The Departed

The Departed
Directed by	Martin Scorsese
Written by	Story: Felix Chong Siu Fai Mak Screenplay: William Monahan
Produced by	Brad Grey Graham King Roy Lee Brad Pitt
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio Matt Damon Jack Nicholson Mark Wahlberg Martin Sheen Vera Farmiga Ray Winstone Alec Baldwin Anthony Anderson Kevin Corrigan James Badge Dale David O'Hara Mark Rolston Robert Wahlberg Kristen Dalton
Cinematography	Michael Ballhaus
Edited by	Thelma Schoonmaker
Music by	Howard Shore
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures (and worldwide with exceptions) Entertainment Film Distributors TFM Distribution Long Shong Entertainment Multimedia Company Medusa Distribuzione
Release dates	October 6, 2006
Running time	151 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$90 million

The Departed is a 2006 crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio (in his third movie with Scorsese), Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. It is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2007.

This film takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, where notorious Irish mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Nicholson) implants career criminal and protege Colin Sullivan (Damon) as an informant within the Massachusetts State Police. Simultaneously, the police assign undercover cop Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello's crew. When both sides of the law realize the situation, the two men are dispatched to discover each other's identities.

Tagline: Cops or criminals. When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?

Plot

The film begins in 1975 in South Boston during the Boston busing riots featuring a montage of documentary footage with voice-over narration by Irish mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Jack Nicholson). The next scenes take place years later sometime in the late 1980s with Frank Costello taking young Colin Sullivan under his wing, preparing him to be a mole for his crew. Years later, Sullivan (Matt Damon) is training for the Massachusetts State Police with classmates, including Agent Barrigan (James Badge Dale). In another class are Trooper Brown (Anthony Anderson) and William Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). Meanwhile, the cool and collected Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) and the aggressive and foul mouthed Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) of the Undercover Division assign Costigan, whose family has long had ties with the Boston underworld, to infiltrate Costello's crew.

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Costigan (DiCaprio), Queenan (Sheen), and Dignam (Wahlberg).

In the present day, Sullivan is soon promoted to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) headed by the humorous Captain George Ellerby (Alec Baldwin). Costigan, having recently instigated a fight in a bar owned by Costello as well as beaten up two Italian mobsters from Providence in a separate incident, eventually gains the notice of Costello and becomes a member of his crew, pairing up with his second-in-command Mr. French (Ray Winstone) on a number of ordeals. Meanwhile, Sullivan begins a romantic relationship with criminal psychiatrist Madolyn Madden (Vera Farmiga), who is also having sessions with Costigan as a part of his probation for assault. Unknown to Sullivan, Costigan begins a relationship with Madolyn.

During one of his heists, Costello, through Sullivan's information, discovers that there is a police informer in his organization. To catch the insider, he requires each member to fill in his particulars in a form, including social security numbers. Costigan knows that this envelope will end up in the hands of Costello's man at the police. He follows Costello (who has the envelope) into a pornography theater, where he witnesses Costello handing over the envelope to Sullivan, whose face is hidden in the darkened auditorium. Attempting to disclose the mole's identity, Costigan shadows Sullivan into the streets, only to eventually lose him in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Sullivan is assigned to uncover the mole in SIU, that being himself. This makes for some tension between Sullivan and Dignam, whose suspicion of Sullivan rises. Above suspicion, Sullivan focuses instead on finding the police snitch in Costello's crew. Sullivan orders the SIU to trail Queenan and eventually follows him to a meeting with Costigan on the rooftop of a run-down building on the harbor. Sullivan tells Costello's men that the snitch is most likely at the building. As the men approach, Costigan flees, but Queenan stays behind and is confronted by them and is defenestrated. A gun battle quickly ensues between Costello's men and the police officers who followed Queenan. In the ensuing gunfire, the police officer who tailed Queenan is wounded and Delahunt, one of Costello's men is critically wounded. Later on when the men return to their hideout, Delahunt just before dying reveals to Costigan that he knows he's the mole, given that he was the one who called Costigan on the cell phone and gave him the wrong address to where Queenan was killed, yet he was still at the right address.

