The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Boston, in particular, have provided unique American stories going all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Given the rebellious folklore associated with New England's most populous and historic city (not to mention the organized crime), it is little wonder that it has been featured in so many films about the New England mob, the uber-powerful Catholic Archdiocese, and a political heritage stretching from Samuel Adams to the Kennedys. Even some of New York's finer directorial products, Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet, have taken a shot at immortalizing the city on film.
Whether it's Whitey Bulger's two screen adaptations (in The Departed and Black Mass), Jeremy Renner redefining the art of playing a Mass-hole in The Town, or Paul Newman playing the down-on-his-luck attorney Frank Galvin in The Verdict — there has developed a proud lineage of Boston films that incorporate the city's Irish influence in a way that shows how inextricable it is from the city's history. While it will always play second city (or third?) to New York, in terms of its scale and the number of films that take place there, Boston has carved out a proud lineage of crime films that easily put New York City on notice.
The following are the ten best crimedramas set in Boston.
10 Blown Away (1994)
United International Pictures
Ok, so Blown Away harkens back to the '90s in ways both good and bad. For one thing, American actors Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones are cast to play Northern Irish terrorists with character arcs cycling through the IRA. Tommy Lee Jones pulls off the accent a little better than Bridges, though both likely won't be inducted into the Pete Postlethwaite Hall of Fame for Best Irish Accents.
Such a Hall of Fame does not (yet!) exist. Luckily, hearing the Boston Pops soundtrack during the film's bombastic crescendo makes up for many of the historical shortcomings of this movie — so who are we to complain? Did we mention the rare intersection of Bridges and Jones in a film? May we suggest re-naming this film Bridges Jones's Diary? Just kidding.
Stream it on Max or Paramount+
9 Malice (1993)
Malice is a movie that only could have come out of the '90s. For one, it's a medical drama that toys with reproduction as a plot point — not something you'd see nowadays. Not to mention — how many surgeons do you know that have to rent a room in somebody else's home?
These are the kind of nitpicks that simply wouldn't pass muster these days. Nevertheless, the film is genuinely entertaining — and a truly Bostonian enterprise, including some beautiful location footage from the Berkshires and Massachusetts' many college campuses to illuminate the dark film with New England charm. The contrast between its visual poetry and disquieting story creates some of the film's finer emotions.
Buy it on Apple TV+
8 The Boondock Saints (1999)
Thank Baby Jesus that Willem Dafoe's steadying presence brought this film back down to Earth, as the movie that launched Norman Reedus, The Boondock Saints, marches all over the landscape of plausibility. Still, it has a certain charm thanks to Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery. Though the tonality, like many '90s movies, is more akin to a music video, the film still has a cultish following.
While audiences may have expected Flanery to become the big star of the duo, it was Reedus, years later on The Walking Dead, who took that mantle. Shades of that ascension can be seen in Boondock Saints, with director and proud Red Sox fan Troy Duffy using his hometown as the backdrop for this crime drama. Willem Dafoe didn't disappoint, either, with a convincing New England accent despite his Wisconsin upbringing.
Stream it on Prime Video
7 Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Gone Baby Gone
- Release Date
- June 6, 2007
- Director
- Ben Affleck
- Cast
- Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, Amy Ryan
- Rating
- R
- Main Genre
- Crime
The Afflecks once again went full-Boston in Gone Baby Gone, with older brother Ben directing and younger brother Casey in the starring role. The film was a 'wicked pissah', to use Beantown parlance, combining a kidnapping plot with the unique setting of Dorchester to craft an edge-of-your-seat narrative.
The use of the Quincy Quarries, an infamous location in Boston, brought the insider view to another level, along with standout performances by the younger Affleck and Amy Ryan (who received an Oscar nomination). WHile this film doesn't quite reach the crime drama heights of a Scorsese or Lumet, it proved Ben Affleck's ability as a director, laying the groundwork for his directorial win for Argo.
Stream it on Fubo
6 Knives Out (2019)
Knives Out
- Release Date
- November 27, 2019
- Director
- Rian Johnson
- Cast
- Toni Collette, Ana De Armas, Chris Evans, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Edi Patterson
- Rating
- PG-13
- Genres
- Mystery, Thriller
We'll go ahead and count Knives Out as a crime drama because, technically, why not? Sure the film is saturated with a necessary amount of quick-witted humor, even slapstick to intermittently alleviate the nerve-wracking mystery — but it's also a slice of Boston's upper class heights with killing at its core.
