Good Will Hunting (1997) Filming Locations Tour in Boston - Rainy Day At The Robin Williams Bench
Good Will Hunting Filming Locations
Transcript
0:02
welcome everyone
0:02
adam the woo here as a recording of this
0:04
monday june 27 2022
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i have this because it is rainy overcast
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and a little dreary here in boston
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massachusetts
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i will be going around to south boston
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where i am now boston proper
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and then over to cambridge
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to do
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most of the filming locations
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for a movie celebrating its 25th
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anniversary
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this year
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goodwill hunting took place around these
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parts
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and i'm inviting you to join me
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as i go discover them and see them with
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my own eyes for the first time
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shall you now most the interiors took
0:39
place and were filmed across the border
0:41
in canada over in toronto but a good
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majority of the exteriors
0:47
right here in boston also there'll be
0:49
some spoilers in this because you know
0:50
it's been out for 25 years but if you
0:52
haven't seen it i might give some stuff
0:54
away by showing some of the spots so
0:55
keep that in mind this is also going to
0:57
be a little out of order from the
0:59
sequence
1:00
of the movie
1:02
just so i can get them all in a timely
1:04
fashion i got a little water on the lens
1:06
there but down this alley is where
1:08
ben affleck's character played the best
1:10
friend of will hunting
1:14
would pick him up each morning or
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pretty often he would drive down this
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alley
1:19
to where will lived
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found a parking spot and walking down
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the alley this little manhole
1:27
says boston sewer
1:33
i don't know why i felt like showing
1:33
that but i did so this is the angle it
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was more of an overhead
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kind of angle looking down
1:39
where aflac pulls up in the
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old classic car right along here
1:45
and when they pull off this building
1:47
here
1:48
looks exactly the same
1:50
as well as these little condos
1:52
apartments over there but where
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will lived right here has been
1:57
completely remodeled
2:00
from what it looked like then but once
2:02
again the buildings just to the side of
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it behind that basketball hoop are still
2:05
there that's how you can kind of line it
2:07
up so the basketball hoop would have
2:08
been right about where these trees are
2:11
and then obviously the back porch
2:14
this is around the back of the front of
2:16
the building
2:17
the basketball hoop would have been
2:18
right there the green building's still
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there as stated as they're pulling down
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the alley
2:23
right here
2:25
and where i'm standing
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there was a wooden fence
2:29
kind of a classic style old wooden fence
2:32
right here that blocks this that wooden
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fence is gone all right and at the very
2:37
end of the film
2:38
when they pull up and realize that he's
2:41
not home that's looking down the way i
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just walked in
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kind of from that perspective there
2:52
so this still looks the same this way
2:52
some renovations but
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a lot of it still looks the same i was
2:55
just noticing when casey affleck gets
2:57
out of the back seat
2:59
and gets in the front seat
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ben affleck's
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younger brother is also in the movie and
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then they're about to take off when he
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like circles around the car there's a
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couple of people like onlookers watching
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them
3:11
film the scene they weren't supposed to
3:13
be in there that was right there also i
3:15
believe all of these are newer buildings
3:17
too but yeah if you watch that moment
3:20
you can see two people from the caster
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crew just like standing in the
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background right there right there
3:24
towards the back of the car
3:26
who are
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they
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and why are they there went ahead and
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walked a few blocks over left my car
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parked in the same spot since parking's
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so tough to
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to find
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was where the fight scene was in fact
3:44
you can see this fire hydrant and that
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pole they pull up here and
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notice they're about to get a little bit
3:50
of a tussle
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a couple other guys
3:54
this has been renovated a little bit but
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the basketball court is still here
3:58
both goals
4:03
and this little pylon here has been
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repainted a different color
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as well but
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one angle you can really match up is
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just about like this
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with these two buildings that have look
4:14
a little bit different as he approaches
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them you know from the back
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lets him know he turns around and then
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punches him
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right there let me check out the two
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doors there behind him as he's throwing
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the punch
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those two doors
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still over there
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so this is definitely the court the
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basketball court
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nobody playing any b-ball right now
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because the court is wet
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it's pretty interesting the whole
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backstory on how the movie was made and
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really how it jumps out of the careers
4:43
of matt damon and ben affleck i had
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seen ben affleck in a lot of independent
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movies as well as chasing amy you know
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kevin smith films
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things like that but i had never seen
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matt damon before until i saw in 97 i
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went to the theater to see goodwill
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hunting
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that was a huge star it does not appear
5:01
as if the east fifth
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street variety store and lottery agent
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is open anymore
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right here on this corner i do like that
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vintage sign right there
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it's a classic and that corner store is
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right down there
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so on this block is where sean's house
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was played by robin williams
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in fact his little apartment was this
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loft
5:27
right here looking back down that way
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now there's a little alley down there
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called bowen street
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but matt damon pulls up right where
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this other gray car would be of course
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he pulls going the opposite way this is
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a one-way street
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but in the movie he's driving the other
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way and pulls right where this great car
5:45
is
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and this is the door for the climactic
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scene
5:50
when robert williams checks the note in
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the mailbox right there at that very
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door and the way i can tell that is this
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one is because when matt damon pulls up
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there's a couple different angles where
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he's standing right here along this
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show that now obviously been repainted
