth had to deal with a parent’s worst nightmare. Annabeth seemed to blindly support anything Jimmy did. Celeste and Dave ended up in an extreme situation as well. Something happened with Dave the night he came home late. Celeste loved her husband, and believed his story at first. As more time passed and she didn’t find anything in the papers to corroborate the story, doubts rose in her mind, which caused their marriage to suffer. The movie depicted some serious, disturbing things. There was nothing light hearted about this movie. There was some violence in some scenes of Mystic River. Katie was murdered very early in the movie. Her murder wasn’t shown, though he body was once it was found. She wasn’t in good shape. Dave came home late looking like he’d been in a fight. It wasn’t shown how he ended up that way.

There was some violence in some scenes near the end of the movie. There was a fight at one point, blood shed. The violence wasn’t extreme, but it could offend some people. I didn’t think it was a violent movie overall. People who don’t like to see movies with any violence in them should see a different movie. There was swearing throughout the movie, including multiple uses of the word that rhymes with luck. I have seen some movies that had more swearing, but people who are offended by that particular word being used may want to watch a different movie. The acting in Mystic River was very good. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were nominated for several awards each for their portrayals of Jimmy and Dave. They each won awards, including the Oscars they were nominated for. Sean Penn won for best actor and Tim Robbins for best supporting actor. They both gave wonderful performances, and I can see why they won the awards they did. Both were believable in their parts. Sean Penn did seem a little over dramatic in a few scenes, but it wasn’t too bad. Kevin Bacon was good as Sean. He was more subtle in his performance. He seemed to become the character.

Marcia Gay Harden was nominated for the Oscar for best supporting actress, though she didn’t win. She was very good as Celeste. I’ve seen her in some other movies, but I’ve never seen her in a part like Celeste before. I think Laura Linney had less screen time than some of the other actors, but she was still very good in her part. I’ve seen her in several movies, and I have always enjoyed her performances. She worked with Clint Eastwood in the past in Absolute Power. Emmy Rossum only had a few scenes as Katie, but she was good in them. I saw her a few months ago in The Day After Tomorrow , and her part was bigger in that movie. Lawrence Fishburne was only around with Kevin Bacon, but he was good in his part too. The other actors in the movie were good too, though nothing really stood out about their performances. CHARACTERS Jimmy Markum - He spent a few years in jail when he was younger. He seemed to have turned his life around after he got out. He was married to Annabeth and had three daughters. He loved his family and was protective of them. He owned a small grocery store in the neighborhood.

He was very upset when his daughter was killed. He wanted answers to who did it and why in a hurry, and he had a few guys going around asking questions. Annabeth Markum - She was Jimmy’s wife. She was actually his second wife, so she was Katie’s stepmother. She seemed like she was a little fed up with some things Katie had done in the past, but Annabeth still loved her and was very upset about her death. She was very supportive of Jimmy and whatever she did. Katie Markum - Jimmy’s oldest daughter. Her birth mother had died years before. Katie was involved with Brendan, but she kept the relationship from her father. She knew he wouldn’t approve. Celeste Boyle - She was Annabeth’s cousin. Celeste was married to Dave, who had been a good friend of Jimmy when they were kids. Celeste loved her husband, but she had doubts about something he told her. She felt horrible for Jimmy and Annabeth and was doing whatever she could to help them. Dave Boyle - Celeste’s husband. Dave went through something horrible when he was a child and was never the same again. He acted a little strange at times.

He loved his wife and son, but he still had some issues associated with what happened to him as a child. Something happened to him one night. He seemed to be hiding something since he was giving different stories to different people about what happened. Sean Devine - He was a homicide detective investigating Katie’s death. He had been friends with Jimmy and Dave when they were all children. Sean was focused on his job. He didn’t think certain people were involved in what happened to Katie, but he made it clear he would arrest whoever was responsible. He did defend Jimmy to his partner at one point. The friendship wasn’t close anymore, but he still seemed to have some loyalty to his former friends. He was also having some personal problems with his wife. Whitey Powers - Sean’s partner. Whitey didn’t know Jimmy or Dave, so he had more distance than Sean did. Whitey was more ready to suspect certain people than Sean was. Whitey picked up on things. DVD INFORMATION Mystic River is available on DVD. There is a one disc DVD and a three disc DVD version. The one disc comes in either full or widescreen. There are no extras of any kind included on the DVD.

