The Boondock Saints (1999)
March 17, 2024 12:21 PM - Subscribe
Two Irish Catholic brothers become vigilantes and wipe out Boston's criminal underworld in the name of God.
Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe), an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.
Alex Rudolph: You probably heard about The Boondock Saints from a person. I know you didn't learn about it through a TV spot, because there weren't any. You didn't see the trailer or poster at your local theater because the movie barely got a release, ultimately playing on five screens. It didn't get awards and received almost no contemporary reviews. It wasn't riding off anybody's love of the writer-director's previous work because would-be auteur Troy Duffy hadn't made anything before and may as well have not made anything since. There is no reason for you to have heard about The Boondock Saints, but I'll bet you have heard of it and I'll bet another human being, whether in person or via the internet, told you about it, and that doesn't simply happen to any movie. Or maybe it does. Because twenty years after it was recommended to me, I watched The Boondock Saints and there is nothing there.
I initially heard about this movie from a pretentious guy in high school who spent a lot of time on the Something Awful forums and told me that you could see sound when you smoked weed.
Bryan Wolford: The film seemed dead on arrival. The hope and promise that the initial bidding war the script created didn’t seem fulfilled. Those involved with the film believed thought they had made a great movie. Timing and soured relationships doomed the film to be lost to history. And the film faded into obscurity.
Except . . . it didn’t.
People began renting the film, and suddenly more people were renting it. And more. And more. The word of mouth began to push the film forward to find its audience. It quickly rose on the rental charts. The film became an instant cult classic. Over its initial home video release, it would rack up a whopping $50 million. That was almost unheard of at the time for a movie no one seemed to have heard of before it hit rental shelves. This film became a complete success. Well, almost a complete success. Some people were left out of the home video fun.
MaryAnn Johanson: After a tiny release in 1999, it went on to little acclaim on DVD. It is, by turns, hilariously awful and just plain unhilariously awful, full of its own nonexistent momentousness, an unintentional parody of hardboiled gangster flicks. It’s exactly the kind of movie you’d expect the guy we see in Overnight to make.
The “Italian mafia” and the “Russian Crime Syndicate” are at war in Boston, and a pair of local Irish lads, brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy MacManus (Norman Reedus: 8MM), are on a mission from God to cleanse the city of these “lowlifes.” Along the way, they discover the most outrageous way to cauterize gunshot wounds — it involves a steam iron — while also outwitting the cops and the FBI. Not one to be shown up by that ironing crap from the pseudo good-guy bad guys, Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man 2, The Clearing), as a federal agent, goes completely off the deep end, clearly encouraged by Duffy, flailing and wailing and sweating profusely as he “conducts” a firefight that’s like “Armageddon,” waving his arms in slo-mo while the choir on the soundtrack moans a dirge. There’s a lot of that kind of thing — crucifixes dangling in slo-mo, religious-sounding dirges, all sorts of pompous Tarantino-esque junk — but for sheer OMG, WTFness, it’s hard to choose between disgusting porn star Ron Jeremy as an “underboss” or Dafoe disguising himself in drag and actually being mistaken for beautiful.
Trailer
Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe), an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.
Alex Rudolph: You probably heard about The Boondock Saints from a person. I know you didn't learn about it through a TV spot, because there weren't any. You didn't see the trailer or poster at your local theater because the movie barely got a release, ultimately playing on five screens. It didn't get awards and received almost no contemporary reviews. It wasn't riding off anybody's love of the writer-director's previous work because would-be auteur Troy Duffy hadn't made anything before and may as well have not made anything since. There is no reason for you to have heard about The Boondock Saints, but I'll bet you have heard of it and I'll bet another human being, whether in person or via the internet, told you about it, and that doesn't simply happen to any movie. Or maybe it does. Because twenty years after it was recommended to me, I watched The Boondock Saints and there is nothing there.
I initially heard about this movie from a pretentious guy in high school who spent a lot of time on the Something Awful forums and told me that you could see sound when you smoked weed.
Bryan Wolford: The film seemed dead on arrival. The hope and promise that the initial bidding war the script created didn’t seem fulfilled. Those involved with the film believed thought they had made a great movie. Timing and soured relationships doomed the film to be lost to history. And the film faded into obscurity.
Except . . . it didn’t.
People began renting the film, and suddenly more people were renting it. And more. And more. The word of mouth began to push the film forward to find its audience. It quickly rose on the rental charts. The film became an instant cult classic. Over its initial home video release, it would rack up a whopping $50 million. That was almost unheard of at the time for a movie no one seemed to have heard of before it hit rental shelves. This film became a complete success. Well, almost a complete success. Some people were left out of the home video fun.
MaryAnn Johanson: After a tiny release in 1999, it went on to little acclaim on DVD. It is, by turns, hilariously awful and just plain unhilariously awful, full of its own nonexistent momentousness, an unintentional parody of hardboiled gangster flicks. It’s exactly the kind of movie you’d expect the guy we see in Overnight to make.
