Episode 65: The Boondock Saints (1999)

Film chosen by guest David Biggins, introduced by Devlin

FINALLY, I got around to seeing this film. Many, many years since I first watched, and loved, Overnight, Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana’s salty 2003 documentary hit job, our esteemed guest David Biggins’ pick for this episode gave me an excuse to sit myself down and take in the feature that the DVD box for Overnight calls ‘the film that started the whole sorry affair’. That the movie came packaged as a barely mentioned special feature bonus disc to the documentary that served as its making of; that the documentary footage that does show sequences for the eventual finished film being shot looked awful; and that this film seemed to lean hard in to some unsavoury shit, all twigged for me as major red flags until now. I was content to sneer at writer/director Troy Duffy’s thuddingly obnoxious attitude and megalomaniacal overestimation of his meagre talents as a multi-hyphenate filmmaker of no experience and band leader of a bang average late-to-the-party grunge group, without ever feeling like I had to justify that dismissal by actually watching The Boondock Saints at all.

Yet, oddly, I’d actually bought, or rather re-bought, the DVD of Overnight just a few months ago, having not seen it in years, after it popped in to my head for some reason or another. So, serendipitously, I was primed to finally commit to seeing the origin of ‘the whole sorry affair’ at last. And, boy, was I in for…something. No spoilers for now. Many spoilers within the podcast, as ever.

Big thanks to David for joining us for his inaugural pick – you can find him on Instagram and Twitter. And please enjoy one of our Matt’s typically magnificent YouTube rabbit hole playlists.