Introduction

A few years ago my sister Deb, who lives in Seattle, started the tradition of getting the family together in Boston for St Patrick’s Day. This has always been a big holiday for our family due to our Irish roots, and there are few better places to celebrate than the home of the first St Patrick’s Day in Colonial America (1737). We usually get all five of my siblings together for the holiday, as well as several nieces, nephews, sister-in-laws and brother-in-laws. Since many in our group are from out of town, we start the day with a walking tour through Boston.

I was struggling to come up with a theme for our walk this year when Kristin suggested we do a Boston movie tour. While I’ve watched several movies set in Boston over the years, I’d never spent any time trying to understand the story behind the movies made here. But when the topic is Boston, I am always happy to do the research. What follows is the movie walk we did for St Patrick’s Day, which brought us to 22 film locations, including both Cambridge and Boston. Unfortunately there have been so many movies made in Boston that no single walk can get to all the top locations - so the choices I made come at the expense of other great locations. For this walk I tried to combine some new places my family hadn’t seen in previous tours (e.g. Harvard Square), with some top movies that are critical to understanding Boston’s place in film culture. Also several of our younger crowd (under 30) were really tired after last year’s walk, so I included a ride on the subway to appease them. Oh, and based on Kristin’s advice, we added a competitive element with some trivia.

Background

During the Silent Film Era (1900-1920s), there was no single location for making movies, and Boston was both a place of technical innovation and the production of films. A few of the better known movies from this era made in Boston include The Boston Tea Party (1908), A Romance in Quincy (1916), and Anne of Green Gables (1919). But with the addition of sound came a gradual centralization of the movie industry to the Los Angeles area, which was accelerated by the start of the studio and the talent systems. The era from the late 1920s to the 1950s is often known as the Golden Age of Hollywood, producing both big hits and big stars. Some of the better known films from this era include Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, and The Wizard of Oz. But with the Golden Age came the end of movies in Boston, with almost all movies filmed in Hollywood studios.

But in the 1960s and 1970s, a new set of directors came to Hollywood, with names such as Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas. They launched what has since been known as the New Hollywood Era, which redefined cinema and produced some of the greatest blockbusters in history - e.g. The Godfather (1972), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977). They also drove a movement toward filming in real locations instead of studios. Suddenly Boston, with its colonial architecture, elite universities, and gritty streets became a desired destination for making movies again. The result was a series of successful movies set in Boston in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Charly (1968), The Boston Strangler (1968), and Love Story (1970).

Unfortunately the attraction of making movies in Boston proved to be short-lived, since by the late 1970s Hollywood started to move away from filming in Massachusetts due to the high production costs. A few states and cities started offering tax incentives to make themselves more attractive to filmmakers, with New York City and Toronto leading the way on the east coast. While the Massachusetts legislature periodically discussed the topic, they couldn’t get past the optics of giving financial incentives to commercial studios. But even without incentives, there were still occasionally movies made in Boston, such as The Verdict (1982), A Civil Action (1994), and Good Will Hunting (1998).

But in 2003, a movie called Mystic River - directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon - was released to critical acclaim and box office success. It was a dark crime drama set in South Boston that combined murder, childhood trauma, and neighborhood loyalty. The success of the movie seemed to provide the final push the legislature needed to pass the Massachusetts Film Tax Credit of 2006. This law had an almost immediate impact on movie making in Boston, and resulted in a series of successful films, such as The Departed (2006), Gone Baby Gone (2007) and The Town (2010). The legislature recently decided to make the tax incentives permanent, and Massachusetts remains a popular destination for filmmakers, with numerous movies and TV series located here every year.

The Portrayal of Boston In Movies

The portrayal of Boston in the movies has changed over the decades, reflecting shifts in both society and the city. In the early to mid-20th century, the themes tended to focus on narratives around the city’s history or its cultural institutions - e.g. Anne of Green Gables (1919). But by the 1970s and 1980s , as Boston struggled with crime, pollution, busing, race and other social issues, the themes trend more toward gritty crime dramas - e.g. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973). By the 1990s to early 2000s, Boston had undergone a substantial urban renewal - driven in a large part by the Big Dig project that put the overpass highway underground - and with it came a shift in the movie themes to more of a focus on a working-class ethos and neighborhood tribalism - e.g. Good Will Hunting (1997). Today the movie themes are much more diverse, sometimes drawing on previous ones but more often reflecting new and varied topics that are more consistent with the modern city Boston has become.

