THE COVENEYS: Photographed at the L Street Tavern in South Boston, as featured in Good Will Hunting. |
As a wee lad, Jeff Coveney went down to the sea on Martha’s Vineyard in search of where Steven Spielberg and crew shot bits of Jaws. “Where’s the beach?” he remembers shouting out.He was hooked, and ever since he’s been seeking out the Massachusetts locations where Hollywood movies were made. “It’s a curse, but it’s also fun stuff,” says Coveney, who has parlayed his obsession into an occupation. Through their company, Boston Movie Tours, Jeff Coveney and his wife, Rachel Coveney, have been offering walks through downtown Boston, pointing out where scenes from various pictures were shot, from historic re-creations in the State House for Spielberg’s Amistad to Steve McQueen’s Vernon Street brownstone in the original The Thomas Crown Affair to John Travolta’s Charles Street law office in A Civil Action.
Now, the Coveneys have expanded their operation, chartering a 25-seat Theater-on-Wheels bus that allows paying passengers to see not only what’s movie-wise inner city but also what’s out there in Hub neighborhoods. I was there for the maiden voyage last Saturday, a three-hour trip that began by Faneuil Hall, went through the North End into Charlestown, returned to Boston, went past Fenway Park, and continued on into Southie and back. Jeff provided the commentary from the front of the bus while Rachel managed the VCR: scenes from Beantown-shot movies shown on monitors. The most thrilling video moments were the most synchronous. On screen: Jeff Bridges in Blown Away careering down Joy Street on Beacon Hill, crashing his car into some pillars guarding the Commons. In real life: our bus tooling by those same pillars.
We continued to 14 Beacon Street, which is famous for an Ally McBeal exterior. But I knew nothing of 1 Beacon Street, the site of both Steve Martin’s architecture firm in Housesitter and some high-voltage melodrama in Malice. Of the latter, Jeff indicated 73 Tremont, across the street: “Bill Pullman leaned against that wall, scoping out the situation. His wife, Nicole Kidman, was leaving him.” And back at 1 Beacon? “Yes, Nicole actually came out of those glass doors.”
We saw the bench in the Public Garden where Robin Williams hung out with Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, and the anonymous building in the North End where the famous Brink’s Robbery took place, a building utilized for The Brink’s Job. My favorite part of the trip was going where no other tour bus ventures: up, up the hill in Charlestown, deep, deep into South Boston, where signs say “Re-Elect Jim Kelly” and “Save America — Vote Out Liberals.” These spots were as fascinating for this insulated Cantabrigian as they were for the teen girls on the tour from Tucson. The cinematic reason we were there was to see where Mystic River was filmed, and also lots of Good Will Hunting, and where Paul Newman walked out of a funeral home in The Verdict.
There’s no mention of racism, or anything political or controversial on the tour. Jeff is an unapologetic booster of movies, and that’s his whole agenda. Lots of actors and movies were described by him as “very very great,” and that’s how he really feels about them. I love his enthusiasm, but I wonder whether his rap wouldn’t be more interesting if he incorporated some social history. Of course, yours truly is the cynic who loathes Good Will Hunting, considering it Gus Van Sant’s schmaltzy sellout film! And when Jeff talked about the Copley Plaza Hotel because Tom Cruise came through it in The Firm, I only remembered, during a fire there, movie mogul Sumner M. Redstone dangling absurdly out a window.
BOSTON MOVIE TOURS | Saturdays usually 1 pm from the Boston Common Visitors Center opposite Tremont St | $25-$35 | 617.866.MOVIE45 Option 1
On the Web
Boston Movie Tours: //www.bostonmovietours.net.