At the police precinct, a fist fight breaks out between Dignam and Sullivan over the circumstances of Queenan's death. Sullivan orders Dignam to hand over the information regarding his undercover, which Dignam refuses. Ellerby, who has taken over the department for Queenan, orders Dignam off duty with pay for two weeks. Still trying to locate the police mole in Costello's crew, Sullivan finds Queenan's cell phone in his homicide file and calls Costigan, pretending to be the new agent assigned to replace Queenan. After Costigan hangs up, Sullivan finds information in Queenan's file indicating that Costello is an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation which scares him.

A few nights later, Costello and his crew are being tailed to an old warehouse where they are to pick up a shipment of drugs. Sullivan disengages the tail at Costello's demand, and, fearing that he may be given away to the FBI as well, sets up a police ambush at the scene instead. Costigan, wary that the police potentially know of the situation, manages to slip away unnoticed. Costello's entire crew is killed in the ensuing shoot-out, all of whom a wounded Costello abandons and escapes to another part of the warehouse, only to end up in a tense confrontation with Sullivan. Costello admits to his informant status and denies telling anybody about Sullivan's connection to him in an obvious lie. Costello then fires his gun at his protege, to which the officer returns multiple shots that all hit Costello. As the man's body seems to show no signs of life, Sullivan takes a closer book only to have the mob boss fire another shot, narrowly missing Sullivan. In turn, the officer retaliates and finishes Costello off for good.

Later at the station, Sullivan arrives to praise amongst his coworkers, and meets Costigan, who asks to simply receive his payment and be allowed to leave. While Sullivan retrieves Costigan's information in another office, Costigan notices Costello's envelope on Sullivan's desk and quickly flees. Sullivan realizes that Costigan has discovered his true identity and erases Costigan's police file. Following his flight from the station, Costigan appears outside of Madolyn's old apartment. He gives her an envelope, telling her to open it if anything should happen to him, or if she doesn't hear from him within a few weeks. On a subsequent morning, Madolyn is at Sullivan's apartment, and finds an envelope from Costigan in his mail. It contains recordings of Sullivan and Costello's conversations, along with a phone number. Madolyn reveals the recordings to Sullivan and immediately ends her relationship with him. Sullivan calls the phone number and speaks to Costigan, who reveals to Sullivan that Costello kept the recordings as insurance to use as a possible legal immunity if he was arrested. He also reports to Sullivan that Costello's lawyer came to Bill with the recordings, meaning that Costello trusted Costigan the most of all of his men. They arrange to meet.

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Trooper Brown (Anderson) confronts Costigan

On the rooftop where Queenan was killed, a hysterical Costigan confronts and handcuffs Sullivan, intending to arrest him regardless if the charges don't stick and even roughing Sullivan up in the process. Trooper Brown appears and tries to talk down Costigan, who, claiming that he has substantial proof that Sullivan is the rat, quickly flees into an elevator, holding his gun to Sullivan's head. The elevator reaches the bottom floor, and just as Costigan begins to exit, he is shot in the head by Barrigan. Barrigan starts to uncuff Sullivan but then Trooper Brown arrives and sees Costigan's body and begins lowering his gun. But this proves to be a fatal move when Barrigan shoots Brown directly in the head. Barrigan reveals to Sullivan that he is the second mole in the police force and aware of Costello's informant status. Being that they are the only ones remaining, Barrigan says they need to look out for one another. As the two begin to manipulate the crime scene, Sullivan asks for the gun to clean the fingerprints, & just as Barrigan looks away, Sullivan shoots him in the head. Sullivan later blames everything on Barrigan and recommends Costigan for a posthumous Medal of Merit in a later testimony.

Sullivan, along with many generations of the Massachusetts State Police force, attends Costigan's funeral, where a tearful Madolyn shuns him. Some time later, Sullivan returns home to find Dignam waiting in his apartment with a gun raised at Sullivan, armed with rubber gloves, covers on his feet to prevent footprints, & a silencer in his pistol, presumably tipped off by Madolyn regarding his involvement with Costello. Sullivan accepts it saying "OK" and Dignam shows initial reluctance but then shoots him in the head and quickly leaves. As Sullivan's body lies in the apartment doorway, the camera pans out and a lone rat crawls conspicuously across the balcony railing, silhouetted against the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House, signifying that they got the rat, Sullivan.