The “Italian mafia” and the “Russian Crime Syndicate” are at war in Boston, and a pair of local Irish lads, brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy MacManus (Norman Reedus: 8MM), are on a mission from God to cleanse the city of these “lowlifes.” Along the way, they discover the most outrageous way to cauterize gunshot wounds — it involves a steam iron — while also outwitting the cops and the FBI. Not one to be shown up by that ironing crap from the pseudo good-guy bad guys, Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man 2, The Clearing), as a federal agent, goes completely off the deep end, clearly encouraged by Duffy, flailing and wailing and sweating profusely as he “conducts” a firefight that’s like “Armageddon,” waving his arms in slo-mo while the choir on the soundtrack moans a dirge. There’s a lot of that kind of thing — crucifixes dangling in slo-mo, religious-sounding dirges, all sorts of pompous Tarantino-esque junk — but for sheer OMG, WTFness, it’s hard to choose between disgusting porn star Ron Jeremy as an “underboss” or Dafoe disguising himself in drag and actually being mistaken for beautiful.
Trailer
This is one that I'm really on the fence about watching, and have been for a while. On the one hand, yes, the people who think that this is the Best Film Ever are people that I tend to avoid; on the other hand, the same is largely true of diehard fans of Fight Club, which is genuinely interesting in various ways, albeit probably not for the reasons that the diehard fans are fans of it. Maybe I should look up Overnight instead.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:44 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:44 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]
I came to this film by word of mouth. Willem Dafoe throws himself into his role, which I think is 90% of what makes the film work.
posted by SPrintF at 2:09 PM on March 17 [7 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 2:09 PM on March 17 [7 favorites]
I made fun of Fear a few days ago, but honestly The Boondock Saints makes Fear look like Andrei Rublev. I love Willem Dafoe, but the man is the Michael Caine of our times.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:24 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:24 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]
I just bought the Blu-ray from a thrift store. It's a guilty pleasure in our house.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:27 PM on March 17
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:27 PM on March 17
Ah I went through a deep fannish love for this film at some point with friends. The sequel(s) are awful but there are small moments of delight in it - especially Dafoe - that still charm me. It is absolutely a terrible AND terrific film.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:08 PM on March 17
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:08 PM on March 17
When it first came out, it was ♫one of my favourite things♫ - but nowadays it's just silly.
Being transfemme I have a very polarizing love/ hate relationship to the character as written and to Dafoe's performance of, individually. I mostly hate both, but there's a small bit of love, mostly in the performance although I hated it.
I kind-of like how the cops kept coming up with really wrong theories.
The sequel(s? - huh, there's III planned and was supposed to have started filming in '22) are indeed garbage and clownish.
posted by porpoise at 10:32 PM on March 17
Being transfemme I have a very polarizing love/ hate relationship to the character as written and to Dafoe's performance of, individually. I mostly hate both, but there's a small bit of love, mostly in the performance although I hated it.
I kind-of like how the cops kept coming up with really wrong theories.
The sequel(s? - huh, there's III planned and was supposed to have started filming in '22) are indeed garbage and clownish.
posted by porpoise at 10:32 PM on March 17
I did, in fact, hear about this movie from a person, who had come to visit me and brought it specifically (back when you had to carry movies) because it was important that I see it. And it was! I've never seen it a second time, but I've absolutely never forgotten it. Particularly Dafoe's little jig. (I have a weird crush on Dafoe, at least when he's not a flatulent lighthouse keeper.)
I don't play crime games like Saints Row and GTA, but I have always had the feeling it was a big influence.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:21 AM on March 18
I don't play crime games like Saints Row and GTA, but I have always had the feeling it was a big influence.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:21 AM on March 18
IMO, it's better than the lesser Tarantino films of the same time period. It's not the best film evar, but it's alright if you're into movies where all problems can be solved by guns.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:49 AM on March 18
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:49 AM on March 18
For some reason (*), this was big in fandom for some time. I didn't realize how incredibly obscure it actually was (possibly because I never saw it).
(*) I think I know the reason.
posted by praemunire at 11:52 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]
(*) I think I know the reason.
posted by praemunire at 11:52 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]
It's been a very long time since I saw it, but my memory was that it was a fun, kind of cheesy but fun movie up until the 'saints' father showed up, where it started get creepy and annoying instead of fun, like 'hey mass murder is okay if you are the right people' creepy IIRC.
posted by tavella at 7:26 PM on March 18
posted by tavella at 7:26 PM on March 18
I mean, the reason it was popular is because it's about white dudes who go around punching women and kicking ass on "thugs," it's not really that hard to figure out, lol. It certainly isn't because it's well-written, funny, or even all that involving; the stupid flashback structure goes so far as to remove all suspense, since we go in knowing the outcome of all the dudes' adventures. It's a shitty movie, but it provides wish fulfillment for a certain kind of audience.
I'd kind of argue that the movie gets better when Billy Connolly appears, simply because it's Billy Connolly (who is, of course, Scottish).
