The Boondock Saints

The Boondock Saints is a 1999 American crime film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as fraternal twins, Connor and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense. After both experience an epiphany, the brothers, together with their friend "Funny Man" (David Della Rocco), set out to rid their home city of Boston, Massachusetts of crime and evil, all while being pursued by FBI Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe).

Duffy indicates that the screenplay was inspired by personal experience, while living in Los Angeles.^[4] Initially regarded as one of the hottest scripts in Hollywood, the movie had a troubled production and was finally given a limited theatrical release of only five theaters for one week due to the Columbine High School massacre. It was met with poor critical reviews; however, the film ultimately grossed about $50 million in domestic video sales^[5] and developed a large cult following.^[6][7][8] The movie was followed by a 2009 sequel, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, and a second sequel is currently in development.^[9]

Plot

Two Irish American fraternal twin brothers, Connor and Murphy MacManus, attend a Catholic Mass, where the priest mentions the fate of Kitty Genovese. A woman who was brutally raped and murdered in a Boston ghetto, while people "just watched and did nothing" as she screamed for help, as she was stabbed "time and time again". Later, when Connor and Murphy are celebrating St. Patrick's Day at a local Irish pub, David Della Rocco is introduced with an immediate character development: "Name: David Della Rocco, Affiliation: Italian Mob, Occupation: Package boy/Numbers runner". As the MacManus brothers, Rocco, and their other friends continue to drink in the pub after hours. The owner of the pub, also a long time friend of the brothers, as he is Irish too, tells them that the Russian mob has recently been threatening him, since he has been reluctant on signing over the rights to his bar. Not long after mentioning this, three Russian mobsters arrive and threaten him to close the pub now, and for everyone to leave. The owner tells them to "make like a tree, and get the f*** out...", as the MacManus brothers try to reason with the mobsters. Making them aware, that since they're out numbered, it would not be smart to pick a fight and to "just pull up a stool and have a drink with them", since it's St. Pattys day and "everyone is Irish tonight". Despite their efforts, the Russians, seemingly unfazed by this, tell them to go, or they will make them go. The scene then cuts to the next morning. A crime scene in a ghetto alleyway, where two of the three Russians involved, lie dead. One with a bandage around his head, and the other with a bandage around his posterior. The scene is being investigated by Boston Police detective, Greenly, who humorously gives his insight as to what he thinks happened, opening the scene by saying "So these two guys were kicking the s*** out of each other right?". Mentioning at one point, that one of the Russians was crushed "by some huge freaking guy", and the perpetrators were "smart" by killing the "guy with the bandage on his head first, because the guy with the bandage on his ass could go nowhere", while "they" killed the other guy. FBI Agent Paul Smecker arrives, being introduced by an immediate character development as well. Smecker is assigned to the case, due to the mobs connection, and arrives just as Greenly is making his hilarious assumptions. Allowing Greenly to finish his chrrade, then interupts to take over the investigation, to the immediate disapproval of Greenly. After revealing his authority, he tells Greenly to get him a "cup of coffe, with a hint of lemon and sweet & low", Greenly reluctantly complies. Agent Smecker's unusual methods of investigation, tend to show his more feminine side, but also shows just how good he is at what he does. He listens to opera style music and pieces everything together whilst dancing femininly. To the disbelief of Greenly and everyone on the scene, say for the chief of police. When he finds broken pieces of a shattered toilet surrounding one of the victims, he has an officer ask the landlord in the building next to the crime scene if there has been any reports of water leaking in any of the apartments. Greenly, who thinks there's no way anybody could be strong enough to accomplish such a thing, shows his disapproval. Smecker, once again, establishing his authority, tells him he "just might want a bagel with his coffee". When they investigate the building, after a tenant reports water leaking in her apartment, they discover a missing toilet, torn from its hinges in the apartment above. He then tells the bitter Greenly, he'll "start the ass kissing with him".

