History Film / TheBoondockSaints

-->''Smecker'': So you're telling me it was one guy with six guns, and he was a senior frigging citizen?

* BlackComedyPetDeath: One of the blackest jokes in the film is a scene in which Rosco, excitedly slapping down on a table as he talks about helping the [=McManus=] brothers with their vigilantism, [[ShurFineGuns accidentally sets off a pistol]] that was lying on the table which completely splatters a cat all over a wall, making Rosco and the [=McManus=] brothers react in a combination of horror and befuddlement.

* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: The film has a scene where Rocco accidentally kills his girlfriend's cat when his pistol goes off, causing him and the brothers to panic. Once they regain their composure, Rocco asks "Is it dead?"

* FanDisservice: "Gorgeous George" wearing his pink speedo.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Once cornered, [[spoiler:Concezio]] merely crosses himself and says ''[[FamousLastWords "Vaffanculo"]]'', which is [[BilingualBonus Italian for "Fuck you"]]. Not to mention a call-back to [[spoiler:his father, who did the same thing before being executed by the Saints]].

* UnfortunateNames: Special Agent Kuntsler.

* NWordPrivileges: Sort of. "Mick" and "wop" aren't exactly terms of affection between the [=McManus=] brothers and Rocco, but they would probably respond to anyone else who used them with violence.

* YourMom: Rocco starts one of these towards Ivan in the bar. [[OrphanedPunchline It doesn’t end well for Rocco]].

* LennonSpecs: Badass Il Duce wears them.

Also Abridged!AlexanderAnderson's favorite movie.

* {{Spoonerism}}: "[[TeenyWeenie Paul Smecker]]"? Well, talk about GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The shootout between the Saints and II Duce. The mundane explanation is three self-confessed amateurs against a hit man who hasn't been able to practice his skills in twenty-five years. The magical explanation is that they were chosen by God to carry out a specific mission, and wouldn't be allowed to kill each other so long as they were needed.

* PaperThinDisguise: Willem Dafoe makes as convincing a woman as WesternAnimation/BugsBunny does. And like Bugs, he has extreme good fortune to "seduce" the one guy on earth [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy thick enough]] to be fooled by his getup.

* TheWarOnTerror: Otillio came into the country on a visa signed by a sponsor who didn't exist, two months after the September 11th attacks. Which meant that someone pushed his paperwork through during the highest security alert in the history of the United States of America.

''The Boondock Saints'' ran for all of a week in only a few theaters because no major distributor would touch the film after Duffy's falling out with his initial executive producer Harvey Weinstein. (The then-recent crackdown on violent action and horror movies and media in general following the school shooting at UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} High School earlier that year [[TooSoon didn't help things either]].) But when it was released several years later on FOX DVD, the movie became a ''massive'' [[CultClassic cult success]]. Fans compare the film to Creator/QuentinTarantino's classics ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' and ''Film/PulpFiction'', and Creator/RobertRodriguez's ''Film/{{Desperado}}''. A sequel called ''The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day'' was rumored for years (the first film ends on one hell of a cliffhanger) and was finally released on October 30, 2009.

''The Boondock Saints'' is a 1999 independent film directed by Troy Duffy, about two [[{{Oireland}} Irish Catholic]] brothers from [[{{Southies}} South Boston]], Connor and Murphy [=McManus=] (played by Creator/SeanPatrickFlannery and Creator/NormanReedus), who become [[VigilanteMan vigilantes]] on a "MissionFromGod" after they are almost killed by Russian mobsters following a barroom brawl on St. Patrick's Day.

''The Boondock Saints'' is a 1999 independent film directed by Troy Duffy, about two [[{{Oireland}} Irish Catholic]] brothers from [[{{Southies}} South Boston]], Connor and Murphy [=McManus=] (played by Sean Patrick Flannery and Creator/NormanReedus), who become [[VigilanteMan vigilantes]] on a "MissionFromGod" after they are almost killed by Russian mobsters following a barroom brawl on St. Patrick's Day.

* {{Fanservice}}: Connor and Murphy get an outdoor shower scene.

* FeetFirstIntroduction: For nearly a minute, in slow motion, the camera tracks Eunice Bloom's ridiculously high stiletto heels as she strides to the church.
** This counts as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} if you think it's going to turn out to be Agent Smecker, who was also introduced foot-first [[spoiler:while in drag]].

* TheMafia: Italian and [[TheMafiya Russian mob.]]

* RealityEnsues: In the first film, the AirVentPassageway the brothers attempt to do during their first official hit goes to shit because, well, the vent isn't built for two grown men with rope, who have a tendency to argue, to pass through.

** In the first movie, Rocco emphasizes a point by slamming his hands down on a table, causing the Beretta 92 pistol sitting on the table -- which, mind you, is standard issue for U.S. soldiers and designed specifically to avert this trope[[note]]it's often said that the safety is the ''only'' part of a Beretta that's actually reliable[[/note]] -- to fire, killing [[spoiler:the [[ThatPoorCat poor pussycat]] that was laying next to it]]. Particularly jarring compared to the courthouse climax when the baliffs drop their guns from a mezzanine fifteen or twenty feet up without any mishap. In the DVD commentary, it's stated that this scene exists due to a combination of RuleOfFunny and [[spoiler:a hatred of cats]].

* RunningGag: Several, but the most obvious is the oft-compared-to "rocket surgery"

* VigilanteMan: Interesting case in that they try to be this, but come across as [[HitmanWithAHeart hitmen]] more than anything else.
** [[spoiler:The second movie reveals that Louie used Noah exactly this way. Louie's "intelligence" on mobsters Noah would assassinate was actually hit contracts received from rival mafiosos.]]

* {{Fanservice}}: Both brothers are [[ShirtlessScene shirtless]] when they awaken from the vision/dream.

* StrawFeminist: The brothers are set to train a new, very [[ButchLesbian butch]], employee at their meat-packing job who goes ballistic when she hears the phrase "rule of thumb" (citing the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thumb#Reference_to_spousal_abuse apocryphal story]] about it being based on wife beating). When the brothers needle her about it she [[GroinAttack kicks Connor in the balls]] [[WouldHitAGirl Murphy knocks her out with a punch in the face]], getting everyone involved fired.

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Papa Joe's "Italian" accent doesn't seem to resemble the speaking patterns of any real Italian person, dead or alive.