The Boondock Saints is a 1999 crime thriller film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as Catholic Irish American fraternal twins, Conner and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense. After a "message from God", the brothers, together with their friend David Della Rocco, set out to rid their home city of Boston, Massachusetts of crime and evil; all the while being pursued by Special Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe).
Duffy indicates that the screenplay was inspired by personal experience, while living in Los Angeles.[3] The film experienced a limited theatrical release of only five theaters for one week,[4] and was met with poor critical reviews; but the film has grossed about $50 million in domestic video sales. [2] It proved divisive among viewers, ultimately developing both a large cult following[5][6] as well as enmity from viewers and critics who have called it a film undeserving of cult status.[7] The ending credit sequence, which features the media asking the people of Boston, "Are the 'saints' good or evil?", was shot by Mark Brian Smith, co-director of Overnight, a documentary film about the making of The Boondock Saints, and Troy Duffy himself.
Plot
The film opens with Irish fraternal twins Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) MacManus attending Mass at a Catholic church. Next, (the film is chronologically unclear) while celebrating St. Patrick's Day with friends, the two get into a bar brawl with three Russian mobsters who wanted to evict the pub, as a result they receive a sound beating. The morning after, two of the Russians seek revenge on Connor and Murphy, who kill their attackers in self-defense.
FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) is assigned to the case and surmises that the death of the Russians was not a professional hit, but probable self-defense. The brothers decide to clear their names and arrive at the police station, where they find that the police and local news reporters see them as heroes. To avoid press attention the brothers decide to spend the night in a holding cell, where they receive an apparent vision from God telling them to hunt down wicked men so that the innocent will flourish.
Connor and Murphy resolve to rid Boston of "evil men", with their friend and former mob errand boy Rocco (David Della Rocco) eventually joining them to help. Connor learns of a meeting of Russian syndicate bosses at a hotel from a pager taken from one of the dead Russian mobsters and the brothers quickly kill nine bosses and underbosses—saving the leader, Yuri Petrova — later referred to as "Fat/Fag Man" for last. They recite their family prayer and kill him with two gunshots to the back of the head — the bullets cross and go out his eyes. They place coins on the eyes of all nine bodies, as if to pay the toll to cross the River Styx.
After hunting down Vincenzo Lipazzi (Ron Jeremy), underboss of the Yakavetta crime family, the three vigilantes undertake a series of increasingly violent missions, cleansing the city of the most vicious criminals. In response to this threat, Giuseppe "Papa Joe" Yakavetta (Carlo Rota) contracts the feared hitman, Il Duce (Billy Connolly) — literally "The Leader" in Italian (although through its use by various Italian nobles it may also be interpreted as "the Duke", which may be more fitting here) and originally nickname of Benito Mussolini— to deal with the vigilantes. After killing a criminal at his house, the three men are ambushed by Il Duce. Although they manage to chase Il Duce away, the three men suffer from wounds, one of which loses Rocco part of his finger. Hours later as the police conduct an investigation on the spot of where the firefight took place, Smecker finds the part of the finger that Rocco lost. Smecker decides to do an independent investigation to see who was behind the gun battle, and is able to track the evidence down to Rocco and his two allies. This puts Smecker in a difficult position as he decides on whether he should go on and prosecute the three men, or if he should help them in their cause. After receiving advice from a reluctant priest, Smecker decides to help the three men. Later the brothers and Rocco infiltrate the Yakavetta headquarters to finish off the family. They are captured, and Rocco is shot and killed by Papa Joe. The brothers escape from their chains, and as they say their family prayer over Rocco, Il Duce enters the room, unseen as their backs are to him. As he recites the family prayer with them, it becomes clear that Il Duce is the brothers' father. He joins them in their mission to kill all wrongdoers.
Papa Joe is sent to trial and though there seems to be enough evidence to convict him, the reporters on-scene anticipate his acquittal due to his "Gotti-esque" demeanor. The brothers and Il Duce, aided by Agent Smecker, infiltrate the trial and make a speech stating that they intend to eradicate evil wherever they find it before the three men recite their family prayer and kill Papa Joe, causing panic in the court room. The media dubs the three "Saints", and the movie ends with various candid interviews of with the public, reflecting on the question "Are the Saints ultimately good, or evil?"
