“Are you still acop?” That question, asked by Jack Nicholson to Leonardo DiCaprio, is one of the first things that comes to mind when I think about “The Departed.” Directed by Martin Scorsese, “The Departed” is a riveting crime thriller about cops, criminals, and the lies, deception and loyalty that come with the territory. The star-studded cast includes Nicholson, DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga and Martin Sheen.
If you thought “The Departed” lost a step, think again. The Oscar-winning movie celebrates its 20th anniversary in October, and I’m proud to report it’s still a heater. It remains a worthy Best Picture winner, but more than that, it represents the type of movie made for adults that could become both a financial and critical success.
Scorsese’s ‘B-movie’ becomes the biggest hit of his career at that point
After the success of “The Aviator,” Scorsese wanted to return to his crime roots and make his version of a B-movie. “The Departed” is not a traditional B-movie; it nearly cost $100 million to make ($90 million budget), has an A-list cast, and has a runtime of 151 minutes. It’s more of an “elevated B-movie.” Regardless of the terminology, it evokes the thrilling style of a B-movie with plot twists and breakneck pacing.
“The Departed” is a remake of “Infernal Affairs,” an excellent Hong Kong thriller from 2002. William Monahan penned the script for “The Departed.” Originally, Brad Pitt was going to star after purchasing the rights to the movie. However, Pitt stayed on as a producer but turned down an acting role, believing he was too old for one of the leads. Instead, he suggested Matt Damon, and the rest was history.
“The Departed” blurs the moral lines separating cops from criminals. Colin Sullivan (Damon) is a cop who secretly works as a mole for crime lord Frank Costello (Nicholson). Meanwhile, police recruit Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) goes undercover and infiltrates Costello’s gang. Sullivan’s job is to identify the mole. Costigan’s mission is to find the rat. The two storylines eventually intersect in this exhilarating cat-and-mouse thriller.
“The Departed” is like a greatest hits CD for Scorsese’s themes and visual motifs. It’s a gritty film rooted in Catholic guilt and nihilism, as every character’s morality comes into question. The cuts are hard and fast, capturing the paranoia and deception that come with being undercover. The “X” motif to foreshadow character deaths is Scorsese’s way of paying respect to films like 1932’s “Scarface.”
Once “The Departed” begins, strap in because Scorsese never lets the audience come up for air. It’s a movie that plays like chess, but every character has their own board and makes multiple moves at once, which makes for one chaotic game. Each actor embraces their character’s dark side, as none of them has any moral ground to stand on. The bloodbath ending still surprises me to this day, and I’ve seen “The Departed” many times.
Released in October 2006, “The Departed” was the highest-grossing movie of Scorsese’s career to that point ($292 million worldwide). “The Departed” earned some of the best reviews of the director’s career and culminated in an Oscar statue (more on that below). It’s also a movie that broke Scorsese mentally. Warner Bros. pushed to have Sullivan or Costigan survive in hopes of making a franchise. Scorsese immediately rejected that idea. It’s a cruel twist: knowing the movie that brought Scorsese so much success would be the thing that led him to distrust major studios.
Scorsese finally gets his Oscar
One of the worst traditions in Academy Awards history is the “It’s Time” narrative. Every year, a few actors, producers, or directors will campaign around the idea that it’s time for them to win an Oscar for their service to Hollywood. It usually happens with older candidates who have multiple nominations and no wins.
There are certain situations in which I support this polarizing narrative. I championed Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson when they finally won their first Oscars for “Oppenheimer” and “One Battle After Another” after years of being overlooked. Al Pacino winning the Oscar for Best Actor for “Scent of a Woman,” not “Dog Day Afternoon” or “The Godfather Part II,” is still painful to type. It’s the ultimate make-up award—the Academy needed to right a wrong, so they gave Pacino an Oscar for a movie that won’t crack his top five for best performances.
“The Departed” is unequivocally Scorsese’s make-up Oscar. In a just world, Scorsese should have won multiple Oscars for his masterpiece, “Goodfellas,” but the Academy surprisingly fell in love with Kevin Costner’s “Dances with Wolves.” Overall, “The Departed” won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. That’s a low total for a Best Picture winner these days, especially when its starry cast won zero acting Oscars.
It’s still strange that Wahlberg was the film’s only actor recognized with an Oscar nomination for his performance. DiCaprio garnered an Academy Award nomination that same year for “Blood Diamond,” not “The Departed,” meaning voters prioritized his puzzling South African accent instead of his performance opposite Nicholson. I bet they want that one back!
Speaking of Nicholson, I’d rank his performance in “The Departed” above two of his Oscar-winning performances: “Terms of Endearment” and “As Good as It Gets.” Nicholson is legitimately terrifying in this role, as he plays a monster more frightening than Jason Voorhees. The other actor who deserved award consideration was Damon, who might finally have his own “It’s Time” Oscar moment with “The Odyssey.”
It’s only been 20 years, but “The Departed” feels like a success story that is unlikely to be replicated. You’re unlikely to find an aging filmmaker making an R-rated crime movie with an A-list cast and a $90 million budget. More notably, how many films like that could generate nearly $300 million and win multiple Oscars? We’ll see if “Heat 2” can meet those criteria. Until then, how's your mother?
Watch on HBO Max starting Oct. 1.
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