All of the extras are on the second DVD of the three disc version. The third disc contains the movie’s soundtrack. I haven’t seen the three disc version around here, but I believe it is more expensive. So people who want the extra features have to pay more. I have seen the wide screen version that came with one disc, so I don’t know about the extras. The picture and sound quality was very good. Mystic River was a very good movie. I was disappointed by the direction the movie took near the end, but I still enjoyed the movie. It is definitely worth seeing at least once.

Related Reviews Clint Eastwood | Biography and Filmography | 1930 Directed the feature film adaptation of the widely popular Broadway musical "Jersey Boys"; also produced 2014 Directed and produced the Oscar-winning war drama "American Sniper," which went on to become the highest-grossing film of 2014, as well as the most financially successful war film of all time, when adjusted for inflation 2012 Starred as a retiring baseball scout in drama "Trouble with the Curve"; first acting role in a film he did not direct since 1993's "In the Line of Fire" 2011 Directed and produced biographical drama "J.

Edgar," starring Leonard DiCaprio 2010 Directed the film "Hereafter," which told three parallel stories about three people affected by death in different ways 2009 Executive-produced "Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me" for TCM, which earned an Emmy nomination in 2010 for Outstanding Nonfiction Special 2009 Directed Morgan Freeman as former South African President Mandela in "Invictus," about the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa; earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director 2008 Directed the period thriller "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie; also scored the music; earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score 2008 Helmed and starred in drama "Gran Torino"; earned a Golden Globe nomination for performing the title song 2007 Composed the score for "Grace is Gone" starring John Cusack; earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for a Motion Picture 2006 Helmed the WWII drama "Flags of Our Fathers," which centered around the six men that raised the American flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima; received one of two Golden Globe nominations for Best Director

 2006 Directed "Letters from Iwo Jima," the companion piece to the Iwo Jima drama "Flags of Our Fathers," told from the Japanese viewpoint; received Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Director and an Oscar nomination for Best Picture 2004 Produced, directed, starred in and composed the music for "Million Dollar Baby" starring Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman; nominated for Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Original Score; earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor 2003 Directed Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon in the film adaption of "Mystic River"; received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director; was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement 2002 Starred in and directed "Blood Work" 2000 Was subject of documentary "Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows," directed by David Ricker; screened at Venice Film Festival 2000 Teamed with James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland for the sci-fi adventure "Space Cowboys"; also produced and directed 1999 Directed and starred in "True Crime" about a journalist who becomes convinced a man on Death Row is innocent;

 also produced 1997 Directed (also produced) the film adaptation of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"; co-starred his daughter Alison Eastwood 1997 Portrayed a thief who becomes embroiled in a murder with political overtones in "Absolute Power" 1995 Launched the record label, Malpaso Records; first project was the soundtrack for "The Bridges of Madison County"; also directed and co-starred with Meryl Streep 1995 Produced "The Stars Fell on Henrietta" featuring Frances Fisher and Robert Duvall 1993 Had the Clint Eastwood Scholarship Award named after him by Warner Bros.

1993 Teamed with Kevin Costner in the taut "A Perfect World"; also directed and composed a song for the soundtrack 1993 Played an aging Secret Service agent in "In the Line of Fire" 1993 Documentary "Clint Eastwood – The Man From Malpaso" aired on Cinemax 1992 Re-established his superstar status and won widespread acclaim with "Unforgiven"; film won the Best Picture and Best Director Oscar 1990 Portrayed a John Huston-like film director in "White Hunter, Black Heart"; also produced and directed 1988 First credit as an executive producer, "Thelonius Monk: Straight, No Chaser" 1988 Helmed "Bird," the biopic of jazz legend Charlie Parker 1986 Won a landslide victory as mayor of Carmel, CA; served for two years 1985 Made TV directorial debut with an episode of NBC's "Amazing Stories" entitled "Vanessa in the Garden"; story by Steven Spielberg 1984 Earned critical praise for playing a troubled police detective in "Tightrope"; also produced 1983 Last feature with Sondra

