The Boondock Saints

The Boondock Saints (1999) is a cult film about two Irish brothers in Boston who, in response to rampant organized crime, turn to vigilantism and are named Saints by the Boston press.

Related Topics:
1999 - Cult film - Irish - Boston - Organized crime - Vigilantism

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Although the film is criticized for portraying vigilantism positively, the film's ethical question "is murder for good good?" is left for the viewers to answer. The credits sequence shows a series of staged interviews with Bostonians regarding the actions of the Saints. There is no consensus.

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Most fans of the film speculate the film was never released in theaters due to the Columbine High School Massacre; however, industry insiders believe the film's director, Troy Duffy, mishandled relationships with Miramax, the film's original distributor. As a result, the film was blacklisted and its new distributor showed the film on only five screens. Troy Duffy later funded screenings of the film with help from Blockbuster Video. Despite interested receptions at screenings worldwide, the film remained without a major theatrical release, again due to Duffy's interactions with Hollywood suits. Blockbuster released The Boondock Saints as a "Blockbuster Exclusive", a collection of independent direct-to-video films. Fan rumors claim that video clerks would intentionally place The Boondock Saints in the case of a more popular film in order to promote awareness of the film. Regardless of truth in those rumors, The Boondock Saints gained a large following mostly due to word-of-mouth publicity, and was a bestseller when released on DVD despite its nearly exclusive direct-to-video status.

Related Topics:
Columbine High School Massacre - Troy Duffy - Miramax - Blockbuster Video - Direct-to-video - Word-of-mouth - DVD

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Its cast includes Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as Connor and Murphy McManus; Willem Dafoe as the gay FBI agent Paul Smecker, David Della Rocco as David Della Rocco, Billy Connolly as Il Duce (The Duke), and Ron Jeremy as an Italian mafia underboss.

Related Topics:
Sean Patrick Flanery - Norman Reedus - Willem Dafoe - Gay - FBI - Paul Smecker - David Della Rocco - Billy Connolly - Ron Jeremy

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The 2003 documentary Overnight recorded the behind-the-scenes activities that took place when the movie was being written and filmed. Duffy's abrasive behavior was very apparent, causing tension for many people involved in the project. Overnight made the film festival rounds in 2003 and 2004.

Related Topics:
2003 - Documentary - Overnight - Behind-the-scenes - Film festival - 2004

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According to the film's official website, the release date of the sequel The Boondock Saints: All Saints Day is in September 2005. The sequel continues from the courtroom scene at the end of the first film. Industry insiders have long speculated that the actual production of this sequel is extremely unlikely considering that Troy Duffy has had no film directing or producing experience since 1999, and believe sequel rumors were being used as an attempt to promote the first film.

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In late March of 2002, Duffy posted a letter to fans of the first film, claiming that financial backing had been found for a sequel. It would reportedly have twice the budget of the original film, and "experience a theatrical release." Willem DaFoe will not be returning, according to the posted letter.

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As of February 2nd, 2005, filming is currently underway.

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The Boondock Saints is also the name of Troy Duffy's band, originally named The Brood. The band was renamed following the movies success. To date, they have released one album called Release the Hounds, which featured two songs that appear in the movie: "Holy Fool", which played during Rocko's tavern shootout, and "Bagpipes", which played during the credits. The album is in fairly low circulation and is difficult to locate in the retail marketplace.

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The movie opens with the McManus brothers. They are two religious and very close Irish fraternal twins who work at a meat packing plant. Their unique talents are that in addition to English they speak Gaelic, Russian, Italian, German, French, and Spanish. The setting is in modern day Boston, which has been wracked with gangland violence as a result of the presence of the Russian and Italian mafias.

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On St. Patrick's Day, Conner and Murphy are enjoying a beer at the local pub with their Italian friend David Della "Funny Man" Rocco, who is a smalltime delivery boy for the Yakovetta crime family. In come three Russian mobsters, who attempt to close down the pub. Conner and Murphy at first try to reason with the mobsters, but to no avail. After making a crude joke, Rocco gets a punch to the face, which stirs the brothers into action. Speaking in Russian, the brothers berate the mobsters and a bar fight ensues, with the patrons on top. One mobster is hit over the head with beer bottles while the other is tied to the table and burned.

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The morning after, the armed mobsters seek out Conner and Murphy at their fifth floor apartment, intending to kill them. Dressed in dirty robes and shoes, Connor is handcuffed to the toilet while Murphy is taken outside the building for his execution. In a fit of powerful emotion, Connor breaks the toilet from the ground and positioning himself on the balcony above the mobsters, drops the toilet on the would-be killer's head, whose gun goes off harmlessly, while simultaneously jumping from the ledge, hitting the second gangster. After this act, he passes out, leaving Murphy to pick up the shattered remains of the toilet to bash the still-conscious mobster over the head. Both are now dead. Murphy picks their pockets, steals their guns, then heaves Conner over his shoulder and runs from the alley.

