Here's The Definitive List Of The Top 10 Boston Movies
I started this blog after getting asked a bunch on social media what my list of the top Boston movies was. Rather than a quickie list on Twitter, I wanted to expand on it in a blog. Obviously, it's subjective but I tried to use a formula that took into account the quality of the movie, filming locations, and how many things actually intrinsic to Boston are portrayed in the movie. Enjoy.
10. WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU
This autobiographical offering from Southie native and writer/director Brian Goodman never had a full theatrical release but this gritty drama cracks the list. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, and Amanda Peet, the movie is about a pair of lifelong Southie criminals and the toll that a life of drugs, booze, and robbery takes on them and those close to them. Ruffalo and Hawke do pretty good jobs playing a pair of ne’re-do-wells as does Peet as Ruffalo’s put-upon wife. Probably the least-watched film on this list but not because of its quality. Boston factor: Written/directed by native. Filmed largely in a snowy Southie including several scenes at the Seapoint. The accents aren’t the best but the acting makes up for it. Lot of locals used in filming.
9. MONUMENT AVE.
This gritty and under-seen drama starring Denis Leary, Colm Meaney, and Martin Sheen is a very good flick set in a drug and violence-soaked era that would soon give way to full-on gentrification. Denis Leary plays a car thief/degenerate gambler who heads a group of Charlestown buddies going nowhere while also just trying to get by in a time when cocaine, murder, and neighborhood crime bosses were significant parts of the landscape. Filmed on location and directed by the late Ted Demme, MONUMENT AVE. does a terrific job of capturing the daily dread of these guys stuck in this world, under a wise guy’s thumb and not much of a future. Boston factor: Filmed here. Involved hot boxes. Accents didn’t jump out in bad way (except for Maht-in Sheen). Captured the vibe of ’80s/’90s C’town pretty fucking good. Also the rare movie that features a street hockey scene. And a cameo from Cam Neely.
8. GONE BABY GONE
Based on Dennis Lehane’s book, Ben Affleck’s directorial debut is about a pair of private eyes (his brother Casey and Michelle Monaghan) trying to find a kidnapped girl but end up down a rabbit hole with drugs lords, diddlers, and other shady bastards. Amy Ryan was nominated for her performance as the little girl’s white trash mother and it’s well deserved. Though the film reeks of Boston thanks to being filmed on location, there was nothing particularly ‘Boston’ about the ultimately convoluted story of private dicks and a kidnapping. But it's a well-done flick. Boston factor: Tons of Dorchester onscreen. Murphy’s Law gets some shine.
7. SPOTLIGHT
This 2015 release about Boston Globe reporters blowing the lid off the biggest criminal conspiracy of the last 2000 years is a terrific movie and deserving of the Best Picture Oscar it won. Buoyed by excellent performances from Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, and John Slattery, SPOTLIGHT slowly unfurls the story of dirtbag pedophiles and their protectors moving serial rapist priests from parish to parish while keeping their hideous backgrounds a secret, allowing them to ruin an untold number of lives. Ironically, it was written/directed by the guy who played the bullshitting reporter Scott Templeton in “The Wire”. Boston factor: More a journalism movie than a Boston movie as these rotten fucks were pulling this shit everywhere not just Boston; it just so happens a Boston paper broke the story (even if they had a hot lead years before). Only a few parts filmed locally.
6. THE VERDICT
This 1982 Sidney Lumet-helmed legal drama pits a drunken ambulance-chaser against two of the city of Boston’s largest and most powerful entities (the hospital and the church) over medical malpractice. Though he didn’t win the Oscar, many feel that Paul Newman’s performance as lawyer Frank Galvin was the best of his career. And I’m not gonna argue. Newman is nothing short of sublime here, especially in an early scene when he shows up at a wake half-on-the-wrapper handing out business cards. I don’t know if we’d ever seen Newman do pathetic in this way before but he fucking crushes the role. Also costars Charlotte Rampling, the great Jack Warden, James Mason, and Lily Braden herself, Lindsay Crouse. Boston factor: Filmed a lot at the State House which served as the hospital. He also hits Spencer Funeral Home on East Broadway and a house on G St. Doesn’t have particular ‘hood or ethnic group but does have scumbag Archdiocese/powerful hospital angle which is very Boston. Also keep an eye out for Jigsaw and Bruce Willis in the late courtroom scenes.
5. THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE
This 1973 flick directed by Peter Yates is the OG Boston wise guy flick and also foresaw the era of the rat. Hollywood legend Robert Mitchum plays the titular character, a low-level hood that gets in over his head and tries to play both sides to save his ass. Filmed on location in Boston and surrounding areas, COYLE has a sense of dread and nails a city that doesn’t know it’s about to change forever in major ways. You can also see THE TOWN’s DNA in this; Eddie Coyle walked so Doug MacRay could run. Boston factor: No Toronto stand-ins here. Contains an awesome scene filmed in Boston Garden during a Bruins game with #4 prominently displayed. Mitchum’s accent was pretty solid and I don’t remember anybody’s making me cringe. Also starred Somerville’s Alex Rocco. Basically says “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”.