 Locke, "Sudden Impact" 1982 Producing debut, "Firefox"; also starred in and directed 1980 Sang on the soundtrack to "Bronco Billy"; also starred in and directed 1978 Teamed with an orangutan in the comedy "Every Which Way But Loose" 1976 Third outing as Callahan in "The Enforcer" 1975 First of six films with off-screen companion Sondra Locke, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" 1975 Moved production company, Malapaso Co.

to Warner Bros.

on a "handshake deal" 1973 Directed William Holden and Kay Lenz in "Breezy"; first directing assignment in which he did not also act 1973 Reprised Harry Callahan in "Magnum Force" 1972 Starred in title role of "Joe Kidd" 1970 First played the role of detective Harry Callahan in "Dirty Harry" after Frank Sinatra turned down the part 1970 Made feature directorial debut with "Play Misty For Me"; also starred 1969 Directed first film, a documentary short about the filming of "The Beguiled" (1971) 1969 Starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in "Two Mules for Sister Sara," directed by Siegel 1968 Made singing debut in the film musical "Paint Your Wagon" 1968 First film with director Don Siegel, "Coogan's Bluff" 1966 Re-teamed with Leone for the sequel "For a Few Dollars More" 1964 Delivered breakthrough screen role as the man with no name in the Sergio Leone directed "A Fistful of Dollars" 195

9 Starred as Rowdy Yates on popular TV Western "Rawhide" (CBS) 1957 Appeared on the anthology series "The West Point Story" (CBS 1956-1957; ABC 1957-1958) 1955 Movie Spoiler for the film - MYSTIC RIVER MYSTIC RIVER movie trailer (apple.com - quicktime) NOTE: A movie Review/Spoiler sent in by Carl Zapffe "Mystic River" is a MASTERPIECE!

A gritty, urban East Coast film noir done to perfection! This movie makes a quiet statement in a matter-of-fact way with great power and truth. It truly deserves to receive multiple Oscar nominations. Simply put, "Mystic River" is the best American movie that I have seen so far this year! This is a powerful, searing portrait of urban life in the underbelly of a shabby section of Boston near the Mystic River seaport in its story about three children who are forever bonded together by an unspeakable crime committed against one of them. Since this random act occurred in a "Russian roulette" type situation where any one of the three could have been the victim of the kidnaping for the grotesque purpose of satisfying a depraved pedophiliac, the other two are left with deep feelings of guilt at having dodged the bullet while their friend, the victim, is left a shattered person with a lost childhood and his own feelings of guilt as to why he was chosen and not one of the others. Now 25 years later, all three are adults in varying stages of recovery from this macabre incident and all are still living in or near the same shabby section of downtown Boston.

When the daughter of one is found brutally murdered, suspicion naturally falls on the victim of that pedophile, still a shattered man. This luckless man also seems to have a dark secret of his own to hide, a violent act that may, or may not, have been committed the very same evening that the young girl lost her life leaving him with blood on his hands, possible proof that he may be complicit in her murder. Hollywood, supposedly the movie capital of the world, usually just doesn't get it. Too many money men and marketing men there to spoil the creative broth. They would rather make money than make it right. "Mystic River" is the first mainstream studio movie in 2003 to deserve an A+ rating, and we have Clint Eastwood as the director and the motivating creative force to thank for this. I shudder to think of what this movie might have been if someone without Clint Eastwood's power had directed it. Eastwood even had to fight to film the movie on location in Boston, for heaven's sake. That locale infuses this film with an atmosphere that is indelible. The grittiness of this film just could not have been replicated anywhere else.

