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The Boondock Saints is a 1999 American crime thriller film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as Catholic Irish fraternal twins, Connor and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense. After both experiencing an epiphany, 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 FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe).
Duffy indicates that the screenplay was inspired by personal experience, while living in Los Angeles.[4] The film experienced a limited theatrical release of only five theaters for one week,[5] and was met with poor critical reviews; but the film has grossed about $50 million in domestic video sales.[3] It proved divisive among viewers, ultimately developing a large cult following.[6][7][8]
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 brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) MacManus attending Mass at a Catholic Church, where the priest mentions the fate of Kitty Genovese. Next, while celebrating St. Patrick's Day with friends, the two get into a bar brawl with three Russian mobsters
who want to close the pub and take over the land it is built on. The
two brothers try to reason with the mobsters, but they responded with
violence. The next morning, the bandaged bodies of two of the mobsters
are found in an alley.
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 what appears to be a "calling"
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 (Victor Pedtrchenko) – 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. During the investigation, Smecker believes that the killings of the Russian mobsters are the result of a mob war
and bad television, since the brothers entered the room through the
ventilation ducts, something only seen in television and films.
After hunting down the underboss of the Yakavetta crime family, Vincenzo Lipazzi (Ron Jeremy)
in a porn shack (which results in Smecker dismissing the gang war
theory), 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)
to deal with the vigilantes. After killing a criminal that Rocco had a
personal hatred for 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, the most serious being the loss of Rocco's 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
lost by Rocco. 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. Struggling with his conscience (and after
receiving advice from a reluctant priest, who was under the "persuasion"
of Rocco), Smecker decides to help the three men.
Later the brothers and Rocco infiltrate the Yakavetta headquarters to
finish off the family, followed by Smecker who dresses in drag to gain
admittance. Smecker kills two men, before being knocked unconscious by
Il Duce. Meanwhile, the brothers are captured, and Rocco is shot and
killed by Papa Joe. The distraction caused by Il Duce allows the
brothers to escape and subdue their captors. As the brothers say their
family prayer over Rocco, Il Duce enters the room. It appears that Il
Duce is about to open fire when he stop and listens to their prayer. The
MacManus brothers draw their weapons and take aim at Il Duce, until he
finishes the prayer they started. It is revealed that Il Duce is the
brothers' father, Noah. He joins them in their mission to kill all
wrongdoers.
Three months later, Papa Joe is sent to trial. However the reporters
on-scene anticipate his acquittal. The brothers and Il Duce, aided by
Agent Smecker and three detectives, infiltrate the trial (by sliding
their weapons over the metal detector), unmasked, 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. The media
dubs the three as "the Saints", and the movie ends with various candid
interviews with the public, reflecting on the question "Are the Saints
ultimately good...or evil?"
[edit] The Prayer
- "And shepherds we shall be,
- for Thee, my Lord, for Thee.
- Power hath descended forth from Thy hand,
- our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands.
- So we shall flow a river forth to Thee
- and teeming with souls shall it ever be.
- En nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti."
The family prayer is a prayer to illustrate an oath/oration to God,
that they will do all in their power to shepherd the weak through the
evils brought forth by evil men and the dissatisfaction with those who
would do harm to the innocents, and giving thanks to God to be able to
do something about it. That the souls of the wicked shall be purified by
blood, and sent back to their maker, if it is in their power: "In the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit".
- Willem Dafoe as FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker, a homosexual agent assigned to the gang murders linked to the MacManus brothers.
- Sean Patrick Flanery as Connor MacManus, one-half of the MacManus brothers. He has a tattoo on his left hand that reads "Veritas" ("truth" in Latin). He is more sensible and rational than his brother, and often tries to carefully plan out their missions.
- Norman Reedus
as Murphy MacManus, the other half of the MacManus brothers. He has a
tattoo on his right hand that reads "Aequitas" ("justice" in Latin). He
seems to be the more emotional and hot-headed of the two.