The next morning, Agent Smecker finds that the police and local news reporters see the "perpetrators" as heroes. But he refers to them as "just two ordinary guy's put in an extraordinary situation, and just happened to come out on top". But still considers them dangerous, although the officers agree they are not, as they were more than likely just "protecting each other". As he mentions it will take "grunt" police work that will bring "these guy's" in. Detective Greenly adds, in jealousy of Smecker, that the ones responsible for this are "long gone by now" and the only thing that will bring them in, is by "dragging a potato on a string through south Boston". Just as he finishes, the MacManus brothers walk into the police station, mentioning they "would have better luck with beer". Agent Smecker, who is on to Greenly, makes him get him an onion bagel with cream cheese. Smecker then interviews the brothers. With a slew of reporters just outside the station, the police chief tells them the two brothers were acting in self defense and would not be charged with a crime.

They go on to tell Smecker the events that happened: Right after the MacManus brothers offered a drink and a stool to the Russian mobsters. Rocco, aka "The Funny Man", interupts, telling a joke about the head mobsters mother, in which the mobster replys with a sucker punch that knocks Rocco out. As Rocco lie in pain, Connor and Murphy speak to the mobsters in Russian, as they look on in disbelief, take a shot, then proceed to return the favor, sucker punching the Russian. A brawl ensues, where the brothers and friends, over match and overpower the out numbered mobsters. One mobster is taken out with a couple of liquor bottles to the head. At the end, the main Russian is tied to the top of the counter, while Connor proceeds to pour liquor on the Russians posterior and lights it on fire. The scene ends with the Russian screaming in pain, butt aflame. The next morning, as the MacManus brothers are waking up in their lower class apartment. Two of the Russians, still bandaged from the fight the night before. Come barging in, in pursuit of vengeance. Catching the brothers off guard, guns in their face, they cuff Connor to the toilet, and take Murphy to the alley. Connor, from the fear of losing his brother, somehow is able to pull the toilet from its hinges, and makes his way, toilet still in his arms, to the roof above the alley way. Just as the Russian is about to shoot Murphy. Connor drops the toilet on the Russians head and jumps on the back of the other. When Murphy gets up, Connor now unconscious, he takes a piece of the broken toilet and beats the other Russian over the head until he isn't moving. He grabs their guns, money, and all the other evidence, puts them in a bag, then pulls his unconscious brother over his back and leaves. After they retell their incident to Smecker, he declines to press charges and allows them to spend the night in a holding cell to avoid attention from the media. That night, 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. Connor learns of a meeting of Russian syndicate bosses at a hotel. Having equipped themselves with weaponry from a local underground gun dealer, trading the guns and money they took from the dead Russians the day before. The brothers infiltrate the hotel's airvents through the elevator, telling each other they are both nervous, but still willing to do "God's" bidding. As they search for the room the Russians are in, getting semi lost on the way, Murphy starts to argue with Connor, not only about getting lost, but about having to haul the rope Connor had wanted so badly while purchasing the weapons for their newly found "calling". Connor hits Murphy in the forehead with his flashlight, and they start to wrestle in the airvent. The airvent starts to give way, then fall through the roof completely, the ropes tangling and catching them before they hit the ground. As they spin upside down, they quickly kill all nine Russian mobsters. In the aftermath, they congratulate each other and see a briefcase with money on the bar in the hotel room. As they count the money, a knock comes at the door. When they investigate, they notice Rocco, dressed as a bell boy, wearing a name tag "Jaffar". They decide to mess with him, put their masks on, open the door grabbing Rocco by the hair and pulling him into the room. Rocco, thinking local mafia boss Giuseppe "Papa Joe" Yakavetta, his boss as well, sent them in as back up, try's telling them he is "The Funny Man" and they are on the same side, going as far as to tell them they are "good", seeing all the dead mobsters. As they "interrogate" Rocco, they notice he had only brought a six shooter. Angry, considering there was 9 people to kill, go on to tell him, "there's nine bodies here genious, what were you gonna do? Laugh the last three to death? Funny man?". As they act like they are going to shoot him, and he starts crying, they reveal themselves, laughing at his expense. Rocco is dumbfounded, repeating the word f***, using the "diversity" of the word. That night, in Rocco's girlfriends house, and still in disbelief, they go on to tell him why they did what they did, and decides he would like to join them on their newly found quest. Although in fear because he was not the one to kill the Russians, they tell him to take credit, so as to keep them anonymous, as well as giving Rocco a chance to move up the ranks in the Italian mob syndicate. As Rocco agrees, he slams his hands on the table they are sitting, where a gun and his drug addict girlfriends cat lay. His actions leading to the gun going off and killing the cat. The next morning, Connor and Murphy confront Rocco, insenuating Papa Joes actual intentions were to send Rocco to his death, since he sent him to kill nine people with only six shots. Rocco originally doesn't take the news well, as he leaves angry after the ensuing argument. As the brothers wait nervously, for Rocco to come back or call. The phone rings, and Murphy quickly answers with Rocco on the other end, goes on to tell him he "will see them on the flip side".

