The Departed

Trivia: This was Martin Scorsese's first film to win Best Picture. And his first Oscar for best Director. Martin also said that this was the first movie he ever made with a plot.

Trivia: The title track to the movie, which plays at the menu and twice in the movie, is "I'm Shipping Up to Boston", a hit song by the Dropkick Murphys. The Dropkicks are a Boston-based Irish band, fitting for a movie about Irish mobsters in Boston. The song is also the entrance music for Red Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon.

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Mistakes

Continuity mistake: When Ellerby attacks the guy for not installing the cameras in the right place, he knocks off a map from the board. A second later Ellerby is still going after him, and the map is fixed.

BillyBlake

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Quotes

Ellerby: I'm gonna go have a smoke right now. You want a smoke? You don't smoke, do ya, right? What are ya, one of those fitness freaks, huh? Go fuck yourself.

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Questions

Question: There was one thing I wasn't really sure on, and I don't even know if there is a definitive answer. Did Mark Wahlberg kill Matt Damon because he figured out that Matt Damon's charecter was working with Frank and he had killed all those cops, or did he just kill him for revenge over the way Matt Damon treated Wahlberg when he took over his job?

Answer: The assumption is that Wahlberg learned of Damon's betrayal from the envelope given to Vera Farmiga, Damon's therapist girlfriend. It could also have been for revenge, but Wahlberg did know that Damon was the rat when he killed him.

Dandude

Answer: I would argue that Dignam (Whalberg) kills Colin (Damon) out of loyalty to Queenan (Sheen) and Billy (DiCaprio). Although we are shown that Dignam has a general dislike for Billy (in the way that he speaks to him), he is a loyal person who believes in honourable justice. Colin was a rat that not only deceived the very institution that Dignam believes in, but his deception also cost the lives of his dear colleague Queenan and Billy, both of whom were unjustly murdered. Despite Dignam's general apathy or arguable dislike for Billy, he understands that he deserved better (since he knows that he was a good man). Killing Colin ensures that restitutions are paid to all those who were affected by his deceit and illegal affairs.

Dignam didn't dislike Billy, he was just rude to everyone. There are hints throughout the film that Dignam liked Billy including the interview scene where they first meet where Dignam drops his facade to say "We need you pal" softly in an attempt to get Billy to go alone with the undercover plan.

I thought the "we need you, pall" line was sarcastic and manipulative, trying to convince Billy to take a potentially life-threatening assignment.

Answer: I'll add one more possibility: Wahlberg was another mole for the crime boss, Frank Costello, and Damon's assassination was in response to the rat's betrayal of the code.

Not even remotely possible, as he wouldn't have sat back and allowed Billy to work uninterrupted without reporting it to Frank if this was the case.

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