Top 250. Cool ”Boondock Saints”
“We know what the neighbors said about them. And the neighbors unanimously claim that they are just angels. But angels don't kill. ”(FBI agent Paul Smecker ).One of the main questions that cinematography is constantly answering is whether the good guys have the right to kill the bad guys just because they are good and those are bad? Films on this topic are released often and in large quantities. Most of them are forgotten after the screen goes blank. Some become movie history. Sometimes they receive Oscars . And sometimes a film appears that does not receive awards, does not receive praise from critics, but the viewer has a strange feeling that the topic of"murder for the sake of justice"is revealed somehow freshly and in a new way. The crime dramedy The Boondock Saints became such a film.  Boston. Two twin brothers, Connor and Murphy McManus , as devout as all self-respecting Irishmen, work in the butcher's shop. Once in a bar, they unsuccessfully get into a showdown with representatives of the USA mafia. In the morning, the police find two corpses of the mafia. The case is assigned to a very eccentric FBI agent Paul Smecker . He immediately realizes that this was a self-defense murder. And the brothers McManus voluntarily come to the police. But when the twins are released, they are suddenly struck with inspiration - they must continue to kill the bad guys in the name of God, cleansing the city of filth. And it's getting hot in Boston ...  One day a bouncer bartender from Los Angeles saw a heartbreaking sight through a peephole - a drug dealer was opening someone's corpse to collect his goods. The bartender got so excited that he sat down at his desk and began writing, writing, writing ... And then suddenly he realized that this is very similar to the script of the film. The bartender's name was Troy Duffy, and his name meant nothing to anyone. In 1996, Duffy handed over his work to one of the producers of New Line Cinema . To the surprise of Troy , a battle broke out over the script among two large studios - Paramount Pictures and Miramax . The latter offered $ 450 thousand, and Duffy said:"Sold!". Harvey Weinstein allocated $ 15 million for filming and entrusted the newcomer with the director's chair. Duffy wanted Stephen Dorff and Mark Wahlberg for the role of the McManus brothers, and Kenneth Branagh for the role of Paul Smecker . Then his appetite began to grow, and at this point the company Miramax for some reason refused to shoot.  Then the homeless project was picked up by the independent studio Franchise Pictures , and the budget was reduced to $ 7 million. The brothers had to take on little-known people - Connor was played by Sean Patrick Flanery, a frequent guest on TV, and Murphy was an artist, photographer and aspiring actor Norman Reedus. FBI agent Paul Smecker was more fortunate - Willem Dafoe accepted the offer. For his friend David Della Rocco Duffy he specially wrote the role of the brothers' accomplice, whom, without further ado, he named David Della Rocco . The father of the main characters, Noah McManus nicknamed Il Duce , was played by Billy Connolly. The role of Boston in the film was played by Toronto for reasons of economy.  The tape was named after the musical group The Boondock Saints , in which Troy Duffy played. The film features two songs performed by this group. Duffy generally approached the musical accompaniment with great taste: the main theme was written by Jeff Danna, but the film also contains a lot of good rock, jazz and classical compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and Giacomo Puccini. The Boondock Saints was released in 1999 as a limited edition to sluggish critical acclaim. Later, in 2006, the film will be shown again in the cinema, because by then it will have sold millions of copies on VHS and DVD. When the movie was released on Blu-Ray, sales exceeded several million.  The film has two titles in USA - Boondock Saints and Slum Saints . The latter is more correct, because the word"boondock"is not the name of a settlement and in this case means a remote area, suburb, province or just a slum. The story turned out to be really surprisingly fresh. If you don't know that this was the debut for Duffy , then it might seem like an experienced master was sitting in the director's chair. The film was filmed stylishly, moderately bloody, incredibly witty, sometimes funny, and sometimes very philosophical. The dialogues were written sarcastically, cleverly, but, of course, not without profanity. The action is conducted from different points of view: brothers, Paul Smecker or some minor character. Duffy made a clever, yet light and exciting movie, and when the viewer was finally able to see "Saints" , the film received worldwide recognition. Two little-known actors coped perfectly: they were flexible, absolutely not pretentious and damn charming.  A separate topic is Willem Dafoe as Smecker , an agent and eccentric homosexual. The actor throughout the whole picture came off for himself and the audience for joy. This is possibly one of his best comedic roles, considering that Dafoe is an incredibly powerful dramatic actor. In addition, Defoe coped well in one of the episodes with the role of a lady of mild behavior, which one of the bandits fell for. So Smecker may well be considered a benefit performance of Defoe .  In 2009, Duffy directed The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. The film turned out to be good, but it was overloaded with excessive self-citation. At the same time Troy and Sean Patrick Flanery have remained the stars of these two films so far, but Norman Reedus was more fortunate. Thanks to the leading role in the cult TV series "The Walking Dead" ( The Walking Dead ), he became famous throughout the world.  Film crew The Boondock Saints The film, of course, does not give an answer to the burning question of where to rank the "holy" brothers McManus . Connor has the word "Veritas" (truth) tattooed on his arm and Murphy tattooed on his arm "Aequitas" (justice). It looks pretentious, but in fact it is just a tribute to the genre - tattoos should reflect the absolute seriousness of the characters' intentions. To the end credits, Duffy started a blitz poll on the street: are these guys doing good or evil? Opinions were, of course, divided. But why dissemble - the audience voted for the brothers. They are very nice guys. And if you have not seen this film, then indulge in the pleasure, because, despite the streaming production, a truly good and non-standard crime drama with elements of black comedy is still a rarity today.<  “We're kind of a 24-hour laundry, not always busy, but always open.”( Murphy McManus ). Previous reviews-annotations for films from the Top 250 : 1. Ode to Requiem for a Dream 2. Leafing through the "Memory Diary" 3. In the "Society of Dead Poets" 4. The charm of "Casablanca" 5. Living "Groundhog Day" 6. Try "Catch Me If You Can" 7. Listening to The Silence of the Lambs 8. Aroma of "Magnolia" 9. You Can't Kill a Mockingbird 10. The fate of Schindler's List 11. Big Secrets of Los Angeles 12. Desperate "Graduate" 13. Alfonso Cuaron and "The Prisoner of Azkaban" 14. Operation Fargo 15. Life through the "Window to the courtyard" 16. Survival Into the Wild 17. Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption 18. Stop "Green Mile" 19. Lost in Lost in Translation 20. Vivien Leigh and Gone with the Wind To be continued! The Topic of Article: Top 250. Cool ”Boondock Saints”. |
