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3 overlooked old-school Boston movies for your watchlist
Plus: A few modern-day movie recommendations to watch before new releases.
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We just wrapped up round four of Massachusetts Movie Madness, and there have been some heartbreaking losses as we move toward determining an ultimate winner.
Three of my favorite movies from the 2010s — “The Social Network,” “Knives Out,” and “Little Women” — all lost in the first round. The single-closest matchup so far was between “Spotlight” and “The Perfect Storm,” with the Boston Globe investigation edging out the fishing boat tragedy by a mere 55 votes.
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And then there’s the movies that never even made the field of 32. I already wrote about six worthy honorable mentions in last week’s edition of The Queue, including “The Crucible” and “Boondock Saints.” But as soon as the bracket was unveiled on Monday, I heard from Boston.com readers with even more movies that they considered egregious omissions.
Most of the movies highlighted by readers were from the ‘60s and ‘70s. So to honor their very valid gripes, here’s three excellent movies that didn’t make our field of 32 that showcase old-school Boston (or in one case, old-school Cambridge).
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Still haven’t voted in the movie madness bracket? There’s still time to help decide the final four.
3 overlooked old-school Boston movies
“The Boston Strangler” (1968)
Before Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon’s 2023 movie about the infamous serial killer (or was it multiple serial killers?), Richard Fleischer struck while the iron was hot with this 1968 true crime story (available to rent).
Initially decried for glorifying violence and for its too-soon timing (released only a year after Albert DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison), this Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, and George Kennedy crime drama has been lauded by contemporary critics for its innovative use of split-screen interrogation.
While crews eventually decamped to Los Angeles to finish filming, there’s plenty of old-school Beacon Hill, South End, and Back Bay to go around, not to mention the casual Jordan Marsh references.
“The Paper Chase” (1973)
Almost thirty years before “Legally Blonde” tricked audiences into believing that USC was actually Harvard University with a few strategic establishing shots, James Bridges’ Harvard Law School comedy-drama “The Paper Chase” (available to rent) did the same thing, albeit a bit less egregiously.
There are actual interior shots from Harvard’s Divinity School library, but most of the scenes featuring first-year student James T. Hart (Timothy Bottoms) and demanding professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman, in an Oscar-winning role) were filmed in Toronto.
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That didn’t bother reader Guy H., who pushed the limits of reasonable punctuation in his email: “How could you leave out “The Paper Chase”??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and include Legally Blonde)?”
“The Brink’s Job” (1978)
Reader John M. called out the 1978 heist film “The Brink’s Job (available to rent) as a major omission – and when it comes to important movies in Boston history, he has a point. William Friedkin (“The Exorcist”) turned the infamous 1950 bank robbery into a broad comedy, with “Columbo” star Peter Falk assembling a crew of oddballs to assist in his caper.
The movie is “old school Boston” at its finest, both because it features some classic details (the old elevated Orange Line, a dinner at Rino’s, the Custom House Tower) and because of the locals who derailed production at every turn, setting the local film industry back decades.
Hearing that a Hollywood film was in town, armed robbers raided the film’s production office and stole several film canisters, holding them for ransom. Though the canisters were worthless without the negatives, this incident was one of many hindrances Friedkin faced. Federal investigators charged several Teamsters with extorting the production, and according to Paul Sherman’s book “Big Screen Boston,” countless North End residents installed window air conditioners once they heard producers were paying people to remove them to preserve the 1950s authenticity.
Play or Skip
Press play on these movies and shows:
- “28 Days Later” (2002): Danny Boyle is bringing us back to his postapocalyptic zombie world with “28 Years Later” on June 20. Before he does, revisit Boyle’s haunting 2002 film, starring Cillian Murphy as a man who awakes from a coma in the immediate aftermath of a world destroyed by a virus that turns humans into rage-filled zombies. (Pluto TV)
- “Emma.” (2020): Watching the new Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal romantic drama “Materialists” earlier this week, the story I most often thought of was Jane Austen’s “Emma,” which has been skillfully adapted for the screen several times. Instead of recommending “Clueless” or Gwyneth Paltrow’s 1996 “Emma,” which are both great, I’ll suggest this underseen pandemic-era adaptation starring Anya Taylor-Joy, who is superb as the scheming matchmaker who doesn’t consider her own feelings. (Peacock)
- “Stick”: Owen Wilson is a lot of fun as a disgraced professional golfer whose career has been derailed by a very public meltdown. At a low point, he begins to train a young phenom (Peter Dager), which may be just the boost he needs. (Apple TV+)
But go ahead and skip these:
- “Echo Valley”: Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, and Domnhall Gleeson are greater than the sum of their parts in this melodrama, about a solitary horse dealer (Moore) who opens the door to her estranged daughter (Sweeney), hysterical and covered in blood. (Apple TV+)
- “Snow White” (2025): Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”) deserves better than this unneeded uncanny valley remake of a Disney classic – and she certainly doesn’t deserve the smear campaign that anonymous Disney executives tried to launder in the Hollywood trades blaming Zegler’s political opinions for this dud of a movie’s failure at the box office. (Disney+)
End Credits
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Until next time, good stream hunting, everyone!
— Kevin
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