As they wait for Rocco's return, his girlfriend returns calling for her cat, unbeknownst to her of the actions the night before. Moments later, Rocco comes barging in, irate and in a frenzy, screaming for the brothers to hurry and "pack up, they need to get out of there.". In the middle of his panicked frenzy, the brothers are trying to find out what happened, as well as his girlfriend screaming his name trying to find out what happened to her cat. He pulls a gun on her and her friend saying he shot her cat as he and the brothers leave in a hurry. He goes on to tell them: After he got off the phone with Murphy in which he tells him he will see him on "the flip side". Rocco hangs up and heads towards a cafe owned by Papa Joe. He finds two of his "buddies", also low in the ranks, but higher than him, eating in the cafe. They proceed to tell him Papa Joe and Vincenzo Lapazzi, the under boss for Joe, had indeed set him up, and Sal, the cafe's bartender knew before anyone else. Rocco, in an angry rage kills the two peeon's and Sal. That night, they stumble upon Vincenzo's favorite strip joint, Rocco telling them he will be there that night, as he is there every "Wednesday night", and they should kill him since that was their new calling. Realizing Rocco knows locations and numbers as a result of his time in the mafia, they both agree to allow Rocco to join, and return that night to kill Vincenzo.

Concerned he may be a target, Papa Joe contacts a hitman, Il Duce,^[10] to deal with them. After killing a criminal that Rocco had a personal hatred for, the three men are ambushed by Il Duce. Although they manage to chase Il Duce away, the three men suffer serious wounds, the most serious being the loss of Rocco's finger. The three return to a safehouse where they cauterize each other's wounds.

Hours later as the police conduct an investigation at the crime scene, the investigation seems futile since the brothers covered their tracks by spraying any blood left behind with ammonia. However, Smecker happens upon the part of the finger lost by Rocco and decides to do an independent investigation to see who was behind the gun battle. Smecker is able to track the evidence down to Rocco and his two allies. This leaves Smecker in a difficult scenario, and struggles with the choice of whether to prosecute the three men, or join them in their cause, as Smecker had become sympathetic towards the brothers' actions. After getting drunk at a gay bar and subsequently getting advice from a reluctant priest, Smecker decides to help the trio.

Later, the brothers and Rocco inform Smecker that they plan to infiltrate the Yakavetta headquarters to finish off the family, but Smecker learns they are walking into a trap. The brothers are captured, and Rocco is shot and killed by Papa Joe, but the brothers are able to free themselves. As Papa Joe leaves his house, Smecker arrives in drag and kills a number of soldiers before being knocked unconscious by Il Duce. As the brothers say their family prayer over Rocco, "Shepherd's 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. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti." Il Duce enters the room and prepares to open fire. However, he instead finishes the prayer - revealing he is the brothers' father and deciding to join his two sons in their mission.

Three months later, Papa Joe is sent to trial for a third time. However, the reporters on-scene anticipate his acquittal. The brothers and Il Duce, aided by Smecker, infiltrate the trial after sliding their weapons over the metal detector. Unmasked, they make a speech stating that they intend to eradicate evil wherever they find it before reciting their family prayer and killing 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?"