Cast

Actor	Role	Designation
Leonardo DiCaprio	William "Billy" Costigan	State Trooper/Undercover Officer
Matt Damon	Sgt. Colin Sullivan	Costello's BST informant/Member of SIU
Jack Nicholson	Francis "Frank" Costello	Head of the Irish Mob
Mark Wahlberg	Staff Sgt. Sean Dignam	Second in Command, Undercover Unit
Martin Sheen	Capt. Oliver "Charlie" Queenan	Commander, Undercover Unit
Vera Farmiga	Madolyn Madden	Occupational Psychiatrist
Ray Winstone	Arnold, "Mr. French"	Costello's Second in Command
Alec Baldwin	Capt. George Ellerby	Commander, Special Investigative Unit
Anthony Anderson	Trooper Brown	Sullivan's Tac Team
Kristen Dalton	Gwen	Costello's mistress
James Badge Dale	Agent Barrigan	Sullivan's Tac Team
Robert Wahlberg	FBI Agent Frank Lazio	F.B.I. Liaison to MSP
David O'Hara	Fitzy	Costello's Mobster
Mark Rolston	Timothy Delahunt	Costello's Mobster/Possibly Boston Police Department/Undercover

Themes

Film critic Stanley Kauffman describes a major theme of The Departed as one of the oldest in drama—the concept of identity—and how it "affects one's actions, emotions, self-assurance, and even dreams."

The father-son relationship is a motif throughout the film. Costello acts as a father figure to both Sullivan and Costigan and Queenan acts as Costello's foil in the role of father-figure presenting both sides of the Irish-American father archetype.

Soundtrack music

There were two albums released for The Departed, one presenting the original score composed for the movie by Howard Shore, and the other featuring earlier recordings, mostly pop/rock songs, which were used on the soundtrack.

Music from the Motion Picture album

Untitled

The movie opens with "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones and prominently plays "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys. "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" was also used in the CBS News radio brief the morning following the oscars, with the intro of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" playing in the background as the awards were announced. It also features a live version of "Comfortably Numb" by Roger Waters and Van Morrison from the 1990 Berlin Wall Concert which was originally by Pink Floyd.

Although "Gimme Shelter" is featured in the film, the song does not appear on the album soundtrack. Also heard in the movie but not featured on the soundtrack is "Thief's Theme" by Nas, "Well Well Well" by John Lennon and the Act II Sextet from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Tracklisting

1. "Comfortably Numb" (Roger Waters Feat. Van Morrison and The Band, version from The Wall Concert in Berlin) – 7:59
2. "Sail On, Sailor" (Beach Boys) – 3:18
3. "Let It Loose" (Rolling Stones) – 5:18
4. "Sweet Dreams" (Roy Buchanan) – 3:32
5. "One Way Out" (Allman Brothers Band) – 4:57
6. "Baby Blue" (Badfinger) – 3:36
7. "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" (Dropkick Murphys) – 2:34
8. "Nobody But Me" (Human Beinz) – 2:18
9. "Tweedle Dee" (LaVern Baker) – 3:10
10. "Sweet Dreams (Of You)" (Patsy Cline) – 2:34
11. "The Departed Tango" (Howard Shore, Marc Ribot) – 3:32
12. "Beacon Hill" (Howard Shore, Sharon Isbin) – 2:33

Original Score album

Untitled

The film score for The Departed was written by Howard Shore and performed by guitarists Sharon Isbin, G.E. Smith, Larry Saltzman and Marc Ribot. The score was recorded in Shore's own studio in New York State.

Tracklisting

1. "Cops or Criminals" – 2:01
2. "344 Wash" – 2:03
3. "Beacon Hill" – 2:36
4. "The Faithful Departed" – 3:01
5. "Colin" – 2:09
6. "Madolyn" – 2:14
7. "Billy's Theme" – 6:58
8. "Command" – 3:15
9. "Chinatown" – 3:16
10. "Boston Common" – 2:53
11. "Miss Thing" – 1:45
12. "The Baby" – 2:48
13. "The Last Rites" – 3:05
14. "The Departed Tango" – 3:38

Boston setting

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A still from the theatrical trailer: the incorporation of the Boston Back Bay skyline into the gun reinforces the film's thematic use of Boston's heritage and culture