Great credit also has to be given to Brian Helgeland for a screenplay that is absolutely first rate. The dialogue, often quite spare and circuitous, serves to illuminate quite beautifully the personalities involved. They quickly become real people living in a moment of real time and in real lives. Among other movies to his credit, Helgeland also wrote the screenplay for "L. A. Confidential"(1997), another masterpiece and the finest film noir since "Chinatown"(1974). There are enough noir-ish elements to "Mystic River" to call it an "East Coast film noir." This is a movie with character and cinematic proclivities distinctly different from the West Coast, the locale of most film noirs, but it is a true film noir nonetheless. Mystic River" is filled with bravura performances from start to finish and Oscar nominations should rain down upon this movie like a summer storm. Clint Eastwood is at the top of his game in the direction of this movie. Though the movie runs a little long at 2 hours and 17 minutes, I have seen many shorter movies that seemed like they were much longer.

He should receive a Best Director nomination for his masterful direction, not to mention the inspiration that he gave to his actors to give the performances of their professional lives in this film. Brian Helgeland should receive a nomination for his Best Adaptive Screenplay from the novel written by Dennis Lehane. A Best Actor nomination should go to Sean Penn for his searing performance as Jimmy Markum, an ex con and the father of the murdered daughter. Another Best Actor nomination should go to Tim Robbins as a man forever tortured by the memories of his having been horribly abused as a child. A Best Supporting Actress nomination is deserved by Marcia Gay Harden for her role as Tim Robbin's wife, a woman who loves her husband but also finds it hard to believe him when he protests his innocence. And perhaps also a Best Supporting Actress nomination is deserved for Laura Linney in her small role as a wife who remains fiercely loyal to her husband, Jimmy Markum, no matter what. This is to take nothing away from Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne, both of whom play their roles as the investigative policemen to the professional hilt. In short, every role in this movie is perfectly cast and brilliantly played by all the actors who star in it.

Throughout this movie and even after it was over, I had a feeling of awe that I was seeing something truly special. This feeling does not happen very often, but I sure am grateful when it does. This is, after all, what the best of cinema is all about: those all too rare moments when you are a fortunate witness to a truly extraordinary work of filmed art. It makes for a wonderful discovery and a wonderful experience at the theater. ------------------------ Three young boys, all the best of friends, are playing stick hockey on a side street in a gritty area of Boston near the port facilities on the Mystic River. As is so often the case with street games like this, the gutter drain finally sucks up the last of their hockey balls and they are suddenly left with nothing to do. Wandering around without much purpose, they spy a drying section of concrete and they all decide to write their names in the still wet cement so that their names will be preserved "forever." Jimmy Markum and Sean Devine finish their names first. Dave Boyle is just starting to write his name down when a car door opens across the street and a large man steps out with handcuffs and what looks like a badge strapped to his belt.

This gives him a presumed air of authority, and he starts badgering the kids about their "destruction of municipal property." Silent and even a little surly at first, the three kids are soon cowering in fear. The man decides to make an example of one of the boys, so he grabs David Boyle and tells him that he is going to bring him downtown to the police station and then call his mother. Boyle is thrown in the back of the car and their last view of each other is of him gazing poignantly out of the rear window of that sedan. Meanwhile, the other man in the front seat of the car, a quiet man with a large cross prominently displayed on one of his rings suggesting that he might be a member of the clergy, turns around and looks at David Boyle with predatory delight and eager anticipation. The parents of the kids, many of whom have had prior brushes with the law, realize that this is not orthodox police procedure and a search party for David is quickly organized. Nothing happens for four long days until Boyle, who had been kept locked in the basement of a deserted house, finally escapes his captors and flees for home.

All three boys are now grown men as it is now some 25 years later. They have not been close since the sad events of that horrible day. Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) runs a small mini mart on the corner that may or may not be a front for some illegal smuggling activity, untaxed cigarettes, perhaps. Someone had ratted on him sixteen years before and he ended up spending two years in prison. The ratting was not the only thing that made him an angry man though, as his first wife died while he was in prison and he was not able to be there to comfort her. Now he skirts the edges of the law with numerous black tattoos covering his body to remind everyone of his past as a prison inmate. He is once again married, this time to Annabeth (Laura Linney), a devoted wife who has born him two more daughters after the one that was left after her mother died. The older daughter is now nineteen while the younger girls are eleven and eight in age. The nineteen year old, Katie (Emmy Rossum), remains his favorite, perhaps because she is older, but also maybe because she is all that he has left of his first wife.