Cast
Production
Troy Duffy's screenplay for The Boondock Saints was inspired by his disgust at seeing a drug dealer taking money from a corpse across the hall from his apartment. Duffy, who was working as a bartender and bouncer, had never written a screenplay before.[3]
Duffy completed the screenplay in fall of 1996 and passed it to a producer's assistant at New Line Cinema to be read by a senior executive. The screenplay changed hands through multiple studios and Duffy was approached by multiple producers for the rights. In March 1997, he was contracted by Paramount Pictures for $500,000, and later in the month, Miramax Films won a bidding war to buy The Boondock Saints. The studio offered $450,000 to Duffy to write and direct the film.[8] The documentary Overnight, which chronicled Duffy's "rags-to-riches" story,[6] showed that the script was worth $300,000, and the film itself was originally given a $15 million budget by Miramax's Harvey Weinstein.[9] Duffy's band The Brood would do the soundtrack, and as a bonus, Miramax offered to buy and throw in co-ownership of J. Sloan's, where Duffy worked.[10] It was in Overnight that Duffy showed abrasive behavior, causing tension for many people involved in the project. Filming of The Boondock Saints was scheduled for the coming autumn in Boston.[11]
Duffy sought to cast Stephen Dorff and Mark Wahlberg as the Irish brothers, though Wahlberg passed for Boogie Nights. The director also wanted to cast Billy Connolly and Kenneth Branagh in the film, with Branagh playing the gay FBI agent.[12] Duffy also expressed interest in casting Brendan Fraser, Nicky Katt, and Ewan McGregor, with 2 of them as the brothers, but no decisions were finalized. The director later sought Patrick Swayze to play the FBI agent, but Miramax preferred Sylvester Stallone (with whom the studio had an existing relationship), Bill Murray or Mike Myers.[13] Before pre-production work was supposed to begin in Boston in December 1997, Miramax pulled out of the project. Producer Lloyd Segan said that the project had stalled due to casting and location problems.[14] While Duffy was able to keep the writer's fee of $300,000, the studio required the reimbursement of the $150,000 director's fee and the $700,000 advance to develop the project.
The independent studio Franchise Pictures sought to finance the project once other elements were in place. Duffy approached actor Sean Patrick Flanery and actor Norman Reedus to play the Irish vigilante brothers and actor Willem Dafoe to play the FBI agent.[13] Having found someone to back the film, filming began in Toronto, with the final scenes being filmed in Boston.[3] The name of Duffy's band The Brood was changed to The Boondock Saints, following the movie's release. The film featured two songs from the band: "Holy Fool",[15] which played during Rocco's tavern shootout, and "Pipes", which played during the credits.
Release
Theatrical run
When Boondock Saints was completed, it saw very limited theatrical release, with its distributor showing the film in 1999 on only five screens in the United States for a duration of a week. However, the original unrated version of the film was later re-released in theaters on May 22, 2006.[16] Troy Duffy later funded screenings of the film with help from Blockbuster Video. "Blockbuster saved us [...] They agreed to take it on exclusively, and from there the rest is history."[16] According to Troy Duffy on his audio commentary of the film on DVD, the film's distributor allowed the limited screening only in the United States due to the then recent Columbine High School shooting.[17] The film was shown on major foreign screens (most notably in Japan) with success.[16] Blockbuster released The Boondock Saints as a "Blockbuster Exclusive", a collection of independent direct-to-video films. The Boondock Saints gained a following mostly due to word of mouth publicity and was a bestseller when released on DVD. Despite its success, Troy Duffy never saw any of the profits from DVD distribution, having signed away the DVD rights in his contract with Indican.[6]
Home media
Boondock Saints has been released numerous times on DVD, including an import on March 13, 2001 and an uncut Japanese release published by Toshiba Entertainment, whose special features include anamorphic widescreen, audio commentary, trailers, and interviews with the Japanese media.[18] On May 23, 2006 The Boondock Saints Collector's Edition was published and released by 20th Century Fox on DVD, as well as UMD for the Playstation Portable.[19] The special features include English and Spanish subtitles, commentary by Billy Connolly and Troy Duffy, deleted scenes and outtakes. It also featured the film's trailer, cast and crew filmographies, and a printable script of the film.[20] 20th Century Fox and Duffy showed an interest in doing a new audio commentary for the special release, but he was unable to because of unresolved legal issues.[21] Daulton Dickey of gmcplanet.com said in his review of the special edition's special features:
| “ |
Billed as an unrated edition, it appears as though the film has only been altered by swapping in bloodier alternate takes, pumping up the gore but offering nothing else. Although the movie contains a new audio commentary track by actor Billy Connolly, the track with Troy Duffy has been ported over from the previous DVD edition. Included on the second disc are a handful of deleted scenes and outtakes that have also been ported over from the previous release.[22] |
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A Blu-ray Disc edition containing both the theatrical and unrated directors cuts was released on February 10, 2009.
Reception
The film has received poor reviews from critics. It received an overall Metacritic score of 44/100.[23] Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club described the film, in his review of the DVD, as "less a proper action-thriller" than "a series of gratuitously violent setpieces strung together with only the sketchiest semblance of a plot". Rabin went on to describe the film as "all style and no substance, a film so gleeful in its endorsement of vigilante justice that it almost veers (or ascends) into self-parody."[24] Other reviews were more positive, with Robert Koehler of Variety describing the film in his review as "A belated entry in the hipster crime movie movement that began with Reservoir Dogs," Troy Duffy's "Boondock Saints" mixes blood and Catholic-tinged vigilante justice in excessive portions for sometimes wacky and always brutal effect. [The film is] more interested in finding fresh ways to stage execution scenes than in finding meaning behind the human urge for self-appointed righting of wrongs."