- David Della Rocco as David Della Rocco/"The Funny Man", a former henchman of the Yakavetta clan.
- Billy Connolly as Noah MacManus/Il Duce ("The Duke"), father of Connor and Murphy who is released from prison by Yakavetta to confront the brothers and Rocco.
- Bob Marley as Detective Greenly, a Boston Police Department detective assigned to the gang murders.
- David Ferry as Detective Dolly, a detective partnered with Greenly and Duffy.
- Brian Mahoney as Detective Duffy, a detective partnered with Greenly and Dolly.
- Carlo Rota as Don "Papa" Joe Yakavetta, leader of a powerful mafia in Boston.
- Ron Jeremy as Vincenzo Lapazzi, Yakavetta's right-hand man.
- Gerard Parkes as Doc, the owner of an Irish pub who has Tourettes syndrome.
[edit] 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.[4]
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.[9] The documentary Overnight, which chronicled Duffy's "rags-to-riches-to-rags" story,[7] showed that the script was worth $300,000, and the film itself was originally given a $15 million budget by Miramax's Harvey Weinstein.[10] 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.[11] Overnight showed that Duffy frequently exhibited abrasive behavior, causing tension for many people involved in the project. Filming of The Boondock Saints was scheduled for the coming autumn in Boston.[12]
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 homosexual FBI agent.[13] 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.[14]
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 because of casting and location problems.[15]
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.[14] Having found someone to back the film, filming began in Toronto, with the final scenes being filmed in Boston.[4] 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",[16] which played during Rocco's tavern shootout, and "Pipes", which played during the credits.
[edit] Release
[edit] Theatrical run
When The 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.[17] 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."[17] According to Troy Duffy on his audio commentary of the film on DVD, the film's distributor allowed the limited screening in the United States because of the then-recent Columbine High School shooting.[18] The film was shown on major foreign screens (most notably in Japan) with success.[17] Blockbuster released The Boondock Saints as a "Blockbuster Exclusive", a collection of independent direct-to-video films. The Boondock Saints gained a following mostly thanks 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.[7]
[edit] Home media
The 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.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21]
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.[22]
A Blu-ray Disc edition containing both the theatrical and unrated directors cuts was released on February 10, 2009.
[edit] 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] Robert Koehler of Variety described 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]
In its original 5-theater run, the film only earned $30,471.[3] It later developed a cult following and has grossed about $50 million in domestic video sales.[3]
On Rotten Tomatoes film critics and the community gave the film a
huge difference in rating the film. The film critics gave the film a
score of 20% "rotten" while the community gave the film a 93% "Fresh"
rating.
[edit] Documentary
The documentary film, Overnight, was released in 2003, following the story of Troy Duffy during his negotiations with Miramax
over The Boondock Saints script. Duffy's abrasive behavior strained his
relationships with friends and people in the film industry and
ultimately led to Miramax pulling out of the project, leaving the film
to be made by another studio at half the originally proposed budget.[27]
[edit] Sequel
After numerous delays, original director Troy Duffy filmed the sequel, titled Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, in which the Irish vigilante brothers return to continue their run of vengeance. It was released October 30, 2009.[28]
[edit] Comic Book
A two-part comic book story, serving as a companion to the movie
sequel, was released in May 2010. The series is written by Boondock
Saints creator, Troy Duffy, produced by Innfusion Inc. and released through 12 Gauge Comics.[29]
The Book focuses on a more in depth version of Il Duce's back story as
well as telling the story of the brothers during a hit they performed
that is not featured in the film. It was paired with a mini book that
was featured on the official Boondock Saints website that told a mini
story that takes place before the strip club scene from the first film.
These will eventually be released in one single graphic novel. Another
story is currently being proposed that would show the brothers' time in
Hoag Prison after the events of All Saints Day.[30] |
Art Wallpapers 3d, art Painting Wallpapers