Annabeth has to remind him not to dote so much on Katie as the younger girls need their father's love and attention as well. This especially goes for the eleven year old, who will be experiencing her first communion at church tomorrow. A classmate of his older daughter, Brendan Harris, (Tom Guiry), comes into the mini mart with his younger brother, a deaf mute. They converse animatedly by signing. Brendan is surprised not to find Katie working there, and he asks for her, but Jimmy curtly dismisses him in spite of his friendly nature. Shortly thereafter Katie enters the mart to tell her dad that she is going out with her friends for the evening and won't be home until late. She runs back out to her car, and Brendan surprises her by rising up from the floor of the back seat where he was hiding. They kiss amorously and promise to meet each other later. Brendan asks Katie why her dad seems to dislike him so much, and she replies that she doesn't know. This is pretty much the answer to that same question that the other mini mart employee gets when he asks Jimmy, adding that Brendan seems like such a nice kid.

Jimmy refuses to talk about it, but it is obvious that there is a history of bad blood there for some unknown reason. David Boyle also lives in the old neighborhood not far from the Markum house. He has married a lovely woman, Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden), who is as devoted to her husband as Annabeth, but is scared by his frequent bouts of moodiness and depression. She has the nervous look of someone who lives next to a keg of dynamite, never quite knowing when it might blow up. They have one young son and one of Dave's small pleasures is being able to play stickball with his kid in the back yard of their modest home. Celeste is related to Jimmy by way of two street toughs, Val and Nick Savage (Kevin Chapman and Adam Nelson), so they are all considered family as they are all related by blood. It is not made clear what David Boyle does for a living, and the same goes for the two Savage brothers, both of whom consider Jimmy to be their godfather of sorts and thus are always available to do his bidding. Saturday night comes and goes and Jimmy wakes up at home on a sunny Sunday morning, the morning of his middle daughter's first communion.

He goes to Katie's room to make sure that she has left for her work shift at his store, and is disturbed to see that her bed does not look like it has been slept in. Upon inquiry, the mart assistant tells Jimmy that he wishes Katie had been there as he is swamped by all the after church Sunday business. Jimmy's concern turns to fear and worry when Katie's car is discovered unoccupied at Pen Park, a nearby park and playground for the area's inhabitants. Blood is discovered on the front seat but Katie is nowhere to be found. Police are quickly called and they cordon off the area. The local television stations are not far behind and suddenly the news is filled with stories about this poor missing young girl. Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon), the third member of the trio, has done the most to get away from their shared sordid past and the psychological chains of being associated with Boyle's kidnaping and rape. He does not live in the area, but is now a homicide detective who works the Mystic River beat with his partner, Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne).

Sean has a wife who has either left him or been pushed away by him and is now so damaged that all she can do is call him on his cell phone without ever being able to say anything. Sean goes through the routine as he knows exactly who is always calling him. He loves her and still holds out faint hope that they might somehow be able to reconcile in spite of all evidence to the contrary. A police search eventually turns up Katie's body lying half buried in the underbrush of an old well basin in the park. In a blind rage, Jimmy has to be held back by half a dozen policemen. He later demands to see the body of his daughter in the morgue when he brings over a dress for her body for the funeral. He stares in silence at her as her face and her hair are once again beautifully made up. He wants to hug her and smother her in kisses, but he realizes that this is no longer possible. Her body is there, but his Katie isn't. Dave Boyle has problems of his own.

He is at a local bar with a friend when Katie and two of her friends, obviously drunk and in high spirits, come into the bar late on that Saturday night and surprise the patrons by dancing together on top of the bar. Much later that night he comes home to a very worried Celeste with a bashed hand and sporting a shirt and jacket both soaked in blood. He tells her that he was mugged on the way to his car and is afraid that he might have killed the man in self-defense. Dave later changes his story as to how his hand got mangled when he is interviewed by Whitey and Sean. Meanwhile, Celeste remains glued to the television set waiting to hear something about that guy who was supposedly killed by her husband, but it is only the circumstances surrounding Katie's death that fills the local newscasts. She loves Dave and wants to believe his story, but without any corroborating evidence she has trouble avoiding the obvious conclusion that there is a link between his suspicious activity and Katie's murder as they both occurred at the same time on the same night. Whitey Powers isn't for a moment fooled by Dave's alibi for his mangled hand.