Born to an Irish-American family in nearby Dorchester, Massachusetts, William Monahan (who adapted the screenplay from Infernal Affairs) incorporates the culture and history of Boston heavily into the film. The first images are news clips from the busing riots of the 1970s, over which Costello muses about the city's troubled racial history. Several times, Dignam refers to Costigan as "lace curtain", a term used primarily in the Boston metropolitan area by working-class Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans to disparage upper-middle class Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans who have strayed from their roots. The majority of the characters have the non-rhotic Boston accent (a native of Cambridge, Matt Damon also incorporated the accent into his character in his 1997 film Good Will Hunting). Despite the tendency of films to use generic phone numbers, Boston's 617 area code can be clearly seen on various characters' cell phones. The Massachusetts State House is also featured in the film as a symbol of Colin Sullivan's ambition. Boston Red Sox apparel is seen and worn, including the appearance of a now-out-of-print "Reverse The Curse" bumper sticker on the wall at SIU headquarters. Costello and his gang drive over the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in one scene. The building off which Queenan is thrown (and where Costigan and Sullivan later meet) is in the Fort Point section of South Boston with the downtown skyline as backdrop (the fictitious "344 Wash" is actually an alley between Farnsworth & Thompson Streets). The John Hancock Tower is referenced by Costello. The film includes the song "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys, an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts. Other references include state locations such as Route 128, regions such as the North Shore, there is a shot of the Park Street and South Station MBTA Red Line stops, local towns such as Brockton, Worcester, Gloucester, and Somerville while having turf wars with crew from nearby Providence, a cameo by the Lynn police, mention of the Dedham Mall (located in Dedham just south of Boston), and state slang like "Staties", a local nickname for Massachusetts State Police troopers. Also, Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Deerfield, MA, is referenced when Dignam points out that Costigan was expelled from the school after assaulting the gym teacher. Additionally, the label on Costigan's prescription bottle shows a Beverly address.

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Martin Scorsese and Matt Damon on the set of The Departed.

The character Frank Costello was largely based on James "Whitey" Bulger, a real life Irish-American mobster in Boston who was secretly an FBI informant for over three decades. The revelation that the FBI had long protected Whitey and his gang from prosecution caused a major scandal in Boston law enforcement. Whitey was believed to have been seen coming out of a theater showing the film in San Diego in November 2006. Matt Damon's character is based on John Connolly, the FBI agent who tipped off Bulger for years, allowing him to evade arrest. In real life, Bulger went into hiding and is still presumed to be at large; Connolly is currently imprisoned for his role in Bulger's criminal activities. Costigan's undercover role as a former State trooper who joins the Irish mob parallels the story of Richard Marinick, a former State trooper who later joined Whitey Bulger's crime syndicate. Costigan also lives in Somerville, where Bulger's Winter Hill Gang began. Thomas Duffy, the film's technical advisor (he also plays the Governor at the State Police Academy graduation ceremony), is a former MSP major who was assigned to investigate the Irish mob upon making detective.

Reception

The Departed was highly anticipated when it was released on October 6, 2006 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The film is currently one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006 on Rotten Tomatoes at 93%, the sixth highest on Metacritic, and the twelfth highest on Yahoo! All-Time Top Movies (as determined by users). As of May 14, 2007, The Departed is also the highest-rated film of 2006 on IMDb's Top 250, coming in at #39 in the all-time rankings, and is among the highest-rated films of the decade on IMDb's "Best of the 2000s" List at #8.

Popular critic James Berardinelli awarded the film four stars out of four, praising it as "an American epic tragedy." He went on to compare the film favorably to the onslaught of banality offered by American studios in recent years. "The movies have been in the doldrums lately. The Departed is a much needed tonic," he wrote. He also went on to claim that the film deserves to be ranked alongside Scorsese's past successes, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas.

Andrew Lau, the co-director of Infernal Affairs, who was interviewed by Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, said, "Of course I think the version I made is better, but the Hollywood version is pretty good too. [Scorsese] made the Hollywood version more attuned to American culture." Andy Lau, one of the main actors in Infernal Affairs, when asked how the movie compares to the original, said, "The Departed was too long and it felt as if Hollywood had combined all three Infernal Affairs movies together." Lau pointed out that the remake featured some of the "golden quotes" of the original but did have much more swearing. He ultimately rated The Departed 8/10 and said that the Hollywood remake is worth a view, though "the effect of combining the two female characters in the original into one isn't as good as in the original", according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam.

