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

Author Jaybeau Jones
HOLLYWOOD, CA - JANUARY 09: Actors Matt Damon (L) and Ben Affleck arrive at the Premiere Of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Live By Night" at TCL Chinese Theatre on January 9, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

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

It may still be the best film for actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who also wrote the movie. Rarely in life, do we hit it out of the park for a grand slam homerun, at our first time up at bat.
Both being Red Sox fans, a baseball metaphor is fitting. Matt and Ben did just that.
In his first major acting role, Damon pulls off playing Will Hunting, the troubled, but brilliant math genius, who secretly solves a hard math problem while working as a janitor at MIT. I wonder if that little guy gets the break AND the girl, story would work today. But we loved it, and still love it today.

The Stats

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.

Fun Facts

-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.

Jaybeau Jones’s radio career has brought him from New York City’s #1 station Z-100 and America’s Top 40 to WROR! Currently, JayBeau’s distinctive voice can be heard not only on WROR but also on Sirius XM’s 70’s Channel and on Dunkin Donut’s in-store radio. Jaybeau’s other life is his writing. In 2012 he launched “Heroes Mentors and Friends” a book about well-being and positive thinking. Jaybeau lives in the area and has two grown children, Jordan and Matthew. Jaybeau loves spending time in nature and spending every second with his wife Heidi and the kids. Jaybeau likes to write about pop culture, music, and personal growth. Jaybeau also loves to write his own backyard in Boston.

Massachusetts TOP 50 Slang Words

  • Bubbler, a drinking fountain

    It’s really BUB-LA

  • The Cape

    Cape Cod. It’s really DA-Cape

  • Carriage

    a shopping cart that you use at the MAAAAKET

  • Cellar

    The cellah

  • The Charles

    It is really Dirty Water?

  • Clicker

    The remote control…..pronounced click-AH

  • Coogans

    Dollah drafts

  • Comm Ave

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

  • Dollah Drafts

    Coogans, again

  • Dungarees

    Jeans

  • Dunks

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

  • Eastie

    East BAAAWSTON

  • Frappe

    Milk shake

  • Frickin

    How we say F—- and keep our job

  • The Garden

    GAADEN…..where the CELTS play

  • Hosie

    to call dibs on something

  • The Hub

    Now, it’s our sister station.

  • I could care less

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

  • In Town

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

  • Jimmies

    Chocolate Sprinkles

  • Kid

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

  • Mass-hole

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

    It’s derogatory?

  • Nor’easter

    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 Suh

    No sir; no way.

  • OFD

    Originally from Dorchester. A requirement in every Mark Wahlberg movie

  • Packie

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

  • The Pike

    Short for Massachusetts Turn Pike.

  • Pissa

    Short for “that’s awesome.” Sometimes, used with the pre-fix, ‘wicked’

  • Pockabook

    Your purse

  • The Pru

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

  • Regular

    A coffee with cream and “suga..”

    Pronounced REG-U-LAAAH

  • Ripper

    Great party. You called in sick

  • Rotary

    Roundabout, where somehow we never die

  • So don’t I

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

     

  • Southie

    South Boston

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

  • Space-saver

     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.

  • Statie

    Our friends, The Massachusetts State Police

  • Sticker

    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.”

  • Supper

    After lunch, around 8pm, we have “suppah”

     

  • The T

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

  • The Train

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

  • This f----kin guy

    A stranger who’s pissed you off

    Or a friend you never see

  • Tonic

    Soda

    or Pop

  • Townie

    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. 

  • Triple decker

     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”

  • Wicked

    Means “awesome”

    Sometimes followed with “pissa”

     

  • Yah huh

    I agree

  • Yah no

    I disagree

  • Bang a uey

    Make a U-Turn

  • Grinder

    Sub sandwich, pronounced “GRIND-dah”

Author Jaybeau Jones
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