The Boondock Saints

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The Boondock Saints

Directed by	Troy Duffy
Produced by	Elie Samaha Lloyd Segan Robert Fried Chris Brinker
Written by	Troy Duffy
Starring	Willem Dafoe Sean Patrick Flanery Norman Reedus David Della Rocco Billy Connolly
Distributed by	Indican
Release date(s)	1999
Running time	110 min.
Language	English
Budget	$7 million^{[citation needed]}
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Boondock Saints is a 1999 action crime drama film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as fraternal twins Conner and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian mob in self-defense. Believing they are on a mission from God, the brothers with friend and former mob errand boy David Della Rocco — who is referred to as the "Funny Man" throughout the film — set out to rid their home city of Boston from the Russian mob and Italian Mafia. Meanwhile, they are pursued by FBI agent Paul Smecker, played by Willem Dafoe.

Duffy wrote the screenplay based on his personal experience of the world around him, including news reports, and seeing a deceased woman being removed from a drug dealer's apartment. The film experienced a limited theatrical release of only five theaters for one week,^[1] and was met with poor critical reviews. However, it proved divisive among viewers, developing a cult following^[2]^[3] and enmity from viewers and critics who have called it a film undeserving of cult status.^[4]^[5] This following was mostly due to the efforts of Blockbuster Video, which made the film a "Blockbuster Exclusive." The ending credit sequence was shot by Mark Brian Smith, co-director of Overnight, a documentary film about the making of The Boondock Saints, and Troy Duffy himself.^[6] A sequel for the film was originally planned to be released in 2005, though it has yet to materialize due to legal issues.

1 Development
2 Releases
- 2.1 Theatrical release
- 2.2 DVD release
3 Reception
4 Plot summary
5 Sequel
6 External links
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Development

In 1996, while living in Los Angeles, California, Duffy came home from his job to find a dead woman getting wheeled out of a drug dealer's apartment across the hall. Duffy then rented a computer and wrote the screenplay about The Boondock Saints, based on his disgust at what he saw.

“

I decided right there that out of sheer frustration and not being able to afford a psychologist, I was going to write this, think about it. People watching the news sometimes get so disgusted by what they see. Susan Smith drowning her kids . . . guys going into McDonald's, lighting up the whole place. You hear things that disgust you so much that even if you're Mother Teresa, there comes a breaking point. One day you're gonna watch the news and you're gonna say, 'Whoever did that despicable thing should pay with their life.'^[7]

”

The film was directed by Duffy, who had moved to Hollywood to break into the music business. He was a bartender at a sports bar called J. Sloan's when he wrote The Boondock Saints.^[8] The documentary Overnight, which chronicled Duffy's "riches-to-rags" story,^[8] 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] It was in Overnight that Duffy showed abrasive behavior, causing tension for many people involved in the project. The deal was set for Duffy to direct, with his band doing the soundtrack, and as a bonus, Miramax offered to buy and throw in co-ownership of J. Sloan's, where Duffy worked.^[10]

The film's development was stalled due to Duffy and Miramax not being able to agree on casting, which caused Miramax to drop the project. Due to Miramax dropping the project, J. Sloan's was not bought, and Duffy's band did not get a record contract. Duffy later found an indie studio "Franchise Pictures", to pick up his movie and let him cast it with whom he wanted. Having found someone to back the movie, filming began in Toronto, with the final scenes being filmed in Boston.^[7] The name of Duffy's band The Brood, was renamed to The Boondock Saints following the movie's release. To date, they have released one album called Release the Hounds, which featured two songs that appear in the movie: "Holy Fool",^[11] which played during Rocco's tavern shootout, and "Pipes", which played during the credits.

[edit] Releases

[edit] Theatrical release

When The Boondock Saints was completed it was given an extremely limited theatrical release. Its distributor showed the film on only five screens in the United States for one week. The original unrated version of the film was re-released in theaters on May 22, 2006.^[12] 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."^[12] 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.^[13] The film was shown on major foreign screens (most notably in Japan) with success.^[12] 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.^[8]

[edit] DVD release

Cover of the Collectors Edition of The Boondock Saints

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 in 1999, whose special features include anamorphic widescreen, audio commentary, trailers, and interviews with the Japanese media.^[14] 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.^[15] 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, and cast and crew filmographies. Also on the DVD release there is a printable script of the film.^[16] 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.^[17] 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."^[18]

”

[edit] Reception

The film has received poor reviews from critics, with the review-tallying Web site rottentomatoes.com reporting that 12 out of the 15 reviews they tallied were negative for a score of 20% and a certification of "rotten".^[19] It also received an overall Metascore of 44/100.^[20] Nathan Rabin of the A.V. Club described the film in his review of the DVD as a "less proper action-thriller" and "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."^[21] Other reviews were more positive, with 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."^[22] New Times film reviewer Luke Y. Thompson described it as "a redundant Tarantino/Marty wanna-be."

Film critics have taken note of the film's extreme violence and "slow-motion bloodletting."^[23] Even positive reviews took note of the fact that Duffy "borrowed from bigger blockbusters," or called it a "Pulp Fiction clone."^[24] Reviewer Vince Leo wrote that, "The Boondock Saints is yet another recent entry in the Pulp Fiction clones, where huge doses of violence are mixed in with irreverently funny scenes of cleverness that entertain even if they are basically needless to the overall plot."^[25]

Fan reviews have been more kind however, with the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) reporting that their users have given the film a 7.7 out of 10 based on over 36,000 reviews tallied thus far.^[26]

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The movie opens on twin brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) attending a church service. The brothers, both pious Catholics, work at a meat-packing plant and are accomplished polyglots.