Preparation for the Walk

While you can do this walk without watching any of the movies covered, I would suggest at least seeing a few of the five highlighted, since this will make a more meaningful connection to the sites. These include: The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Love Story (1970), Good Will Hunting (1997), The Departed (2006) and The Town (2010). We will also see scenes from the following movies: The Verdict (1982), The Firm (1993), Blown Away (1994), Amistad (1997), A Civil Action (1998), Fever Pitch (2005), The Social Network (2010), and The Holdovers (2023).

We also decided to bring a couple props on our tour. The first was a laminated picture of the movie scene for each film location we visited. The second was a lifesize cardboard cutout of Matt Damon, which provided us endless laughs as he rode the Red Line with us, and caused us to have numerous interesting conversations with strangers. We however regretted not bringing a bluetooth speaker for playing some of the more iconic theme songs on our walk.  

The Map

Starting the Tour

We will start and end our walk in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. Let’s begin with a walk heading down Charles Street to the Charles MGH MBTA Station, where we will board the Red Line train outbound (toward Alewife) to Harvard. When we get off at the Harvard stop, walk up the stairs for the Harvard Square exit, and head down John F Kennedy Street in the direction of the Charles River.

#1: Winthrop Park: The Town (2010)

(When we arrive at Winthrop Park, go to the stone marker on Winthrop Street in the park with the view of the Harvard steeple)

We have arrived at our first film location from the 2010 movie The Town, starring Ben Afleck, John Hamm, and Jeremy Renner. The movie is about a Charlestown bank robbing gang led by Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck). During a heist, the gang kidnaps and releases a bank manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), who they realize after the fact is from the neighborhood and might be able to identify them. Doug agrees to follow her, and in a story that can only happen in a movie, proceeds to build a relationship and fall in love with her. Since the bank robbers were wearing masks, Claire doesn’t know Doug was involved, and he is hoping to keep it that way, since he plans to leave the gang to start a relationship with her. The central conflict of the movie is his desire to escape the gang and neighborhood, and pursue a better life with Claire.

The Town was a commercial success, making $154M on a budget of $37M, and solidifying Ben Affleck’s reputation as a talented director. It also earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. While it was mostly filmed in Charlestown and South Boston, one of the pivotal scenes was filmed here at Harvard. This scene involves the main character Doug having lunch with his love interest Claire. Doug knows Claire can identify one of the members of the gang by his neck tattoo, and to his surprise, this gang member, Jem (Jeremy Renner), shows up while they are having lunch. What follows is a tense scene where Jem meets Claire and wonders how he knows her, while Doug tries to keep her from discovering the truth.

The setting in Harvard with the view of the steeple of Harvard’s Lowell House is classic symbolism in a Boston movie. In this case it reflects Doug’s desire for a new start to move beyond his criminal life in Charlestown. Shortly before Jem arrives, there is a closeup of the steeple with a plane flying by in the distance.

After the movie came out many people wondered why Matt Damon was not in it. According to Ben, it was because he was too expensive, but according to Matt, he just didn’t like the script (Ben co-wrote the screenplay). Having watched the movie, I am going to side with Matt on this one.

In terms of themes, this movie portrays Boston - and specifically Charlestown - as a gritty crime city where working class people have limited options in life. This was in many ways a dated portrayal of Boston, which started its urban renewal in the late 1960s, but really transformed in the late 1980s / early 1990s. Today Charlestown is more likely to be known as A capital for high priced condos than for bank robberies.