The film uses a pair of sprawling mansions in suburban Boston. One, a privately-owned nineteenth-century Gothic Revival manor doubling for the Thrombey residence in exterior shots, and the Ames Mansion, a 20-room historic landmark dead set in the Borderland State Park in Easton. All the costume department need do at that point was supply the necessary peacoats and cardigans to illuminate the Northeast's most autumn-friendly locales. Voilà!
Stream it on Netflix
5 The Departed (2006)
The Departed
- Release Date
- October 5, 2006
- Director
- Martin Scorsese
- Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone
- Rating
- R
- Main Genre
- Crime
Does anyone else find it strange that Martin Scorsese (a New York product famed for his association with the Big Apple) directed The Departed, one of Boston's most memorable crime dramas? I guess it's no bigger surprise than the fact that The Verdict's main watering hole was filmed not in Boston, but in midtown Manhattan.
As much as the cities' baseball teams and organized crime families may have been opposed over the years, there is still much overlap between the two — making it less far-fetched for Scorsese to helm one of Boston's greatest crime dramas. And yes, we are willing to overlook Jack Nicholson's abominably-bad Boston accent thanks to the many chuckles we get watching his performance as Frank Costello, a stand-in for real-life Boston mobster Whitey Bulger.
Rent on Apple TV+
4 The Town (2019)
The Town
- Release Date
- September 15, 2010
- Director
- Ben Affleck
- Cast
- Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Slaine
- Rating
- R
- Main Genre
- Crime
The Town immortalized the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown — infamous for its spate of bank robberies in the latter half of the 20th Century — within a heist film that would have made Sidney Lumet proud. The film crafted a distinctively-Boston narrative and incorporated the influence of bank heist films like Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon and the Michael Mann film Heat.
Jeremy Renner embodied the spirit of the city's Irish-American influence playing Gem — a hard-drinking ex-con with a rap sheet longer than the Charles River. Hometown hero Ben Affleck brings plenty of Beantown authenticity himself, having grown up in Cambridge. Still, we remain puzzled as to how Renner pulled off one of the most authentic Boston accents growing up in Modesto, California. Guy knows how to pahk the cah in the Hahvahd Yahd!
3 Mystic River (2003)
"Is that my daughter in there??!!" Sean Penn's line as Jimmy Markum in Mystic River has become emblematic of the actor's ability to kick it up a notch (maybe a bit too far), though at the time, the film was heralded for these unhinged performances. Clint Eastwood's film firmly inserted itself into the pantheon of Boston crime movies, mining memorable performances from Penn (who won Best Actor at the Oscars), Tim Robbins (who won for Supporting Actor) and became one of Eastwood's most awarded directorial efforts.
The film is remembered for great performances during a decade long period where Boston became prominent in the filmmaking zeitgeist, even on tv shows like SNL ("Nomar") and David Kelley's episodic series like Ally McBeal, which all took place in and around his hometown.
Rent it on Apple TV+
2 Spotlight (2015)
Spotlight
- Release Date
- November 6, 2015
- Director
- Tom McCarthy
- Cast
- Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, Michael Keaton, Billy Crudup
- Rating
- R
- Main Genre
- Drama
Corruption in Boston's Catholic Archdiocese has long been a topic scandalous enough to warrant a filmic re-telling. This initially became apparent with the release of The Verdict in 1982, but only received Oscar recognition with Spotlight's shocking Best Picture Oscar win in 2015, after the landmark film won Best Original Screenplay earlier in the night. The Boston crime drama was a high watermark in dramatic performance for Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams — thanks to a script that mined a lineage of abuse that the Catholic Church managed to cover up for years, a series of crimes that these actors helped shed light on with exceptional performances.
Rent it on Apple TV+
1 The Verdict (1982)
The Verdict
- Release Date
- December 8, 1982
- Director
- Sidney Lumet
- Cast
- Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea, Lindsay Crouse
- Rating
- R
- Main Genre
- Drama
Is there a more Boston film than The Verdict? Another anomaly considering the film was directed by New York City stalwart Sidney Lumet. Still, the film had a number of distinctly Boston touches, not to mention a Charlotte Rampling performance that it wouldn't be an overstatement to call pure fire.
This was the movie where Newman began to act his age, playing a washed-up attorney who gets handpicked for the unenviable task of going up against Boston's Catholic Archdiocese (also the villain in Spotlight). Newman's piercing blue gaze heralds one of the great performances of his late career, as the scotch-swilling heart attack man he breathes life into represents the idealism of America's most important colonial enclave.
Stream it on Max
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