Cast

Norman Reedus (left), Troy Duffy (center), and Sean Patrick Flanery (right) at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

• Willem Dafoe as FBI Agent Paul Smecker, a brilliant but emotionally troubled gay man assigned to the 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; however, he usually and foolishly bases his plans off plans used by classic action movies. Connor frequently references John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Charles Bronson.
• Norman Reedus as Murphy MacManus, the other half of the MacManus brothers. He has a tattoo on his right hand that reads "Aequitas" ("justice/equality" in Latin). He seems to be the more emotional and hot-headed of the two; however, Murphy is usually shown to be exasperated by Connor's second hand cliche movie plans.
• David Della Rocco as David Della Rocco ("The Funny Man"), a henchman of the Yakavetta clan until Papa Joe sets him up to be killed, and a loyal friend of the MacManus brothers.
• Billy Connolly as Noah MacManus / Il Duce ("The Duke"), father of Connor and Murphy. He is released from prison by Yakavetta to confront the brothers and Rocco, only to assist the brothers after learning who they are.
• Bob Marley as Detective Greenly, a marginally competent 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 Giuseppe "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-themed pub who has Tourette syndrome.
• Sergio Di Zio one of the men in the Deli that knew about Rocco's set-up

Production

Troy Duffy's screenplay 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.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14]

Casting and funding

Duffy sought to cast Stephen Dorff and Mark Wahlberg as the brothers, though Wahlberg passed for Boogie Nights. The director also wanted to cast Billy Connolly and Kenneth Branagh in the film, with Branagh playing FBI Agent Paul Smecker.^[15] 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 Smecker, but Miramax preferred Sylvester Stallone (with whom the studio had an existing relationship), Bill Murray or Mike Myers.^[16] Kevin Spacey and Robert De Niro were also considered for the role of Smecker. 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.^[17] 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 Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus to play the brothers, and Willem Dafoe to play the FBI agent.^[16] 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",^[18] which played during Rocco's tavern shootout, and "Pipes", which played during the credits.

Release

The Boondock Saints saw a very limited theatrical release, with its distributor showing the film in 2000 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.^[19] 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."^[19] 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 massacre.^[20] The film was shown on major foreign screens (most notably in Japan) with success.^[19] 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] According to Duffy, neither he, his producers nor his principal cast got paid. He sued Franchise Pictures and other undisclosed companies for royalties of the first film and rights to the sequel. After a lengthy lawsuit, Troy Duffy, his producers and the principal cast received an undisclosed amount of The Boondock Saints royalties as well as the sequel rights.

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.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23] 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.^[24]

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics; critics polled on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 20% "Rotten", with the site's consensus calling the film, "A juvenile, ugly movie that represents the worst tendencies of directors channeling Tarantino."^[25] 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."^[26] 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 Flanery and Reedus as "curiously stolid and blank", while praising supporting actors Connolly, Dafoe, and 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."^[27]

Film critics have taken note of the film's extreme violence and "slow-motion bloodletting".^[28]

Box office

In its original 5-theater run, the film only earned $30,471 at five theaters.^[5] It later developed a cult following and has grossed about $50 million in domestic video sales.^[5]

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, as well as his band's struggles to secure a recording contract. 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.^[29]

Sequels

After numerous delays, Troy Duffy shot a sequel, entitled All Saints Day, in which the brothers return to continue their run of vengeance. It was released October 30, 2009.

In an October 27, 2009 article, director Duffy and actor Connolly mention details regarding a possible third film. They maintained that "it is slowly in the works and is still just an idea". Duffy insists that he wants to get a few more of his films done before returning to the Boondock Saints. Duffy also added that the proposed working title for the third film would be called "Boondock Saints III: Saints Preserve Us".^[30] Although on September 14, 2012, Reedus stated there was going to be no Boondock Saints III.

Again, on February 26, 2013, Duffy stated that he was getting together with Reedus and Flanery to resume talks about The Boondock Saints 3, in hopes that they could make the film a reality for fans.

As of July 2013, Duffy has confirmed in an interview that he is working on the script for the third film, and possibly a TV series. Reedus and Flanery are confirmed to come back, and he is attempting to get Dafoe back as well. (Interview)

On September 3, 2014, the third film, subtitled Legion, was revealed to be in pre-production.^[31]

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 Troy Duffy, produced by Innfusion Inc. and released through 12 Gauge Comics.^[32] 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.

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Boondock Saints

• Official website
• The Boondock Saints at the Internet Movie Database
• The Boondock Saints at AllMovie
• The Boondock Saints at Box Office Mojo
• The Boondock Saints at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Boondock Saints at Metacritic
• The Official Boondock Saints's channel on YouTube
• Film School Rejects: 39 Things We Learned From The Boondock Saints' Commentary