Trivia questions:

  • What does Doug leave for Claire at the end of the movie? Answer: A bag of money
  • What type of face masks do Doug and his crew wear during the heist at the start of the movie? Answer: skeleton masks
  • What actor was nominated for an Oscar? Answer: Jeremy Renner
  • Who directed the movie? Answer: Ben Affleck

#2: Kirkland House: The Social Network (2010)

To your left as we walk is Kirkland House, one of the upper class dormitories at Harvard. This house has had many famous residents over the years but the one worth calling out for this walk is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. It was in his dorm here that in February 2004 that he launched a site called TheFacebook. This story would be highlighted in the 2010 movie The Social Network. Unfortunately while much of the early story of The Social Network is set at Harvard, only one scene actually filmed here for reasons we will discuss in a future stop.

#3: Elliot House

To your left is Elliot House, which counts among its celebrity residents Rashida Jones, who graduated in 1997 and is best known for her work in The Office and Parks and Rec.

#4: Harvard Yard: Love Story (1970)

(We will enter the gate to the Harvard sports complex, walk up the ramp and stop with a view across the street to Morris Hall)

You are looking at a filming location for one of the most iconic scenes from what is still considered 50+ years later as one of the greatest romance movies of all time: Love Story (1970). The story is about the romance between Oliver, played by Ryan O’Neal, who is the son of a wealthy Boston family, and Jennifer, played by Ali MacGraw, the daughter of a widowed working class Italian-American father. They meet, fall in love and get married while attending Harvard and Radcliffe. The movie was directed by Arthur Hiller and the screenplay was written by Erich Segal, a professor and author of several biographies. The movie was a huge success, making over $136M (over $1B today) on a budget of $2.2M, and nominated for 7 academy awards (winning for best original score with its iconic theme song). In an early form of viral marketing before its release, they published the screenplay in novel format on Valentine's Day 1970.

Erich Segal based his screenplay on his own experiences at Harvard. The Oliver character was based on Al Gore, who came from a wealthy family that expected him to pursue a prestigious career, and Jenny was based on a woman he dated from Radcliff who came from a working class background. One of the ironies in the story is that Al Gore’s roommate while at Harvard was Tommy Lee Jones, who ended up making his first screen appearance in Love Story as the roommate of Oliver.

The scene filmed here is what is known as the famous “snow frolic” from Love Story. In it the two main characters are playing in the snow and making snow angels, because of course, they are madly in love. While the movie showed Harvard in multiple seasons, they had to bring in fake snow for most of their winter scenes. But on this day, Boston got hit with a big snowstorm and the film crew took advantage of it to get some unplanned footage. Much of what appeared in the movie was unscripted, as the cameraman just kept the film rolling while the two actors played in the snow.

Finding this location was made harder by the fact everyone on the internet seems to think it was shot at Harvard Yard. But with the help of old campus maps, long walks, and Google Earth, I was able to prove it was filmed right here at the sports complex looking across North Harvard Street to Loeb Hall.

Okay now for our trivia questions about the Love Story. Are you ready? Here we go:

  • What sport does Oliver play at Harvard? Answer: hockey.
  • What is the famous and wildly inaccurate line about love? Answer: Love means never having to say you’re sorry.
  • Where do Oliver and Jennifer move to after graduating? Answer: New York City.
  • Jennifer went to Radcliffe because women were not allowed in Harvard in 1970. In what year were women allowed to open their own bank accounts without a male co-signer? Answer:  1974
  • Who can hum the theme song? Answer: TBD.

#5: John Weeks Footbridge: The Social Network (2010)

This view from this pedestrian bridge is used in a variety of movies, including Love Story, The Firm, The Social Network, Legally Blonde, Good Will Hunting and many more. There are two good reasons for this: 1) it’s an iconic bridge that provides a great view of Harvard, and 2) this is as close to Harvard as filmmakers can get.

Why? Well, remember how the movie Love Story brought in fake snow for many of their winter scenes? Unfortunately they damaged several trees in Harvard Yard, which resulted in the administration banning all future movie productions from campus. This ban still holds true today, leaving filmmakers to work around this by shooting their scenes near Harvard.