Koehler also described Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as "curiously stolid and blank", while praising supporting actors Billy Connolly and Carlo Rota for making the most of their screen time. Koehler also praised the tech personnel, "This uneven exercise in pacing and cutting is abetted by an eclectic score by Jeff Danna and whiz lensing by Adam Kane. Other tech credits fire bull's-eyes."[25]
Film critics have taken note of the film's extreme violence and "slow-motion bloodletting".[26] Despite this, the film has developed a massive cult following and has grossed about $50 million in domestic video sales. [3]
Sequel
The director of the original film, Troy Duffy, filmed a sequel in which the Irish vigilante brothers return. It was released October 30, 2009.[27]
References
- ^ a b The Boondock Saints at Box Office Mojo
- ^ [The Numbers http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2000/BNDST.php]
- ^ a b c Finch, Amy (November 2, 1998). "Boondock Saints". filmvault.com. http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/boston/b/boondocksaints1.html. Retrieved March 30, 2009. (Republished from Boston Phoenix.)
- ^ Richards, Jonathan. "Filmbreak.bu Overnight". Filmbreak.be. http://www.filmfreak.be/index.php?module=filmfreak&func=viewpub&tid=9&pid=34&title=Overnight Filmbreak.bu. Retrieved 2006-11-28.
- ^ "Boondock Saints, the infamous Cult Classic". Detroitbuzz.com Cult Corner. http://www.detroitbuzz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=585&Itemid=95. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
- ^ a b c "Overnight". Roger Ebert review. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041118/REVIEWS/41116007/1023. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
- ^ "DVDfutue.com DVD Review - Boondock Saints unrated edition". DVDfuture.com. http://www.dvdfuture.com/review.php?id=838 DVDfutue.com. Retrieved 2006-11-28.
- ^ Waxman, Sharon (April 14, 1997). "Forward Fast: Hollywood's suddenly drunk on a bartender's idea". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Overnight". Filethirteen.com. http://www.filethirteen.com/reviews/overnight/overnight.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-28.
- ^ "The Fall of Troy". LAcitybeat.com. http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1397&IssueNum=76. Retrieved 2006-11-28.
- ^ Johnson, Jason B. (April 1, 1997). "Hub-to-Hollywood dream comes true for scriptwriter". Boston Globe.
- ^ O'Toole, Lesley (December 4, 1997). "Hollywood's young guns". The Times.
- ^ a b Waxman, Sharon (April 10, 1998). "The two faces of Hollywood: A screenwriter's success story had a happy ending. Then someone changed the script.". The Washington Post.
- ^ Raposa, Laura (December 13, 1997). "Miramax 'Saints' hits devil of a snag". Boston Herald.
- ^ "IMDb.com The Boondock Saints soundtrack listing". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144117/soundtrack IMDb.com. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
- ^ a b c "Boondock Saints and Troy Duffy". Moviefreak.com. http://www.moviefreak.com/features/dylan/boondocksaints.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
- ^ Troy Duffy. DVD-Audio commentary. [DVD]. 20th Century Fox May 21, 2002 release.
- ^ "The Boondock Saints uncut". Hkflix.com. http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.533790/qx/details.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- ^ "The Boondock Saints (Unrated Special Edition) (UMD For PlayStation Portable)". Turnerclassicmoviesunlimited.com. http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/product.asp?sku=U85020++&mscssid=G. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- ^ "The Boondock Saints (Unrated Special Edition) 20th Century Fox 2006". Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Boondock-Saints-Unrated-Special/dp/B000EHSVXM. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
- ^ "Interview: Troy Duffy". IGN. http://dvd.ign.com/articles/708/708836p1.html. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
- ^ "Boondock Saints unrated review". GMCplanet.com. http://www.gcmplanet.com/movies/reviews/b_reviews/52706/boondock_saints_unrated_review.html. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
- ^ The Boondock Saints at Metacritic
- ^ "The Boondock Saints". AVclub.com. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/3502. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- ^ "Boondock Saints". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=review&reviewid=VE1117775584&categoryid=31&query=boondock+saints&cs=1. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- ^ "Boondock Saints". Brent Simon of Entertainment Today — through Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/author-6101/worst.php. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- ^ "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Movie Trailer - Trailer #1". IGN. 2009-09-02. http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/26452/the-boondock-saints-ii-all-saints-day/videos/boonsaints2_trlr_090209.html. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
External links
