The newly released true crime drama Black Mass (read our review here) brings the sordid saga of the Boston FBI's Faustian bargain with gangster-informant James "Whitey" Bulger to cinemas.
But Bulger -- who ruled the Boston underworld for two decades while also serving as a top echelon FBI informant and eventually becoming a most wanted fugitive for another 16 years -- has already inspired several roman à clef on the big and small screen.
Here are the nine most notable examples of characters patterned after Whitey Bulger and his violent tale:
This is the one every knows. Jack Nicholson plays a fiendish Boston mob lord (who is eventually revealed to be an FBI informant) in this Best Picture winner from director Martin Scorsese. Although the film is not a direct retelling of the Bulger-FBI saga -- it's actually a remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs -- the filmmakers acknowledged that they modeled Costello after Bulger. (The Blu-ray even includes a featurette on it.) Costello is a vicious, informant-killing devil who plays both sides for his own benefit, corrupting lawmen and ruling the Boston underworld with a vice grip. Sound familiar?
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But Bulger -- who ruled the Boston underworld for two decades while also serving as a top echelon FBI informant and eventually becoming a most wanted fugitive for another 16 years -- has already inspired several roman à clef on the big and small screen.
Here are the nine most notable examples of characters patterned after Whitey Bulger and his violent tale:
This is the one every knows. Jack Nicholson plays a fiendish Boston mob lord (who is eventually revealed to be an FBI informant) in this Best Picture winner from director Martin Scorsese. Although the film is not a direct retelling of the Bulger-FBI saga -- it's actually a remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs -- the filmmakers acknowledged that they modeled Costello after Bulger. (The Blu-ray even includes a featurette on it.) Costello is a vicious, informant-killing devil who plays both sides for his own benefit, corrupting lawmen and ruling the Boston underworld with a vice grip. Sound familiar?
Continue reading…
Continue reading...