Arlington Road

Infobox_Film
name = Arlington Road


caption = Arlington Road film poster
producer = Tom Rosenberg
Sigurjón Sighvatsson
Ted Tannebaum
writer = Ehren Kruger
starring = Jeff Bridges
Tim Robbins
Joan Cusack
Hope Davis
Robert Gossett
director = Mark Pellington
editing = Conrad Buff
distributor = Sony Pictures Entertainment (US) Polygram Filmed Entertainment (international)
released = 9 July, 1999
runtime = 117 min.
language = English
imdb_id = 137363
music = Angelo Badalamenti
tomandandy
awards =
budget = $31 million

"Arlington Road" is a 1999 film which tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope Davis and is directed by Mark Pellington. Ehren Kruger wrote the script, which won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' (AMPAS) Nicholl Fellowship in 1996. This was to have been originally released by Polygram Filmed Entertainment but was sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment before it opened. The eventual release was the first title for Screen Gems while Polygram handled foreign rights.

Plot

Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) is a college history professor at the George Washington University who's been raising his nine-year-old son, Grant, since the untimely death of his FBI agent wife who was killed in the line of duty. Somewhat of a specialist regarding American terrorism, Michael starts to become suspicious of his new suburban neighbors, Oliver (Tim Robbins) and Cheryl Lang (Joan Cusack), whom he's just met after taking their son, Brady, to the emergency room following a reported fireworks accident.

At first his suspicions are based on little things such as Oliver's architectural blueprints that seem to be for something other than the shopping mall he claims he's building, as well as pieces of mail that contradict where Oliver said he attended college. Neither his girlfriend and former student, Brooke Wolfe (Hope Davis), nor his wife's former FBI partner, Whit Carver, believe any of his wild theories.

Michael continues to uncover what could be possible evidence and becomes even more wary of Oliver and Cheryl. Michael's girlfriend, Brooke, is killed in an automobile accident, which Michael comes to vaguely suspect is related to his neighbors. Eventually the conspirators use a field trip with a Scouts-style organization to keep Faraday's son Grant as an unknowing hostage. Faraday rents a car the next day and follows the van his son is in, which eventually leads him to the FBI headquarters.

Faraday forces his car into a secure parking garage, only to discover that he has followed the wrong van into the parking garage. Attempting to calm Faraday, Whit informs him that he is the only person not cleared to be in the garage. Realizing his mistake too late, Faraday rushes to the trunk of his rental car, opening it to reveal a hidden bomb just seconds before it explodes, killing Faraday, Whit, and 184 others. Posthumously, he is vilified as a terrorist seeking revenge for his wife's death. The Langs get away scot-free, and Grant, now orphaned, ends up living with relatives, not knowing of his father's innocence. It becomes obvious that Scobee, another man who was accused of blowing up an IRS building in St. Louis, was set up exactly the same way as Michael.

Cast & characters

*Jeff Bridges as Michael Faraday
*Tim Robbins as Oliver Lang
*Joan Cusack as Cheryl Lang
*Hope Davis as Brooke Wolfe
*Robert Gossett as FBI Agent Whit Carver
*Spencer Treat Clark as Grant Faraday
*Mason Gamble as Brady Lang

ee also

*Timothy McVeigh
*Oklahoma City bombing
*Branch Davidians
*Ruby Ridge
*Montana Freemen

DVD Release

The film was initially released on October 26, 1999 to Columbia TriStar Home Video. The DVD was reissued in Superbit on February 12 2002 to Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

Rating

This film is Rated R by the MPAA for Violence and Some Language.Canadian Rating: 14a.

References

External links

*imdb title | id=0137363 | title=Arlington Road