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:43 AM on March 19
I'd kind of argue that the movie gets better when Billy Connolly appears, simply because it's Billy Connolly (who is, of course, Scottish).
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:43 AM on March 19
the reason it was popular is because it's about white dudes who go around punching women and kicking ass on "thugs,"
That...is not the reason it was popular in fandom.
posted by praemunire at 7:44 AM on March 19 [4 favorites]
That...is not the reason it was popular in fandom.
posted by praemunire at 7:44 AM on March 19 [4 favorites]
It's possible there was more than one fandom for this, um, film. I was more familiar with the species that didn't understand, but really enjoyed, Fight Club, another movie that I'm sure has several discrete, possibly not overlapping, fan cadres.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:02 AM on March 19
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:02 AM on March 19
I think the big difference from Fight Club though, is that if you are paying attention, it's pretty clear that Tyler and the Narrator are not the kind of people you should want to emulate. Sure, a lot of people missed it, but the point is in the movie, at least.
Boondock Saints seems like it has a nod toward the question of "is vigilante justice acceptable?" in the end credits, after it just spent an entire film unequivocally saying "Yes, and it's fucking awesome. ". There's no point in the narrative where we get anyone saying that going around murdering "bad guys" is not how things should be done. Maybe the one scene with Smecker in the confessional? But he immediately concludes the boys are right. The police even help them smuggle guns into court at the end.
I still like it as a goofy action flick, not to be taken at all seriously. I like the music too.
posted by mrgoat at 10:34 AM on March 19 [1 favorite]
Boondock Saints seems like it has a nod toward the question of "is vigilante justice acceptable?" in the end credits, after it just spent an entire film unequivocally saying "Yes, and it's fucking awesome. ". There's no point in the narrative where we get anyone saying that going around murdering "bad guys" is not how things should be done. Maybe the one scene with Smecker in the confessional? But he immediately concludes the boys are right. The police even help them smuggle guns into court at the end.
I still like it as a goofy action flick, not to be taken at all seriously. I like the music too.
posted by mrgoat at 10:34 AM on March 19 [1 favorite]
I presume the fandom praemunire means is people who are horny for the dudes. Which, I mean, sure, if you want to see a movie where buff guys sweat and exert themselves a lot, I guess this is for you, too, in addition to being for neo-nazis. I'd rather think that people use this film for J/O material than political inspiration; whacking off is a fairly wholesome activity, way better than fantasizing about murdering people.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 12:13 PM on March 19
posted by kittens for breakfast at 12:13 PM on March 19
That is also not the reason. If you seek answers, AO3 is always there.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:16 PM on March 19
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:16 PM on March 19
The subject has exhausted my interest, lol.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:44 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:44 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]
I kind-of like how the cops kept coming up with really wrong theories.
Serial crushed by a huge freaking guy
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:40 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
Serial crushed by a huge freaking guy
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:40 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
Boondock Santa is utterly hilarious, if you understand absurdist humor and are familiar with stupid action movie tropes. Also, or does a great job of immersing the viewer in a world. It's not meant to be taken seriously and at no point does it really take itself seriously. It's not asking big questions about vigilante justice, it's showing people getting way in over their head and happening to get lucky and an FBI agent spiraling out of control as much or more than the protagonists.
Granted, I didn't know if that's the movie Duffy was trying to make, but that's what came out on film. (VHS, for me, Blockbuster was pushing the absolute shit out of it. I saw it because Georgia's friend's boyfriend wanted to watch it instead of playing our usual game of dominos. So, 1500 miles from home I sat around in a dorm room at a school in Florida where nobody gave a shit about things like having your boyfriend stay with you in the girl's dorm for a week at a time, watching it with a Cuban bro from Miami.
Some years later I ended up back there for Georgia's sister's graduation and I'm pretty sure literally nothing was left of that campus. I think the main admin building was still there, but everything else had been razed and rebuilt, all the edges filed off, much like modern film.
posted by wierdo at 3:08 AM on March 25
Granted, I didn't know if that's the movie Duffy was trying to make, but that's what came out on film. (VHS, for me, Blockbuster was pushing the absolute shit out of it. I saw it because Georgia's friend's boyfriend wanted to watch it instead of playing our usual game of dominos. So, 1500 miles from home I sat around in a dorm room at a school in Florida where nobody gave a shit about things like having your boyfriend stay with you in the girl's dorm for a week at a time, watching it with a Cuban bro from Miami.
Some years later I ended up back there for Georgia's sister's graduation and I'm pretty sure literally nothing was left of that campus. I think the main admin building was still there, but everything else had been razed and rebuilt, all the edges filed off, much like modern film.
posted by wierdo at 3:08 AM on March 25
Boondock Santa
Now THIS i would watch.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:32 AM on March 27 [1 favorite]
Now THIS i would watch.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:32 AM on March 27 [1 favorite]
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posted by Carillon at 12:22 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]