The film also evoked some controversy in Boston. Michael Patrick MacDonald, author of the Southie memoirs All Souls and Easter Rising, wrote an op-ed piece for The Boston Globe praising the film's ability to recreate the "strangulating" culture created by Boston gangsters, politicians, and law enforcement officials at all levels of local, state, and federal government - a culture of violent death and silence that led to years of young suicides and an epidemic of painkilling through heroin and Oxycontin. The op-ed piece caused a stir in Boston, eliciting a missive from a South Boston state senator as well as letters from South Boston real estate agents concerned about the "negative" depiction of the "trendy" neighborhood of South Boston.

The film grossed $26,887,467 in its opening weekend, becoming the first Scorsese film to debut at #1. The film saw small declines in later weeks, remaining in the list of top ten films for seven weeks. The film grossed $132,384,315 domestically and $289,835,021 worldwide. Budgeted at $90 million, the film is believed to be the most commercially successful of Scorsese's features and is his highest-grossing film to date, easily besting The Aviator's previous record of $102.6 million.

Also, film critic Richard Roeper named this film #1 on his list of the Best Films of 2006.

The film won four Academy Awards at the 79th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Martin Scorsese), Best Film Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), and Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan). Mark Wahlberg was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance.

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards record
1. Best Picture
2. Best Director
3. Best Adapted Screenplay
4. Best Editing
Golden Globe Awards record
1. Best Director

Academy Awards:

• Won: Best Picture
• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Won: Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan)
• Won: Best Film Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker)
• Nominated: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Wahlberg)

American Cinema Editors:

• Won: Best Edited Feature Film - Dramatic (Thelma Schoonmaker)

Boston Society of Film Critics:

• Won: Best Picture
• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Won: Best Supporting Actor (Mark Wahlberg)
• Won: Best Screenplay (William Monahan)
• Runner-Up: Best Ensemble Cast

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

• Nominated: Best Film
• Nominated: David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction (Martin Scorsese)
• Nominated: Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan)
• Nominated: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Nominated: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Nicholson)
• Nominated: Best Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker)

Broadcast Film Critics Association:

• Won: Best Picture
• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Nominated: Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson)
• Nominated: Best Acting Ensemble
• Nominated: Best Writer (William Monahan)
• Nominated: Best Composer (Howard Shore)

Chicago Film Critics Association:

• Won: Best Picture
• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Won: Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan)
• Nominated: Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson)
• Nominated: Best Cinematography

Directors Guild of America Awards:

• Won: Oustanding Directorial Achievement for Feature Film (Martin Scorsese)

Florida Film Critics Circle:

• Won: Best Picture
• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Won: Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson)
• Won: Best Screenplay

Golden Globe Awards:

• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Nominated: Best Picture - Drama
• Nominated: Best Actor - Drama (Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Mark Wahlberg)
• Nominated: Best Screenplay (William Monahan)

Las Vegas Film Critics Society:

• Won: Best Picture
• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)

London Film Critics Circle:

• Nominated: Film of the Year
• Nominated: British Producer (Graham King)
• Nominated: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)

MTV Movie Awards:

• Won: Best Villain (Jack Nicholson)

National Board of Review:

• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Won: Best Ensemble Cast
• Won: Top Ten Films of the Year

New York Film Critics Circle:

• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Runner-Up: Best Picture
• Runner-Up: Best Screenplay (William Monahan)

Producers Guild of America Awards:

• Nominated: Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award (Graham King)

Satellite Awards:

• Won: Best Picture - Drama
• Won: Best Supporting Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Won: Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan)
• Won: Best Ensemble
• Nominated: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson)

Screen Actors Guild Awards:

• Nominated: Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
• Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio)

Southeastern Film Critics Association:

• Won: Best Picture
• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Won: Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan)

Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards:

• Won: Best Gangstertainment

Toronto Film Critics Association:

• Nominated: Best Picture
• Nominated: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Male Performance (Mark Wahlberg)
• Nominated: Best Screenplay (William Monahan)

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association:

• Won: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)

Writers Guild of America Awards:

• Won: Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan)

DVD and HD release

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2-disc DVD cover for The Departed