In the case of the 2010 movie The Social Network, the slightly fictionalized story of the founding of Facebook starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake, the film crew had a particular challenge since much of the early story is about Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard. Their solution: to film at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, which has buildings with a similar look to Harvard. They even replicated some of the iconic views in Harvard Yard, which we will talk about when we get there.

The Social Network did choose to have one scene filmed here on this bridge, which is public space and not subject to Harvard’s film ban. In the movie, the initial idea for a college social network comes from two real Harvard students, the Winckelvos twins. The twins and their friend Max try to convince Mark Zuckerberg to write the code for their site, but after procrastinating, Mark comes up with a variant of their idea he calls TheFacebook. After weeks of writing code, he launches the site, and it almost immediately spreads virally across campus. When Max hears about it, he runs out of an event at the business school and across this bridge at night to tell the Winklevoss twins.

The director of the movie, David Fincher, has had a long and successful career, with films such as Gone Girl (2014), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Fight Club (1999), Seven (1999) and The Game (1997). The writer was Alan Sorkin of West Wing fame. One of the interesting decisions the Fincher made was he wanted Cameron and Tyler to be complete identical twins, not just nearly identical. His solution was to cast the actor Armie Hammer as both twins, using a body double and CGI for scenes in which they are both present.

#6: Dunster House: Love Story (1970)

(Walk to the end of the bridge and look a to the right at Dunster House)

The building over there is called Dunster House, which is one of the twelve undergraduate houses at Harvard. This one has an interesting connection to the movie Love Story. I had mentioned that the Oliver character was based on Al Gore, and his real roommate at Harvard was Tommy Lee Jones. For their junior and senior years, Tommy and Al were roommates here at Dunster House. Tommy Lee Jones at the time was a big athlete on campus who made All Ivy and was a member of the undefeated 1968 team.

Another minor movie connection worth mentioning is the exterior of this building was used as the dorm for Matt Damon’s love interest, Skylar, in Good Will Hunting.

#7: Bow Street: Good Will Hunting (1997)

What brings us to this location is what many think is the quintessential Boston movie: Good Will Hunting (1997), starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Robin Williams. The movie is about Will Hunting, a troubled twenty-something who had a hard upbringing in South Boston. He also is a math genius with a photographic memory. While working as a janitor at MIT, he gets discovered by a professor, who agrees to mentor him provided he sees a therapist, played by Robin Williams. Along the way he meets and falls in love with Skylar, a Harvard student played by Minnie Driver, and the central conflict ensues of whether Will can rise above his troubled past to take advantage of the opportunity created by his mind.

While filming occurred in several locations across Havard, the scene shot here was when this was a combined Dunkin Donuts and Bask-n-Robbins. While at a Harvard bar, Will’s best friend Chuckie (Ben Affleck), gets embarrassed by an arrogant Harvard student while pretending he goes to the school in order to talk to Skylar. Will bails him out with some genius talk. While leaving the bar, Skylar gives Will her phone number. A short while later Will sees the arrogant student inside the Dunkin Donuts and walks up to the window to ask him if he likes apples. When the arrogant student says yes, Will holds up the girl’s number and says: “I got her number. How do you like them apples?”

You’ll likely notice on our walk that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck come up a lot in Boston movies - e.g. Good Will Hunting (1997), The Departed (2006), Gone Baby Gone (2007), The Town (2010), Spotlight (2015), Live By Night (2016), The Instigators (2024). The two are lifelong friends that grew up right here in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their friendship started when they met on a playdate set up by their moms. After high school, Matt went on to Harvard and Ben, who was two years younger, went on to the University of Vermont for a few months before heading out to LA. While taking a playwriting course at Harvard, Matt wrote a story of a math genius who was a janitor at MIT. He decided to continue working on the screenplay with his friend Ben. Matt eventually dropped out of college to join Ben in Hollywood, where they tried unsuccessfully to sell their screenplay. While there was some interest in the script, many studios passed due to Matt and Ben’s insistence they star in it. Eventually the screenplay was bought by Miramax, who gave them full creative control and helped sign Robin Williams as their big star. Good Will Hunting would go on to earn $225 million worldwide on a $10 million budget, win two Academy Awards, and launch the Hollywood careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

#8: Emerson Hall: Love Story

Welcome to Harvard Yard, the center of Harvard University, the first college in America. In front of us we have Emerson Hall. In the movie Love Story, this was called Barrett Hall, which was named after the great grandfather of the main character Oliver. In one of the early scenes of Oliver and Jennifer dating, they are walking down this path talking about Oliver, his relationship with his father, and the heavy burden that comes with being a Barrett.

