Looking for the best movies set in Boston? Grab a seat and pass the popcorn. Hollywood loves this town. It loves our three-deckahs, our corner bars, our accents (some good, some wicked bad) and our habit of yelling at the screen when the geography is wrong. Some of these are movies filmed in Boston for real. Others snuck off to Toronto or New York and hoped we wouldn't notice. We noticed.
Back in the day we covered the movies you would never think were filmed in New England, where Maine and Rhode Island played other places. This list is the opposite. These are 12 films where Boston plays itself, and every townie has seen them, quoted them and argued about them at a cookout.
1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
Where: South Boston and Cambridge. Two local kids, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, wrote it, and they won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Robin Williams won one too. Will and Chuckie drink at the real L Street Tavern in Southie, and the bench where Sean gives Will the big speech is in the Boston Public Garden by the lagoon. There's no plaque, so look for the people taking pictures. The Harvard bar scene was filmed at the old Bow and Arrow Pub in Harvard Square, and a lot of the interiors were really shot in Toronto. Quote it in the right accent, wear a How D'ya Like Them Apples T-Shirt, and you win every argument.
2. The Departed (2006)
Where: South Boston, Charlestown and downtown, plus a whole lot of New York. Martin Scorsese finally won Best Director for this one, and it took Best Picture too. Real Boston shows up in Charlestown and Chinatown, and the big warehouse shootout was filmed at the old Fore River Shipyard area in Quincy. But many of the interiors were built on sets in Brooklyn because New York had better tax breaks back then. Jack Nicholson's accent is a separate argument. The soundtrack gave us the Dropkick Murphys at full blast, which you can read about in our list of songs about Boston.
3. The Town (2010)
Where: Charlestown, the North End, Cambridge and Fenway Park. Ben Affleck directed and starred as a bank robber from the Town. The crew in nun masks races through the tight streets of the North End, and the final heist was shot at Fenway itself. Affleck has said he got about 10 days in the ballpark before the Red Sox needed it back. The movie opens with a big claim about how many bank robbers came from one square mile of Charlestown, and locals have been rolling their eyes about it ever since. Born and raised up by the Monument? Rep it with a Townie Charlestown MA T-Shirt.
4. Mystic River (2003)
Where: East Boston and South Boston. The neighborhood in the movie, "East Buckingham," is made up, but Clint Eastwood shot it on real Boston streets. The kids play street hockey on Condor Street in Eastie, and Jimmy's corner store is Miller's Market on K Street in Southie. Sean Penn won Best Actor and Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor. Not a feel-good movie. Bring tissues and a second Dunkin'.
5. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Where: Dorchester and South Boston, plus the old Quincy Quarries. Ben Affleck's first time directing, starring his brother Casey as a private eye looking for a missing girl. Affleck filled the background with real locals instead of polished Hollywood extras, and you can tell. Those faces in the bars? That's Boston. Ever told someone "you don't wanna go down there, guy"? This one's for you.
6. Spotlight (2015)
Where: Dorchester, downtown and the old Boston Globe building on Morrissey Boulevard. This Best Picture winner follows the Globe reporters who broke the church abuse story in 2002. Real Boston streets play themselves, but the Globe newsroom was rebuilt on a set in Toronto, down to the clutter on the desks. Boston grit isn't only about sports.
7. Fever Pitch (2005)
Where: Fenway Park, of course. Jimmy Fallon plays a Sox fan who loves the team more than his girlfriend, Drew Barrymore. Then the 2004 Red Sox went and won the World Series and wrecked the script. The ending was rewritten, and Fallon and Barrymore were filmed on the field in St. Louis during the real celebration. The Curse broke and a rom-com had to change its plans.
8. The Boondock Saints (1999)
Where: Set in South Boston. Filmed mostly in Toronto. Yes, really. Some outdoor shots were grabbed in Boston, but the brothers' pub and a lot of the "Southie" streets are Canada. Fans still quote it every St. Paddy's Day, so we'll allow it. Just don't tell your Uncle Sully where it was shot.
9. Black Mass (2015)
Where: South Boston, Quincy and, surprise, Lynn. Johnny Depp plays Whitey Bulger with icy blue contact lenses and a hairline that scared everybody. The crew filmed all over Southie, and Lynn stood in for Southie on at least one shoot day. Every Boston family has a Whitey story, and it starts with "my uncle knew a guy."
10. Patriots Day (2016)
Where: Set on Boylston Street and in Watertown, with the finish line rebuilt in Weymouth. Dorchester's own Mark Wahlberg stars as a Boston cop in the story of the 2013 Marathon bombing and the manhunt that followed. Instead of shutting down Boylston Street, the crew built a copy of it at the old South Weymouth Naval Air Station. Wahlberg's road from Dot to Hollywood is a story by itself, and we told it in how Mark Wahlberg went from Boston street kid to Hollywood's highest paid actor. Boston Strong, always.
11. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
Where: Boston, Quincy, Dedham and the old Boston Garden. This is the original Boston crime movie, way before Affleck and Damon. Robert Mitchum plays a small-time crook, and director Peter Yates shot it all on location around Greater Boston. A big scene was filmed during a real Bruins game at the old Garden. If your dad calls it "the best Boston movie nobody's seen," he's not wrong.
12. Ted (2012)
Where: All over Boston, including Fenway Park, the Hatch Shell and the Common. Mark Wahlberg again, this time with a foul-mouthed teddy bear who talks like a guy from Quincy. The chase at the end runs through Fenway, and there's a concert scene at the Hatch Shell. It's rated R, so save it for after the kids' bedtime. Two Boston accents, one of them stuffed. Pure art.
Honorable Mentions (and a Few Fakes)
- The Fighter (2010). Not Boston, it's Lowell, but we claim it. Filmed right there in the Mill City, and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo both won Oscars.
- Legally Blonde (2001). Set at Harvard Law, but most of the "Harvard" campus was really USC and UCLA in Los Angeles. Bend and snap, California.
- Little Women (2019). Filmed entirely in Massachusetts, including Concord and Boston's Arnold Arboretum.
- Knives Out (2019). The murder mansion interiors are the Ames Mansion at Borderland State Park in Easton.
Boston Movie Locations You Can Actually Visit
- L Street Tavern, South Boston. Will and Chuckie's bar is still open on East 8th Street. Order a beer and try not to do the accent.
- The Good Will Hunting bench, Public Garden. No sign, no plaque. Follow the lagoon path from the bridge and look for the line of fans.
- Grafton Street Pub, Harvard Square. It now sits where the old Bow and Arrow Pub was, the spot of the "them apples" bar scene.
- Fenway Park. Take the ballpark tour and stand where The Town, Fever Pitch and Ted all filmed.
- Quincy Quarries Reservation. The Gone Baby Gone quarry is now a park with climbing and walking trails.
- Borderland State Park, Easton. Walk the grounds around the Ames Mansion from Knives Out.
Roll the Credits, Boston
So there you have it. Twelve movies set in Boston, a few that cheated and one that moved to Canada. We'll argue about the accents forever, and that's half the fun.
Which movie did we miss? Tell us in the comments, and do your best Damon or Affleck while you type.
Wicked Local, signing off. See you at the movies, kid.