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Single-disc DVD cover for The Departed

The Departed was released by Warner Brothers on DVD on February 13, 2007 in Region 1 format and on February 19, 2007 in Region 2 format, and has also been released on March 14, 2007 in Region 4 format. The film is available in a single-disc full screen (1:33:1), single-disc widescreen (2:40:1) edition, and 2-disc special edition. The Region 1 version has three available audio tracks: English, Spanish, and French (all of which are in Dolby Digital 5.1), and also three subtitle tracks (English, Spanish, French). The film was also released on HD DVD and Blu-ray at the same time as the standard-definition DVD. The features on the 2-disc include:

Disc 1:

• Film presented in widescreen (2:40:1).
• Theatrical trailer.

Disc 2:

• Scorsese on Scorsese: A Turner Classic Movies feature-length profile of Martin Scorsese.
• The Story Of The Boston Mob: Video feature on the real life criminal that the character Jack Nicholson portrayed was based on, James Whitey Bulger.
• Crossing Criminal Cultures: Unique featurette on how Little Italy's crime and violence was influential to Scorsese's films
• Additional scenes: With commentary by the director.

Blu-ray Disc:

• Contains all the Special Features of the 2-disc Standard Definition DVD, apart from the 'Scorsese on Scorsese' feature-length profile.
• 1080p Video (2.40:1)
• BD-50
• LPCM English 5.1

HD DVD:

• Contains all the Special Features of the 2-disc Standard Definition DVD, apart from the 'Scorsese on Scorsese' feature-length profile.
• HD-30/9C
• Dolby TrueHD English 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus English 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus French 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus Spanish 5.1 (Based off the new Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD)
• Combination Disc (1080p High Definition and 480p Standard Definition)

Moreover, Future Shop and Best Buy stores released limited edition steelbook DVD packaging that contains all the features of the 2-disc version, plus some postcards. An exclusive Target edition included the original screenplay, in a booklet sized to match that of the DVD case.

Trivia

• The Departed contains several references to John Lennon. Lennon's song Well, Well, Well features on the soundtrack, Billy jokingly refers to Lennon as the "President before Lincoln". Hip-hop artist Nas's track Thief's Theme also features, containing the lyric "John Lennon was shot up, but he sang for peace". Frank Costello also says to Billy Costigan, "Lennon said, 'I'm an artist. You give me a fucking tuba, I'll get you something out of it'".
• The word "Fuck" is used 237 times, making The Departed the most expletive laden movie to win the "Best Picture" Oscar.
• Although Dignam's first name is never mentioned in the film, William Monahan has confirmed that his full name is "Sgt. Sean Dignam."
• The rat running across the balcony at the very end is completely digital.
• Mel Gibson was initially offered an unspecified role in the film by Scorsese, which initially was rumored to be Ellerby, the role later played by Alec Baldwin.
• In one scene in Infernal Affairs, after Yan watches Ming and the triad boss conversing in a cinema, Yan tries to chase Ming but eventually his phone rang and Yan is forced to retreat. In The Departed, the scene is opens with the same "cinema" scene but the ending is far more dramatic with Sullivan stabbing an innocent Chinese man and Costigan forced to retreat. Other scenes are also taken from Infernal Affairs like the deaths of Superintendent Wong and Captain Queenan's death by being thrown off a building and the scene where both moles face each other and both Yan and Costigan being shot by a second mole.
• According to Matt Damon in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Nicholson insisted to Martin Scorsese to keep the cameras rolling as the actor would ad lib lines at the end of a scene.
• As Scorsese won the Oscar for Best Director at the 2007 Academy Awards, an announcer said of The Departed: "This is the first film of Scorsese's that has a plot."

See also

• Infernal Affairs
• Infernal Affairs II
• Infernal Affairs III
• Irish American
• Irish Mob
• 79th Academy Awards
• Untitled The Departed 2 Sequel

Further reading

• Brad Balfour (2006). "MARTIN SCORSESE, LEONARDO DiCAPRIO, MATT DAMON, VERA FARMIGA AND WILLIAM MONAHAN (records two 40-minute press conference sessions)". PopEntertainment.com. Retrieved 2007-09-10.

External links

• The Departed at IMDb
• Official website of The Departed
• The Departed at Rotten Tomatoes

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