One of the more humorous props in the movie are the cheap cardboard yard signs stuck in the ground that point the way to Barrett and University Halls. I am fairly confident that Harvard University would never put cheap cardboard signs on campus to direct students.

To our left here is one of the more iconic buildings of the school, Memorial Church, which was a gift from alumni in 1932 to commemorate the alumni who died in World War I. To our right is the Widener Library, which was donated by the mother of Harry Widener in memory of her son, who died in the sinking of the Titanic. Harry had gone to Europe to buy antique books, and it was said he wouldn’t board the lifeboat without his books. This library was built over the location of the previous building called Gore Hall, named after the Gore family (another real world fact that finds a way into the movie Love Story). You can still see a small plaque in the corner recognizing the Gore family.

#9: View of the Commander Hotel: The Holdovers

(Leave Harvard Yard briefly to go to the pedestrian walkway above Cambridge Street where you have a view of the Commander Hotel)

From here you can catch a glimpse of the Commander Hotel over on Cambridge Common, which is right near the Harvard Law School.

The vintage look of this hotel made its appearance in the 2023 movie The Holdovers, starring Paul Giamatti. The movie is about a teacher at a 1970s New England prep school who is forced to stay over the holiday with a student whose family abandoned him and the cook whose son just died in Vietnam. The three develop an unlikely friendship that takes them on a trip to Boston, with scenes shot inside and outside the city. While the movie didn’t fare well at the box office, it received good reviews and I found it very enjoyable. But I would call it more of a New England than a Boston one.

#10: Matthew Hall: Good Will Hunting

(Return back to Harvard Yard using the next gate and face the John Harvard statue)

From here we can see several of the residential buildings in Harvard Yard. In front of us is University Hall, an administration building at Harvard. In front of University Hall is the John Harvard statue, which makes a brief appearance in the movie The Social Network. Since the ban on filming on campus forced the filmmakers to use Johns Hopkins as their set, the film team decided to build a replica of this statue for a brief appearance in the movie with Jesse Eisenberg.

If you get a little closer you will notice the left shoe of John Harvard is polished bronze. It is said that you will get good luck by touching his shoe, and the polishing has happened as a result of all this touching. As a side note, some people call this the statue of three lies, since it has three falsehoods: 1) the plaque says Harvard was founded in 1638 when it was founded in 1636, 2) it says John Harvard was the founder of the college when he was really a benefactor, and 3) that is not John Harvard (they had no picture of him to go by so they had a student model for the statue).

(Turn around to face the gates)

Harvard Yard has many gates you can enter, most named after an alumni. The big gates here are known as the main gates of Harvard, and appear in several films, including the movie The Firm, starring Tom Cruise.

(Turn around to face Matthews Hall)

And finally, this building is called Matthews Hall, one of the underclassmen residential buildings at Harvard. This was also the home for Matt Damon during his first two years at Harvard. When Matt came back to campus in 2013 to receive a Harvard Arts Medal, he decided to stop by his old dorm room. The Harvard newspaper the Crimson interviewed the three students who lived in the room after his visit, who said he stayed for about an hour and they had a great time chatting with him.

(Head out the gates to the T station and take it back to Charles MGH)

#11: 106 Charles: A Civil Action (1998)

Across the street here was used as the exterior for John Travolta’s character in the 1998 movie A Civil Action. The movie has Travolta playing Jan Schlichtman, a personal injury lawyer who takes a case on behalf of residents of the Boston suburb Woburn, who are suffering and dying of mysterious illnesses that they are convinced is caused by the poisoning of the water supply by two large corporations. The movie is based on a true story, and has an all star cast that includes Robert Duvall, John Lithgow and James Gandolfini.