He is also convinced that his injury is a possible link to Katie's murder, especially since Boyle was one of the last people to see her alive. His hope is that this link will be discovered upon further investigation. Sean Devine, his partner in homicide investigations but his superior as an officer and a college graduate, feels instead that Boyle may be innocent. He knows him too well to believe Boyle to be capable of doing this. Later a link is discovered on a computer check between that bullet in the car seat and a robbery committed many years before at a liquor store. The markings match, but the gun, originally owned by Brendan Harris' dad, is nowhere to be found. Furthermore, this link is highly tenuous as Harris' dad had deserted his family more than a decade before and has not been seen since. Whitey voices his suspicions, quickly disclaimed by Sean, that his involvement with all the principles in the case just might be clouding his judgment. Then the two homicide detectives find out that Jimmy Markum has sent the Savage brothers out to investigate all the potential suspects in the case, and now the race is on for Sean and Whitey to find the perpetrator before Jimmy finds him and metes out his own brand of street justice.

The two obvious leads, Dave Boyle and Brendan Harris, are investigated in a methodical police detective manner. Even the Savage brothers are forced to admit to Jimmy Markum that Sean and Whitey are doing their jobs well in covering all the bases. They check out the Harris home and interview Brendan about his relationship with Katie. It is obvious to both detectives that Brendan truly loved Katie and is innocent of her murder. In point of fact, several of the items found in Katie's purse had to do with Las Vegas tourist destinations. It comes out that Brendan and Katie were going to fly to Las Vegas and elope the next day. This explains the funny feeling that Jimmy had when Katie said goodnight to him the day before. His life in prison had given him an extra sensory perception about the way people look when they talk, and it struck him that she was saying more than "Good Night," more like "Goodbye" perhaps. All during the interview in the Harris' home Brendan's mother (Jenny O'Hara) is hovering in the background filling the room with a dark cloud of repressed rage and bitterness. Her husband had deserted her 14 years before, and she doesn't want to see anyone else succeed at love.

Besides, she hates the police as her husband had also been a crook. A curious fact eventually comes out that Brendan believes his father to be still alive as his mother receives a check for $500 every month mailed from a post office in Brooklyn. Sean and Whitey go back to their police station and do some background work on Brendan's father in an effort to trace the missing gun. His father was caught smuggling goods across a state line in a stolen auto and thus was picked up by the FBI. Surprisingly enough, however, he was never convicted of anything. They go over to the New York FBI office to find out the background information on this case and all of a sudden the threads start to weave a cloth of closure. Brendan's dad never served any time because he ratted to the FBI on other illegal activities taking place at the same time, in fact, the illegal activities of Jimmy Markum. So Jimmy Markum took the fall and went to prison for two years, a stretch that left him in prison during the death of his first wife. Even though Harris' dad gave testimony in confidence to the FBI, he disappeared right after Markum was released from prison.

Of course, there was never a provable connection; Harris just disappeared off the face of the earth. The only thing left to give some small evidence as to his still being alive is the monthly arrival of those checks for $500 to Mrs. Harris. But then there is that intense hatred for Harris' son so inexplicably felt by all emanating from Jimmy Markum. Their next stop is at the liquor store still owned by the same man (Eli Wallach, uncredited) who had been held up years before. The gun was fired during the robbery and the bullet had lodged in the wall between the bottles of liquor. This bullet was retrieved as part of the investigation and the markings were later added to the police computer files. Now a bullet with the exact same markings is found buried in the seat of Katie's car. The aged liquor store owner told the two cops that, Yeah, he knew who did it, but bitterly complains that the proof would never have held up in court. Harris' dad came in three weeks after the robbery and smiled at him with such a knowing smile as if to say, "Aha, I pulled a fast one on you, didn't I?" And how can you convict a man on a look?

