Boston’s ‘Good Will Hunting’: A Look Back At Greatness

Boston's Good Will Hunting came out this month, December 5, 1997.

With a $10 million dollar budget, the movie was a WILD success, grossing over $225 million.  According to Wikipedia, at the Oscars it received nominations in nine categories, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won in two: Best Supporting Actor for Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon.

-Because the studio wanted stars, the original actors first considered were Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio! 

-Harvard alum, actor John Lithgow pulled some strings to have some of the movie shot at Harvard. Normally Harvard didn't allow it at that time.

-According yardbarker.com, in the wake of the passing of Robin Williams, (who also starred in the movie) many fans flocked to the bench in Boston Public Garden that he and Will sit on in the film (and on the movie’s poster). It became a bit of a temporary shrine to Williams for fans who wanted to pay homage to the beloved actor.

-The script started as a project for Damon's playwriting class at Harvard.

-According to entrepreneur.com, Matt and Ben were paid $600,000 for the script. After taxes and agent fees, they were left with about $150,000, each. The movie grossed $225 million. This is the reason actors today, seek to have producer credits, to get paid beyond their performance salary.

For our holiday down time maybe it's time to go back to 1997 and re-watch Boston's Good Will Hunting. Meet you at the bench.

You may not even realize it, but you created Massachusetts TOP 50 Slang Words. You possess a unique trait. We speak like NO one else on earth, if they are not from here.

Our language is so famous, it's been the inspiration behind countless Saturday Night Live skits. How about those famous Dunkin commercials? Remember Jimmy Fallon in Fever Pitch? He had to learn all about our wonderful vernacular, and he's a Yankees fan.

When Do We Lose Our Accent?

That's a great question. Some always retain a bit of the Boston-ese. If you listen carefully to me on WROR from 2p-7p, you can hear me slip back into my childhood tone, as if I was with Mom at Joardan MAASH at Christmas. Sometimes, I bring a grinda, to work. (In Philly, they call it a hoagie.) Being from WISTA, it took me a few years, to loose the accent. But it comes back around the holidays, CUZ, I'm with my family, and the influence is over-powering.

So, if you suffer from the same dark magic around the holidays, stop, take a sip from the bubla and see why these top 50 slang words make us Massholes. Here are Massachusetts TOP 50 Slang Words!

(from Time Out)

It's really BUB-LA

Cape Cod. It's really DA-Cape

a shopping cart that you use at the MAAAAKET

The cellah

It is really Dirty Water?

The remote control.....pronounced click-AH

Dollah drafts

Cawm Ave. If you say Commonwealth Avenue, we know you're not from here

Coogans, again

Jeans

Really? (If I have to explain, meet me on Commonwealth Avenue.)

East BAAAWSTON

Milk shake

How we say F---- and keep our job

GAADEN.....where the CELTS play

to call dibs on something

Now, it's our sister station.

how we like to say that we couldn’t care less about something

We refuse to refer to the City of Boston as a city.

Chocolate Sprinkles

A term of endearment that you use to address your closest friends. A requirement in every Mark Wahlberg movie.

"A derogatory term for Massachusetts residents that Bay Staters have reappropriated."

It's derogatory?

A winter storm that we get at least once a year, prompting us all to freak out and ravage the grocery stores for milk, eggs and bread. 

The name Shelby Scott (R.I.P.) comes to mind.

No sir; no way.

Originally from Dorchester. A requirement in every Mark Wahlberg movie

First time we used it was at the age of 15. A liquor store; short for “package store.”

Short for Massachusetts Turn Pike.

Short for "that's awesome." Sometimes, used with the pre-fix, 'wicked'

Your purse

The Prudential Tower. The Top of The Pru: Where my voice comes from every day from 2p-7p, into your radio.

A coffee with cream and "suga.."

Pronounced REG-U-LAAAH

Great party. You called in sick

Roundabout, where somehow we never die

me, too. (We like to throw in negatives when they aren't necessary)

South Boston

Historically Irish-American neighborhood, that on St. Patties Day, you become someone else

 Any large household object (i.e. a lawn chair, a barrel) used after a winter storm to prevent anyone from taking your painstakingly shoveled, on-street parking spot.

Our friends, The Massachusetts State Police

A state inspection sticker for your car that you must renew on the same month every year, lest you get pulled over by a Statie; pronounced “stick-ah.”

After lunch, around 8pm, we have "suppah"

The MBTA, our public transit system that's usually on fire

Not the T, but it is, kinda, but not.

A stranger who’s pissed you off

Or a friend you never see

Soda

or Pop

A city native who’s never left the neighborhood they grew up in, still hanging around in all of the same places with the same people. 

 A popular three-floor apartment building, where each unit has a front porch/balcony, so people can sit outside, yell to their neighbors. Pronounced "dekkah"

Means "awesome"

Sometimes followed with "pissa"

I agree

I disagree

Make a U-Turn

Sub sandwich, pronounced "GRIND-dah"