#12: Cedar Lane Way: A Civil Action (1998)

This location, which happens to be my back alley, was the site for an important scene in A Civil Action. In the scene, the lawyer for one of the large corporations, played by Bruce Norris, is trying to find out whether one of its deposed employees - played by James Gandolfini of Sopranos fame - knows more than he is saying about their polluting of the water supply in Woburn. You can actually see our back door and the window to my office in the movie.

#13: 85 Mount Vernon: The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

When people mention The Thomas Crown Affair, they are usually referring to the 1999 movie set in New York City and starring Pierce Brosnan. This movie is a remake of the 1968 original that is set in Boston and stars Steve McQueen and Fay Dunaway. The movie is about Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen), a risk-taking millionaire who orchestrates a bank robbery for a thrill. While the banker robbery succeeds, an insurance investigator, Vicki Anderson (Fay Dunaway), quickly identifies him as her top suspect. They then play a cat and mouse game of flirting and building a relationship, all while the police are getting closer to arresting him.

This home here at 85 Mount Vernon was used as the home of Thomas Crown in the movie, both for exterior and interior scenes and shots. One scene occurs as Crown drives his car into the driveway on the day of the successful heist, tells his butler he can go home for the night, and sits down with a glass of scotch to celebrate his robbery. Another is when Crown takes Vicki to his home, where they play a flirtatious game of chess.

While the movie was a box office success, it didn’t receive great reviews. It however has aged well and is now considered a classic 1960s movie. The director, Norman Jewison, also directed In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) and Moonstruck (1987). One of the interesting techniques he pioneered in this movie was the use of the split screen, where he showed multiple simultaneous scenes on the same screen. For example, in the bank robbery scene, the movie shows the robbery occurring from different angles and perspectives.

A side story I like to tell here is about a real bank robbery. In 1969, a bank teller in Ohio, who was reported to have been obsessed with The Thomas Crown Affair, stole $215K from his employer and promptly disappeared. While the story appeared on the TV crime shows America’s Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries, his whereabouts remained unknown. The story would finally be solved in 2021, when the family of a man who died of lung cancer discovered documents that showed his true identity. The bank robber died in a suburb of Boston, just miles from the location of the movie that inspired his crime. It is believed he moved to Boston to be closer to the movie, even living for a time in Beacon Hill, right near this house.

Trivia questions:

  • Who was the original choice to play Thomas Crown before Steve McQueen was cast? Answer: Sean Connery
  • Which famous talk show host was considered for the role of Thomas Crown but declined? Answer: Johnny Carson
  • Which actress appeared in both the original 1968 film and its 1999 remake?Answer: Faye Dunaway (she starred as Vicki Anderson in the original and made a cameo as a psychiatrist in the 1999 remake)
  • What’s the name of the theme song, and who covered it for the second Thomas Crown Affair? Answer: “Windmills of Your Mind” and Sting

#14: 85 Joy Street: Blown Away (1994)

Blown Away, released in 1994, was directed by Stephen Hopkins and starred Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones. It is the story of Jimmy Dove (Jeff Bridges), a Boston bomb squad expert who hides a dark secret: he was born in Ireland and apprenticed as a bomb maker for the IRA. But instead of allowing his first bomb to explode, he turns in his mentor, Ryan Gaerity (Tommy Lee Jones), who gets sent to prison. Decades later, Gaerity breaks out of prison and comes to get revenge on Jimmy by planting bombs across Boston.

The movieIt was only a moderate success at the box office and received mixed reviews, with many critics pointing out overly absurdly dramatic tone. But it set two records in its time for the state of Massachusetts: 1) it was the first action film set in Boston, and 2) it was the largest budget for a movie in the state. But I should admit that I struggled with the movie’s cruel and unusual use of both Boston and Irish accents.