As the brothers celebrate St. Patrick's Day with their friends, three Russian "soldiers" enter the brothers' neighborhood pub, telling everyone to leave — their organization has decided to evict the pub, and has chosen St. Patrick's Day to add insult to injury. Connor, Murphy, and the patrons get into a bar brawl with the Russians, who receive a sound beating. The next morning, two of the armed mobsters seek revenge on Connor and Murphy, who kill the mobsters in self-defense.

Since the mob was involved in the incident, FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) is assigned to the case. Smecker, whose powers of detection rival Sherlock Holmes', surmises that the death of the two mobsters was not a professional hit, but probably self-defense. As the police begin a manhunt, Connor and Murphy arrive at the police station to clear their names. Public opinion paints the brothers as vigilante heroes; as for the brothers, they spend the night in a holding cell to avoid the media. That night in the cell, they receive a vision from God telling them to kill wicked men so that the innocent can thrive.

The Boondock Saints (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus)

The brothers resolve to rid their city of Boston of "evil men" with the help of their friend and former mob errand boy Rocco. Connor learns of a meeting of Russian syndicate bosses at a hotel; the brothers, entering the room through a ceiling air duct, miraculously manage to take out eight of the bosses and underbosses, before they recite a short prayer and execute the Russian leader. They then place coins on the eyes of the dead men. (The ritual and "miraculous" elements parallel similar elements in Pulp Fiction; when Smecker is called in on the case, he points out that the killers must have gotten their ideas from "bad television".)

After hunting down Vincenzo Lipazzi (Ron Jeremy), underboss of the Yakavetta crime family, the three vigilantes proceed to go on a series of increasingly violent missions, cleansing the city of vicious criminals. Papa Joe (Carlo Rota) contracts the most feared killer-for-hire that has ever been used in his family, Il Duce (Billy Connolly), to deal with the vigilantes.

As Smecker begins to unravel the mystery surrounding the various murders, he seeks advice from a Catholic priest. He bemoans the futility of the courts to put evil men behind bars, and his uncertainty with the McManus brothers' actions. The priest, forced by Rocco to comply, tells Smecker to go with his instincts, and Smecker decides to help the brothers.

The McManus brothers and Rocco infiltrate the Yakavetta headquarters to finish off the family, but are captured by Papa Joe, who kills Rocco in an attempt to intimidate the brothers. As they say their family prayer over Rocco, Il Duce arrives and sneaks up behind them. As he hears them recites the family prayer, he lowers his weapons and begins to say it with them:

And shepherds we shall be
For Thee, my Lord, for Thee
Power hath descended forth from Thy hand
That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command
So we shall flow a river forth to Thee
And teeming with souls shall it ever be
In nomine Patri, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti (In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit)

It becomes apparent that Il Duce is their long-lost father, as the brothers had previously refused to teach Rocco the prayer because it is only passed down in their family. He then joins them in their mission to rid the city of evildoers.

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 charisma. The trial is forcibly interrupted when the two brothers and Il Duce, aided by Agent Smecker, infiltrate and lock down the courtroom. The brothers then deliver the speech: "Now you will receive us. We do not ask for your poor, or your hungry. We do not want your tired and sick. It is your corrupt we claim. It is your evil that will be sought by us. With every breath, we shall hunt them down. Each day we will spill their blood, 'til it rains down from the skies. Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace. These are not polite suggestions; these are codes of behavior, and those of you that ignore them will pay the dearest cost. There are varying degrees of evil. We urge you lesser forms of filth not to push the bounds and cross over into true corruption, into our domain. For if you do, one day you will look behind you and you will see we three, and on that day you will reap it. And we will send you to whatever god you wish."

The three then kill Papa Joe.

The media dubs the three "Saints", and the movie ends with various people reflecting on the question "Are the Saints ultimately good, or evil?"

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Sequel

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." According to the film's official website, the release date of the sequel The Boondock Saints: All Saints Day would be September 2005, though this never materialized. Information for the sequel was formerly available on IMDb, where it was categorized as in development, however, this information has been removed.

In an interview with IGN, Duffy explained the litigation with the company that controls the rights to the first film,^[17] Duffy went on to express his, as well as most of the casts', interest in making the sequel.

“

"Everybody's back in except Willem Dafoe, [because] sometimes actors have their careers plotted out in different ways and he's sort of doing a different thing now. So he's the only one who won't be back. Billy Connolly, the brothers, Rocco, everybody's in and calling me every two weeks and going when are we going to do this thing?"^[27]

”

In June 2006, it was announced that due to the success of The Boondock Saints on DVD, 20th Century Fox has agreed to finance a sequel.^[28] In September of 2006, a video—originally released for a one night showing in May 2006—was posted to the Boondocks website.^[29] In this video, Duffy explains the legal issues of the sequel, confirms that the sequel will in fact be a reality, and mentions a new project called The Good King. It also announces that the film will have a theatrical release in the United States.