Two Irish Catholic brothers become vigilantes and wipe out Boston's criminal underworld in the name of God.Two Irish Catholic brothers become vigilantes and wipe out Boston's criminal underworld in the name of God.Two Irish Catholic brothers become vigilantes and wipe out Boston's criminal underworld in the name of God.
Dot-Marie Jones
- Rosengurtle Baumgartener
- (as Dorothy-Marie Jones)
Robert Eaton
- Officer Langley
- (as Robert Vernon Eaton)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe church where Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) attend Mass, Church of the Covenant, is not a Catholic church, but a Lutheran one. No Catholic churches in the area would allow filming in their sanctuaries due to their objections to the plot of this movie.
- GoofsWhen the bar fight scene begins the brothers are telling the Russians some phrases in Russian, which are translated in subtitles. Actually the words that they are saying not only don't respond to the translation, they are mostly made up and make no sense at all.
- Crazy creditsClips of people being interviewed about their opinions on "the saints" are shown while the credits roll.
- Alternate versionsThe so-called North American widescreen DVD release is cropped from a full-frame version that has aired on Canadian cable television.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009)
Featured review
Non-linear storytelling executed well
I've always enjoyed non-linear storytelling. A number of people seem to have picked up on this aspect of the movie and thus dubbed it similar to Pulp Fiction (though no one mentions Reservoir Dogs) when this movie takes non-linear storytelling to a level beyond where Quentin Tarrantino was ever able to go.
Now, certainly Memento came along afterwards and transformed the entire art of non-linear storytelling. However, Memento uses it to keep the movie watcher guessing until the very end, whereas Boondock Saints puts the pieces on the table, letting you try to put them together, but then will continue handing you pieces until the picture becomes clearer.
Clearly the movie is designed to be over-the-top, both from Williem Dafoe's character to the action sequences themselves. Williem Dafoe makes this movie for me. The plot, which centers on religiously-inspired vigilante justice, has an air of being somewhat cliched, although I would be hard pressed to name another movie which handles it in this matter.
I still fail to see how others consider this movie vacuous and without meaning, when its message about the pitfalls of our current legal system and the need for something that transcends it is quite clear. I thought the ending, in which various people are interviewed about their opinion of the "Saints" and how for some vigilante justice was an incredibly sensitive issue, made this point very clear.
Now, certainly Memento came along afterwards and transformed the entire art of non-linear storytelling. However, Memento uses it to keep the movie watcher guessing until the very end, whereas Boondock Saints puts the pieces on the table, letting you try to put them together, but then will continue handing you pieces until the picture becomes clearer.
Clearly the movie is designed to be over-the-top, both from Williem Dafoe's character to the action sequences themselves. Williem Dafoe makes this movie for me. The plot, which centers on religiously-inspired vigilante justice, has an air of being somewhat cliched, although I would be hard pressed to name another movie which handles it in this matter.
I still fail to see how others consider this movie vacuous and without meaning, when its message about the pitfalls of our current legal system and the need for something that transcends it is quite clear. I thought the ending, in which various people are interviewed about their opinion of the "Saints" and how for some vigilante justice was an incredibly sensitive issue, made this point very clear.
Helpful•9163
- stumblefoot
- Jul 27, 2003
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- El quinto infierno
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $30,471
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $19,930
- Jan 23, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $30,471
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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![Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Norman Reedus in The Boondock Saints (1999)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTliMTg0ZTgtNTJiYi00MjFkLThhYTUtNDAwNTliMmVkNjVkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)