One of the most dramatic scenes in the movie occurs right here on Joy Street. It’s the Fourth of July in Boston and Jimmy is trying to find his wife, who he now knows is Gaerity’s next target. He spots her just as she is getting into a Jeep that is rigged with explosives. While the Jeep drives down Joy Street - which seems to be a few miles longer than it is in real life - Jimmy pulls up in a motorcycle, jumps in, and disarms the bomb before the Jeep crashes into the fence of the Boston Common.

#15: Back of Massachusetts State House: The Verdict (1982)

We have arrived at the back of the Massachusetts State House, which was opened in 1798. While the gold dome appears in many Boston movies, the interior has also been used in several films due to its historic look. One movie that took advantage of this is the 1982 film The Verdict, starring Paul Newman as an alcoholic lawyer who seeks redemption by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling. While the movie is set in Boston, many of the scenes were actually filmed in New York City. But the State House played two important roles in this movie. First, this archway was shown as the entrance to St. Catherine, the Catholic hospital in Boston where the malpractice occurred. Second, one of the interior rooms was used as the courtroom where much of the latter half of the movie takes place.

#16: Massachusetts State House: Amistad (1997)

Another interesting use of the State House was the movie Amistad, which is about a group of enslaved people aboard a ship who capture the ship and skill several of their captors. The escaped slaves get captured off New York and put on trial in a federal court in Connecticut and eventually the Supreme Court in Washington DC. The movie is based on a true story. While none of the events took place in Boston, the filmmakers used the representative chamber in the State House as their set for the US House of Representatives, with a scene of Anthony Hopkins playing John Quincy Adams.

#17: 127 Tremont St: The Town (2010)

This was formerly the Dunkin Donuts that appears in a minor scene in The Town where Doug and Claire are getting to know each other after meeting at a laundromat. Claire tells Doug that she didn’t tell the FBI about the neck tattoo of one of the bank robbers - which sets up the scene we saw at the start of our tour.

#18: Suffolk University Law School: The Departed (2006)

This building is the Suffolk University Law School. The top floor was used in the filming scenes from one of the more controversial Boston movies, The Departed (2006), directed by Martin Scorsese. We will talk about this movie more in a later stop, but if you saw it and remember the character Colin played by Matt Damon, the views from his apartment looking over the State House were actually shot from the top floor here. Scorsese tends to use a lot of symbolism in his movies, and the gold dome of the State House was intended to represent power and corruption. The movie ends with a rat walking on the balcony outside this apartment, with a view of the State House in the background.

#19: 88 Tremont St: Technicolor (1915)

This building called the “Tremont Temple” has had many uses over the years, including use as a temple. But during the early 1900s, it was used as a theater, where it became the location of an important milestone in movie history: the first viewing of a color film. Prior to this, all movies were black and white. But three Boston entrepreneurs - two who were scientists from MIT - founded a company called Technicolor in 1915 with the vision of bringing color to movies. To do this they had to invent a new camera and projector for color films - and even had to invest in producing their own movies to get studios to see the potential of their innovation. This first color film shown here was crude, only using two instead of a three color process, but it launched the start of color movies.

Technicolor would go on to become one of the big names in the movie industry, and created the technology behind the first two breakthrough color movies: The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind (1939). Unfortunately for Boston as the industry centralized in Hollywood, they eventually moved their headquarters to Los Angeles.

#20: Public Garden: Fever Pitch (2005)

In 2004, the Farrelly brothers decided to do a remake of a 1997 soccer movie called Fever Pitch, but with the focus on the Boston Red Sox, who at the time had not won a World Series in 86 years. The story is about Ben, played by Jimmy Fallon, who is a Red Sox super fan whose entire life revolves around the team. In the offseason he meets Lindsey, played by Drew Barrymore, and their romantic relationship gets off to a strong start until the baseball season begins, and she realizes that Jimmy is not just a regular fan.

The casting of Jimmy Fallon as the lead in a romantic comedy was considered an unusual choice by the Farrelly brothers. But while Fallon had grown up in the Hudson Valley in New York, he was a passionate lifelong Red Sox fan. The movie was in production during the 2004 season, and the ending had to be changed when the Red Sox won the World Series. They actually had Fallon and Barrymore attend the World Series in order to get some real on the field footage when the Red Sox won.