Now, all of a sudden, the Harris gun assumes a critical importance in this case. Where is it and who knows about it? "Mystic River" takes a final explosive turn into a complex double denouement that involves both the gun as a murder weapon and an explanation of the suspicious activities of Dave Boyle the night of Katie's murder. Dave's car had been impounded because of the blood stains in the front seat. While these blood stains turn out to belong to Dave, the shocker is that different blood stains are found in the trunk, blood stains that match the blood type of Katie Markum. Sean and Whitey make another visit to Celeste Boyle and present her with this apparently damning evidence in an effort to break her alibi for her husband. Celeste has always maintained that Dave came home when he said he did, which was shortly before one in the morning. In actuality, he had come home closer to three in the morning. Celeste doesn't change her story to the policemen, but the doubts in her own mind as to her husband's innocence grow ever larger. This makes his comments to her about what happened to "poor Katie" all the more strange.

Late one night he walks over past Jimmy's house and finds Jimmy sitting on the front stoop. Jimmy remarks to Dave, "You know, this is where I used to wait for my Katie to come home." Once again, Dave offers his sincerest condolences. "Just terrible," he says. The next day the two appropriately named Savage brothers, who apparently have an in with the police department, report to Jimmy that blood matching Katie's blood type was found in the trunk of Dave's car. In Jimmy's mind, this convicts Dave beyond a shadow of a doubt in spite of the fact that the events of the crime do not match this placement. Katie was first shot in her car and she then fled her car into Pen Park in a desperate attempt to escape her murderer. A trail of her blood and torn pieces of her clothing were found leading from her car to the well pit in the park where her body was found. The geographical events of her death are seemingly beyond dispute and they do tend to throw considerable doubt on the possibility of Dave Boyle or his car having anything to do with her death. But this is not something that the hotheaded Jimmy Markum is going to examine in a cool analytical light.

He goes over to visit Celeste later that evening and finds her crying on her front porch. The two police detectives have just left and Celeste is now convinced that her husband is guilty of this horrible crime. Jimmy holds her and hugs her and comforts her in a successful effort to get her to admit as much. "You think Dave killed my Katie, don't you?" he asks her, and Celeste sadly and tearfully nods in the affirmative. Markum instructs the Savage brothers to pick up Boyle and go through "the procedure." The next afternoon they are cruising down the street when they spy Boyle walking along the sidewalk. They invite him into their car to go for a drink, even though it is still early in the afternoon. Dave protests that it is too early to start drinking, but he doesn't want to appear antisocial. He climbs into the back seat of the Savage's sedan and once again, just like 25 years before, he looks wistfully out of the rear window of the car at the old neighborhood that has been his only home for all his life. Perhaps he instinctively realizes that he will never see his home again...

The Savages bring him to a seedy waterfront bar in an isolated area of town and proceed to get him drunk. Hours later Jimmy Markum joins the three at their booth in this poorly lit bar. Everyone is all smiles and camaraderie but a dark tension lurks just under the surface of their overt affability. Dave reaches his limit and confesses that he has to go outside and throw up. They let him leave and then shortly join him as he is puking by the bank of the river. Jimmy then tells Dave Boyle that this is where he killed Harris years before for sending him to prison. And he will do the same to Boyle if he killed his daughter, Katie. But Boyle protests his innocence. "What about the blood in your trunk?" they ask. Boyle slurs his speech as he tells his side of the story. He came out of the bar late that Saturday night and stumbled upon a pedophile raping a young kid in a car in the parking lot of the tavern. He told the kid to get away as he pulled the man out of the car and pounded him into a bloody pulp in a drunken rage. He then put the unconscious, perhaps even dead, body in the trunk of his car and dumped it behind the bar.