4. MYSTIC RIVER
Clint Eastwood’s Best Picture nominee is about three childhood friends whose lives are forever altered and always entwined because of a traumatic experience when they were young. Years later when one of their daughters is found dead, the scarred trio find themselves seemingly on three different sides and any semblance of friendship is iffy at best. Exploring themes of violence, revenge, loyalty, and untreated trauma, MYSTIC RIVER is a deep, dour, and dark whodunit that’s full of regret. It’s also brilliant and maybe Eastwood’s best movie. Boston factor: based on Dot Rat Dennis Lehane’s book, MYSTIC used fictional n’hood names but still captured the essence of Boston because of filming in Eastie, C’town, and Southie. Some tough accents. But captured realism of effects of violence and what can happen when things go unsaid, things that many Boston n'hoods are familiar with.
3. THE DEPARTED
Contrary to popular belief, this wasn’t a Whitey Bulger movie but rather took its inspiration (and plot) from the Hong Kong film INFERNAL AFFAIRS in which the mob and the cops each have a mole on the inside. Director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter William Monahan did use the infamous Southie crime boss-cum-rat to come up with Frank Costello and set the labyrinthine gangster story in Boston. Scorsese also filmed most of it here, making the city a background character which is a big factor in providing an authentic Boston feel (though you can spy a NYC bridge in the Statie graduation scene). Jack Nicholson’s gonzo-ish performance headlined a slate of A-listers with Marky Mark the only one to get an Oscar nomination. The Best Picture winner feels like it’s going to end five different times but just kills more characters, a stunning turn of events the first time you see it. Crazy that this was Marty’s first win for Best Director. The rat on railing at the end was a little ham-handed though I once read it was an homage to a very old gangster flick. But THE DEPARTED is a movie that pretty much always Shawshanks you. Boston factor: Scene filmed on the T. Very heavy on the Irish-American thing. Damon and Wahlberg local pedigrees informed their roles but there were a couple of rough accents from others. Screenwriter from Dot captured smart-ass profanity unique to city.
2. GOOD WILL HUNTING
This is the movie that launched the legend of Matt and Ben (who both won the Best Screenplay Oscar), opened the Boston floodgates for other movies on this list, and introduced (most of) the world to Southie. Damon plays the titular character, an angry math genius janitor that is forced to see a therapist after his barely-concealed rage gets him in trouble yet again. Heavily traumatized from his childhood, Will slowly opens up to Sean, the therapist who also grew up in Southie, and starts a relationship with Skylar, a hot Harvard student. Robin Williams won an Oscar playing Sean with some of the best work of his career. The Affleck brothers and Cole Hauser play Will’s buddies that he frequently hits the local bars with. And the four guys did a great job of portraying the ball-breaking and beer swilling that four guys from Southie would typically get into. Balancing humor with pathos, GWH went on to become a huge hit and was nominated for seven other Oscars, including Best Picture. Boston factor: Though filmed in Toronto as well, there’s plenty of Boston scenery to go around: L St. Tavern, M St. park, a scene on the T, and various other spots around Southie. And of course, the Public Garden. Incorporating the ’75 World Series into the script.
1. THE TOWN
Full disclosure: I was an extra in this and it was set/filmed in my neighborhood so I may be partial to it. Having said that, it’s the most Boston movie on this list. It’s based in reality about guys from a particular neighborhood, Charlestown, that made a living doing a particular thing, robbing banks and armored cars. The production was enhanced by getting input from former stick-up guys who could provide real details that a screenwriter wouldn’t think to. That scene when the masked nuns park right across the street from a cop working a detail and the cop makes a wise decision? It was based on an actual event. Affleck does a great job on both sides of the camera. Jeremy Renner did a fantastic job of portraying that hair-trigger psycho that you know not to fuck with. The North End chase scene never gets old and was incredibly done. Boston factor: The whole movie, really, as it was filmed largely in Charlestown. Lots of local faces used. The epic climax at Fenway. Townie bank robbers might be obsolete now but were a thing for ages. A yuppie slumming it with a local.
These are Boston flicks that didn't make the cut.
No: THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, BLACK MASS, THE HEAT, EDGE OF DARKNESS, TED, NEXT STOP WONDERLAND.
These are ones that didn't even sniff it.
Fuck no: SOUTHIE, THE BOONDOCK SAINTS, R.I.P.D., BLOWN AWAY, SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL, PATRIOTS DAY, KNIGHT AND DAY, THE EQUALIZER, CELTIC PRIDE, FEVER PITCH, BLUE HILL AVENUE.
These are qualtiy movies that make other lists but not mine.
THE FIGHTER is a Lowell movie. Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund are from Lowell. Calling it a ‘Boston movie’ is an insult to Lowell.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK is about a vindictive Harvard nerd that wants to grade women who reject him but instead he ultimately undermines society. It’s a Zuckerberg movie not a Boston movie.
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA is like a movie version of listening to The Smiths with some incredible performances. It’s also a tiny, tony town on Cape Ann. It's not a Boston movie.
SHUTTER ISLAND may have been located in Boston Harbor but that was about it. Could've been anywhere.