Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting

1997

Director Gun Van Sant

Writer: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

126 Minutes

The boys from Boston, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, used to drive across the country and make up stories to keep each other awake while driving. When they found a hotel for the night, one of them would write the stories down. Good Will Hunting was one of those stories.

Though, it was rejected by nearly every studio, it took an old friend named Kevin Smith to bring this project to Miramax (Now the Weinstein Company) and eventually get it produced, which is why Kevin Smith and his producing partner Scott Moser are co-executive producers.

This movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning best writing and best supporting actor. It launched the careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and still holds a place in every 1997 graduates heart.

And then there was this scene. The scene about Sean’s deceased wife.

“When did you know? Like, she was the one for you…” asked Will Hunting (Matt Damon).

“October 21st, 1975,” replied Sean Maguire (Robin Williams)

It was the date of World Series, Game 6, Boston Red Soxs vs Cincinnati Reds where Carlton “Pudge” Fisk hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the twelfth inning. The camera man kept focus on Fisk as he waved the ball fair and the Red Sox went onto win the game.

The fans rushed the field, which brings us back to the scene when Will excitingly asks Sean, “Did you rush the field?”

“No, I was having a drink with my future wife.”

He admits he told his friends, who waited with him all night to get tickets for that game, that he had to see about a girl. Though romantic, he later jokingly admits he didn’t know Fisk was going to hit a homerun.

This scene is vital - proving that you need to live without regrets and put everything on the table - something Will Hunting has refused to do.

The scene begins with an overhead shot of Sean’s office, symbolically placing four chairs in a diamond shape. These chairs will later represent bases as Sean tells the story of Pudge Fisk running, pushing fans out of the way, and making it around the baseball diamond.

Gus Van Sant and editor Pietro Scalia intercut Sean and Will’s conversation with archived footage of that magical Red Sox’s victory forever sealing that bond between these two characters. This scene connected Sean and Will between the love of a woman and love for the Boston Red Sox.

Matt Damon once said on his favorte roles, Good Will Hunting is so close to my heart because my best friend (Ben Affleck) and I invented him, he's from Boston, and it was what we knew.”

In the end, it would have been nice to catch that game.