This story is unconvincing to Jimmy Markum as no body has yet been found to verify Boyle's story. He has the Savage brothers beat him up some more and then tells Boyle that he will only let him live if he tells the truth about murdering his daughter. By now, drunk, sick, sore, and nearly unconscious, Boyle decides that the easiest thing for him to do is to accept Markum's offer and live. He says, "Yeah, I did it," whereupon Markum knifes him in the stomach and then shoots a bullet into the near dead body as it lies on the ground... Back to Sean and Whitey and the still missing Harris gun. They have been pressuring Brendan Harris just as they have been pressuring Boyle for a clue to provide a break in the case. After being hauled down to the police station twice for interrogation, Sean grabs Brendan and breaks the news to the shocked kid that his missing father's gun is the murder weapon of his beloved Katie, the girl with whom he was planning to elope to Las Vegas.

Brendan doesn't say anything about this to the policemen, but as soon as he gets home he goes to a secret hiding place in the ceiling of his family's kitchen and feels around for the hidden gun. He is shocked to find that the gun is not there. All of a sudden everything starts to become clear to this poor, innocent young man. His deaf mute brother, who was aware of his plans to elope with Katie, must have been involved as he was the only one who knew where that gun was hidden and, besides, he hated the thought of losing his beloved brother whom he depended upon so much for protection and friendship. Brendan's younger brother shortly comes home with his best friend, and Brendan says, "Oh, it's you again." He then accuses his brother of murdering Katie. It wasn't supposed to turn out that way, his brother signs, but everything got out of control. I just meant to scare her. Terrified as Brendan rushes him in a rage and starts to throttle him, he pulls the gun out just as Sean Devine and Whitey Powers rush into the house.

Sean acts quickly enough to grab the gun and subdue the young man just as the gun fires a misdirected bullet into the ceiling The case of the lovely young girl who was murdered is now solved. Unfortunately, the pathetic victim from a crime from many years before has also paid with his life. Sean once again gets a silent call from his ex-wife. "Look," he says, "I am sorry I pushed you away." "I'm sorry, too," she finally speaks. A look of joy spreads over Sean's face. There is hope, after all. It is the day of the annual neighborhood parade, but Jimmy is in a morose mood in his bedroom. Annabeth comes in and tells him that the police have solved the case and have caught his daughter's killers. He confesses to her that he has killed an innocent man. "I killed an innocent man," he repeats again. "Look," Annabeth replies, "you did your best. What's past is past, and you can't change it. It is clear that she is going to stand by her man no matter what.

"I am going to take you down here and then we are going to go out and enjoy the parade," as she drags him down to the bed on top of her. They make love, perhaps for the first time since Katie's murder. Sean, who has figured everything out by now, sees Jimmy and asks him, "Do you know where Dave Boyle is? We found the body of a man behind the bar and we want to talk to him about it." Jimmy lifts his hands up as if to say that he hasn't seen Boyle and doesn't have a clue as to where he might be. Sean isn't fooled. After a lifetime spent in this neighborhood he knows what the score is. "Are you now going to be sending $500 to Celeste Boyle every month for the rest of her life?" he asks. Jimmy smiles, but says nothing. He also knows that Sean knows. The parade is going down the street with all the hoopla and the noise and the marching bands playing their music. The Markum family minus one beloved daughter sits together on one front stoop watching the parade go by. Sean, once again together with his wife and child, sits across the street all aglow with renewed hope at his new chance for marital happiness.

He holds his hand up in the form of a gun and goes "Kapow!" to his old childhood friend, Jimmy, across the street. Jimmy just smiles. The young Boyle child looking strangely uncomfortable and out of place rides by on a float with the other members of his little league team. Meanwhile, Celeste walks up and down the street looking every which way in sheer desperation and a failing hope for her missing husband, a search that she instinctively realizes will be fruitless. She knows how the system of street justice works. She didn't mean it, but her lack of marital loyalty betrayed her husband and this action on her part condemned an innocent man to death. Her family blood was not thick enough to save him, not that it ever would have been in a case like this. Dave Boyle would still be alive if only she had kept her mouth shut for another 24 hours. His childhood had been stolen from him and now his adulthood was also taken from him. In both instances he was the innocent victim of the illegal machinations of others. _________________________________________________________________

Question: Who directed the Oscar nominated film Mystic River?
Answer: Clint Eastwood