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Since the mob was involved in the incident, an FBI agent, Paul Smecker, is assigned to the case. From his subtle, and later, more obvious actions, it becomes clear to the other detectives that he is gay. This does not affect their professionalism in his company, as Smecker is a genius when it comes to analyzing crime scenes. It is Smecker who realizes that the death of the two mobsters was not a professional hit, but a more personal act. The brothers, who have been treated at a local hospital and still clad in their robes, hand the stolen valuables to the bartender from earlier, who has come to visit them. The bartender, who was approached earlier by the police, passes on Smecker's card. He tells them that Smecker has already deemed it a case of self-defense and the brothers are duly impressed.

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Conner and Murphy decide to clear their names and arrive at the police station, limping and bandaged, looking nothing like the "dangerous" people Smecker has made them out to be. It turns out that the police, as well as the local news, see Conner and Murphy as heroes. The interview between Smecker and the brothers is a friendly and respectful affair, and it is here that we learn that Conner and Murphy can speak a variety of different languages. The police station is surrounded by reporters, so the brothers decide to spend the night in a cell in order to avoid them. Rocco pushes his way into the station, passing Smecker and the police captain, to give Conner and Murphy their clothes and crosses. From their actions, it can be seen that Rocco is a close friend.

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Rocco is given his "big break" by the mob boss he works for when he is told to kill Russian mob leaders at their next meeting in a Boston hotel room. He is told there will be two present, and is given a six-chamber pistol.

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That night, a sermon that the brothers had listened to earlier in the movie comes back to them: "Evil is when good men do nothing." They simultaneously wake up, looking at each other with new-found understanding. The next morning, using the pager from the dead Russian mobster, Conner calls the number and learns of a meeting at a Boston hotel. Coincidently, unbeknownst to both the McManus brothers and Rocco, this happens to be the same meeting that Rocco will arrive at to complete his task. Taking the loot from the dead Russian mobsters, the brothers trade it in for guns and rope. Wearing masks, they crawl through the ventilation ducts of the hotel and accidentally crash through the ceiling, into the middle of the mob gathering. They quickly take out the nine bosses and underbosses and say a prayer over each body. Rocco, under the guise of the hotel's room service deliveryman, then rings on the door. As Rocco does not yet know the identities of the two masked men, Conner and Murphy threaten him with their guns, all in jest. They momentarily reveal themselves to their friend and immediately grasp the seriousness of Rocco's mission. With only six bullets, they summise that he could never have taken out the nine bosses and lived to tell the tale.

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As this is another mob-related incident, Smecker, again, is called in to invesitgate. Smecker figures out the events near-perfectly, and even pinpoints the cause on "really bad television," which is true. Conner and Murphy have gotten all their ideas from the TV and even make jokes afterwards about the "guy who jumps over the couch and needs to be shot at for ten minutes."

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Rocco is unwilling to believe that the friends he has made in the mob could set him up with a death mission. However, when his "friends" tell him in a light-hearted manner at a nearby cafe that they had known all along that Rocco's big break was impossible, he loses it and shoots all three of them in broad daylight before running home in a panic. He and the brothers take off in his car, and incensed, Rocco declares that he wants to help the brothers hunt down all the mobsters he once worked with, starting with the underboss who blabbed to the others that Rocco was "as good as dead."

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They go on to kill the second-in-command of Rocco's mob, along with several other random men at sort of peep show. In response, the Italian mob starts to look into hiring a fabled assassain known as "Il Duce". They contact a retired mobster, who tells them the man has been locked up for years. He also says that although Il Duce was only hired twice, he was the perfect hitman. The release of Il Duce is arranged.

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Meanwhile, Rocco has another idea for a kill: a man he once saw take out an entire family almost surgically. The saints go to the man's residence and kill his friends, but cannot find him. When the man exits the bathroom, the saints make Rocco shoot him himself. The real problem arrises when the saints exit; Il Duce is waiting outside. In a three-to-one standoff, the hitman, wielding six guns, manages to shoot off Rocco's finger, but everyone escapes alive.

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Before leaving the Saints douse their blood splatters with ammonia. Smecker notices this when he arrives at the crime scene, but also finds Rocco's finger. Looking up the fingerprint in a police database, Smecker recognises Rocco from when he visited the brothers after the original fight with the Russians. However, by this time, he has found he agrees with their vigilantism, but still feels bound by his duty as a law enforcer. After a night of heavy drinking, Smecker goes to confession to ask for advice. However, it turns out this is the Saints' church, and they are also present. This leads to one of the most humorous scenes in the movie, which is impossible to describe with words.

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Later the Saints, Rocco, and Smecker all infiltrate the mob headquaters to kill everyone there. The brothers and Rocco are caught and bound in the basement, while Smecker, posing as a prostitute, takes out several mobsters. As the others are threatened in the basement, Rocco is shot and killed. The brothers escape from their chains but are too late to save Rocco. As they say a family prayer over his body, Il Duce walks up behind them. But instead of killing them, he completes their prayer, revealing that he is their father. He then joins them in their mission to kill all wrong doers. The movie ends with the three killing the head of the Yakovetta crime family, followed by an interview with random people on the street who state their opinions regarding the so-called "Saints".

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