#21: Robin Williams Bench: Good Will Hunting (1998)

We have arrived at what I like to think is the most important movie location in Boston: the Good Will Hunting bench in the Boston Public Garden. This bench was the location of a pivotal scene in Good Will Hunting in which Sean, the therapist played by Robin Williams, works to gain the trust of Will, played by Matt Damon. In a previous therapy session, Will used his book learning to accuse Sean of not being able to understand him because he was just a lonely old widower. While sitting on the bench Sean tells him how he was up all night questioning his life until he realized that Will didn’t understand the first thing about his life, because all his insight is just coming from books. This interaction would break open their therapy and begin a strong relationship between the two characters.

During the production of the movie, Miramax suggested they could reach a bigger audience if they had a PG-13 rating instead of R. Matt and Ben asked why they had an R rating since there was really no violence or sex. The studio told them it was due to swearing, specifically the use of the F-word. Matt and Ben asked if cutting down their use of the F-word would result in a PG-13 rating, and Miramax said yes. “How many times can we use it?” they asked. “Three,” the studio executive said. “Oh great. How many times is it used in the current script?” they asked. “140,” was the answer. Matt said in a later interview that the two of them just wrote it like they talked, and didn’t realize how much they used the F-word.

With the death of Robin Williams there are numerous people approaching Matt Damon and others in hope of getting a memorial to him at this bench. One of the best ideas I have heard is to create a bronze version of Robin Williams on this bench, with the idea that people who are feeling down or depressed can come sit next to him.

Trivia questions:

  • Who won Best Original Screenplay? Answer: Matt and Ben
  • What actor won an academy award for their role in the movie? Answer: Robin Williams
  • Whose brother plays a part in this movie? Answer: Casey Affleck
  • What is the name of the real Southie bar that Will and his friends hang out at? Answer: L Street Tavern

#22: 17 Charles Street: The Departed (2006)

We have arrived at our last movie location, for one of the more violent and difficult to watch films set in Boston. The Departed (2006) was directed by Martin Scorsese, one of the most acclaimed directors of the New Hollywood era, best known for his crime genre films. A few of his notable  successes include Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Shutter Island (2010), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).

The Departed was a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs," but relocated the story to Boston and incorporating elements of the real-life gangster Whitey Bulger. It is the story of two men in law enforcement who are leading double lives: Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a criminal planted into the Massachusetts State Police by Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), and Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), a good cop with a bad family history who infiltrates Costello's crew undercover. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game as each side races to uncover the other’s identity, while Colin and Billy simultaneously share the same love interest.

The Departed was a commercial success and popular with critics. It grossed $291M on a budget of $90M, won four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing), and gave Scorsese his first Oscar after five previous nominations. The irony is Scorsese made the movie with no expectations of nominations from the Academy due to its high level of violence.

This Beacon Hill cleaners was transformed into the Charles Street Brasserie, one of the hangouts for the mob boss Frank Costello. In a pivotal scene late in the movie, he asks Billy (Leonardo DiCaprio) to come to talk to him after he ignored his direction and left early from the bar they were at while waiting on background checks to find the rat. For anyone who watched the movie, this is the scene where Jack Nicholson’s character talks about hating rats and makes a rat face. At several points in the scene you think Billy’s cover has been exposed and Frank is going to kill him, only to find out that he is still safe. Upon leaving the brasserie, he sees two of Frank’s gang members outside who were playing a game of identifying who walking by on the street is a cop. Here you can see the outside of the building and the nearby Branch Street.

Trivia questions:

  • Which real-life Boston gangster inspired Jack Nicholson’s character, Frank Costello? Answer: Whitey Bulger
  • What classic Hong Kong film served as the basis for The Departed? Answer: Infernal Affairs (2002)
  • What song by The Dropkick Murphys is prominently featured in the film? Answer: I’m Shipping Up to Boston