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Hollywood's unrealistic depiction of Boston
By adamg on Tue, 01/22/2013 - 7:16pm
No, not that we're only ever shown as under the thumb of violent thugs from Southie or the Town, but that nobody in Boston movies ever takes the T.
Ed. note: Well, aside from Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting," who loved the Red Line so much he would always ride it through Dorchester on his way home to Southie from MIT.
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Obviously the author
has never seen Next Stop Wonderland!
First thing I thought of was
First thing I thought of was the fantastic Next Stop Wonderland. In fairness though, it was a while ago and it is true that most movies don't have anyone taking the T.
I think I shall watch Wonderland again.
did anyone take the t in the
did anyone take the t in the "friends of eddie coyle" there was a gov't center shot but not sure if he was coming out of it or not.
there were a lot of scenes from around the metro area - milton, quincy, boston bowl, and a scene at houghtons pond...plus it was a good movie
Friends of Eddie Coyle
had a big shootout scene at the Sharon train station. I don't remember if any of the characters rode the train.
One of my favorites
Is the the scene in "21" where the lead character and his girlfriend get into a fight on the Red Line on the way back from a frat party and she storms off the train. At Quincy Center. It's blatant: they announce the stop audibly, and the platform sign and train LED sign both say it.
Not only is Quincy Center wildly wrong geographically, but half of MITs frats are on the Green Line.
I just saw Ted this weekend and I noticed the same exact things wrong with it. Also, a crystal clear night sky rivaling rural Vermont. In the South End.
21
Great call anon, that scene from 21 is my favorite WTF moment too. I saw it originally at AMC Boston Common and about half of the theater after that scene actually said "really?!"
Of all the trains with broken signs or none at all, of course they had to use a working one at the wrong destination.
Ted was bizarre too because the chase over the Zakim somehow leads them to Fenway Park.
The Departed
Don't forget the scene in The Departed around 1:24:56 where they take the Red Line from what appears to be Park Street to South Station.
Great flick!
Gone Baby Gone to Chelsea and back
I give kudos to Gone Baby Gone in that they say they're going to Chelsea - there's footage of them going over the bridge in the right direction and then when they're returning there's footage over the Tobin again, in the proper direction. (At least as I recall the movie, it looked correct to me.)
In the end, the excessive driving around for short trips isn't that unrealistic (yeah...we're lazy). It's the idea that you could actually PARK.
Fringe
Walter took the bus once or twice on Fringe (though, it was to Worcester). And let's not forget the monorail.
Speaking of Hollywood
Anyone know where there might be a definitive list of Movies set in Boston (or moreover Massachusetts)?
I've been trying to find one, but it hasn't gone well.
There's this new thing called "the internet"
http://www.bu.edu/library/guide/boston/boston-sett...
uh...
I'm very rarely not a wise-ass, but do you mean aside from this obvious source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_set_in_Massachusetts
I mean I find it to be pretty complete, but I haven't been fact checking lately.
shoot me now!
they don't have The Brinks Job ferchrissakes!!
Sooooo....anyone have a good comprehensive list of movies set in Boston/Mass that can't be immediately found to be wanting by even a nit-wit?
Concept Fail -> wikipedia is not "them", it is "us"
Do you understand that Wikipedia is collaboratively written and edited by people like you? There's no staff of highly paid editors and researchers - if you see an error or omission, go ahead and submit an edit! (Like I just did to add Altered States...and The Brinks Job too (for some reason, it was listed under Movies set in Boston, but not Movies set in Massachusetts. Go figure).
wise guys
And there in lies the problem.
I used “definitive”, because a lot of listings seem not to differentiate between set in Boston, and shot/produced in Boston/Massachusetts. Also, a short scene might be all there is, but with nondescript wording on the list, you’d never know without watching it. Then theres the incompleteness of them.
To add, just been looking for one because I think it be fun to create a Boston/Massachusetts collection. The good, the bad, and even the Adam Sandler (ugly).
Boston Movie Map
My friend (who's a big movie buff) put this awesome map together:
http://charlesgaterealty.com/2013/boston/live-near...
Nice site
But comments section seems broken. I sent him some praise and pointed out that he should add _Altered States_ (set in Boston metro, with actual location shots at Harvard Med, Beacon Hill and Logan).
thanks for the heads up on the comments
Our comment plugin crashed apparently and it looks like we lost old comments. The new comment system is up and running now though. thanks again Jeff.
Unless your plot revolves
Unless your plot revolves around gropers or cell phone thieves, what's the point? People watch movies to get away from reality, not to see more of it.
Most people don't live in
Most people don't live in cities with subway systems, so to them even the lowly MBTA is a fanciful dream.
boston strangler
early in the movie the cops were hassling a dude along the river over on the cambridge side of the river, the scene was at the end of memorial drive with the boston skyline as a backdrop. barely a skyline. check it out.
also, the next karate kid, with hilary swank, shot a lot of scenes down next to the expressway in the trainyards. lots of running around on tops of red line cars if i remember correctly, terrible movie.
There are limits
Most movies only have an hour and 45 minutes to get to the point. No time for to wait for the next bus out of Haymarket!
But it would be fun to put the angry screaming Orange Line lady in a movie.
The Town
The ending of "The Town" centers on Ben Affleck's character being able to leave town because he dresses as an MBTA driver and steals a bus from the depot to drive to an Amtrak station and catch a train to Florida.
Affleck literally takes the T.
"On Broadway"
I seem to remember that one of the characters in the Joey McIntire indy film On Broadway was a T-driver. I think they had a less than perfect "circle T" patch, but it seemed reasonably authentic otherwise.
I tried googling for more info, but I just kept getting directions to the Broadway Red Line station.