It you! You’re the Good Will Hunting!
I’ve never actually seen the movie, just the reference to it in Jay and Silent Bob Strukes Back. I heard good things though. Is it worth it?
Yes.
The scene, for context:
Will: [both leaning on a pick up truck while drinking beers and smoking cigarettes on a construction site] What do I wanna way outta here for? I’m gonna live here the rest of my fuckin’ life. We’ll be neighbors, have little kids, take 'em to Little League up at Foley Field.
Chuckie: Look, you’re my best friend, so don’t take this the wrong way but, in 20 years if you’re still livin’ here, comin’ over to my house, watchin’ the Patriots games, workin’ construction, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya. That’s not a threat, that’s a fact, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya.
Will: What the fuck you talkin’ about?
Chuckie: You got somethin’ none of us have…
Will: Oh, come on! What? Why is it always this? I mean, I fuckin’ owe it to myself to do this or that. What if I don’t want to?
Chuckie: No. No, no no no. Fuck you, you don’t owe it to yourself man, you owe it to me. Cuz tomorrow I’m gonna wake up and I’ll be 50, and I’ll still be doin’ this shit. And that’s all right. That’s fine. I mean, you’re sittin’ on a winnin’ lottery ticket. And you’re too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that’s bullshit. ‘Cause I’d do fuckin’ anything to have what you got. So would any of these fuckin’ guys. It’d be an insult to us if you’re still here in 20 years. Hangin’ around here is a fuckin’ waste of your time.
I just realized Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society have been the same movie in my mind, but now I realize they are two different movies.
Both excellent works with Robin Williams as a primary character
This is a good joke but it’s worth pointing out that while Boston has always had the universities, it was a very different kind of city 30 years ago. The tech boom completely changed the character of it from a roughneck working class city to a wealthy one.
If you want to see what Boston was like up until about 2000 or so, The Friends of Eddie Coyle did a great job of it. Technically it takes place in the south Shore but since we’re calling Cambridge Boston here we can let that one slide as well.
That, and he’s not saying “Will, you need to go do good math.” He’s saying that if he’s still here in 20(?) years, he’ll fucking kill him. And that’s because he recognizes Will, thanks to his extreme intellect (which we see isn’t nearly limited to math), can go wherever he wants and do basically whatever he wants. He recognizes that unlike himself, Will chooses to stay there because he’s living in fear of the unknown – that people will hurt him, something he doesn’t have to worry about with his three Southie friends.
He’s talking about emotional growth and self-actualization for Will, recognizing that staying stuck in the place where he grew up and was brutally abused is keeping him trapped, because that’s where he feels “safe”.
I know this is a joke, but it’s completely misrepresenting the scene to get there, and it doesn’t even seem like obviously ironic misrepresentation.
Edit: IIRC, he doesn’t even say that he needs to leave Boston, just that Will still hanging around with them would be the problem.
Thanks for explaining.
Explain to a non-American why that’s funny/interesting?
Boston is where MIT is.
Hehe “titular”
Have you ever driven through Boston? It truly is a feat to get out of that town
You need a math degree to navigate those roads.