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but there are four steps behind him
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those steps are still there and then
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when he first pulls up in a frame or two
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before where his car is facing me this
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direction
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you see those same
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four steps and you see
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this little window over here
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from this angle so he gets out of his
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car and he turns
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and looks up
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to that very window
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where sean is as the skinny
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obviously repainted and then he gets in
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this car that he was given by his best
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friend well best friends
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but there's those small windows and the
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little cracks on the sidewalk are very
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unique as well how they just kind of
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turn at an angle like that
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notice how there are three mailboxes now
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the door's been replaced and the
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exterior
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surfacing is different
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but there are three mailboxes still here
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and that's the spot right there it's a
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new door but that's where
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pretty great moment there at the end i
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heard that
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it was an ad lib that he did talking
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about stealing his line
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and they just left it in
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as i was standing there filming one of
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the residents came out
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and confirmed that that is in fact the
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right one i was seeing some stuff online
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and they were saying it was one that was
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two buildings down
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closer to the store but in fact it is
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the one i was just standing in front of
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pretty dang cool
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three apartments in there but that door
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leads to three apartments
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back in my car now
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onto another spot finding parking down
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here is very difficult
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not a lot of parking in the in this
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neighborhood
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okay i just pulled over to the side of
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the road here just to get this this is
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the trial court which was used for the
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courthouse
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actually gets in the fight he goes to
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court they tell him
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could end badly but then
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you know there's a there's a whole lot
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of plot points leading up to why he has
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to go see sean robert williams character
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the therapist all that but this is where
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he walks down the stairs and there's a
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look at it
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as well it was i was a few feet back but
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i was the closest i could get to pull my
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car over to the side
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that's it those are stairs to say
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parking down here is difficult is an
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understatement
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everyone who just kind of parks on the
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side of the street double parks
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i've been driving around this
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neighborhood trying to find parking this
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is on the corner of 8th
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and l tavern or l street so i pulled
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over here
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just to show the exteriors of the l
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street tavern all right a couple blocks
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away i found a spot but i wanted to kind
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of show what it looks like
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in the film itself
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don't know how it happened but a spot
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opened up and it says it's only 5 11 p.m
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and i don't need a resident permit
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until 6 p.m
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i got a few minutes to walk up here
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to the tavern when they exit the bar
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they pass by
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a couple residents
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the door there and you can also see that
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metal pole and the stairs the brickwork
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that is down there
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that brickwork's still there so that's
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and this is where that metal bracket was
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which is
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since decomposed just a little bit
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they walked right along here which means
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that the
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l street tavern has been repurposed it
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is now wood
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but when you watch
9:40
the movie
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it was brick
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when they walk out of the front this is
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all brick and i thought maybe they used
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a different
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but no since 97 this has changed this
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has been
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this exterior has been changed to wood
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because it's all one continuous take
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when they walk out of here
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the group of them
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after his date with minnie driver
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and they
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walk right past this
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and then get in their vehicle right here
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she says how
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she wants to meet all his brothers of
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course he was an orphan
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there weren't any brothers but right
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here's the same angle when he's hugging
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her and
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you know will says take it easy take it
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easy looking the opposite way still
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looks the same
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as well
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oh here's a real clear angle of how it
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used to be brick
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so right here on this corner is where he
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was given a kiss car which he ended up
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driving
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away at the end of the movie but the car
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was right here on this corner
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looks so much different with the wood
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with the brown wood
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with the awning that's right up there
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that can be seen when he's kind of
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admiring his new car
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as shown here
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okay the car was actually parked more
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over on this side
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of the street as opposed to where i was
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just thinking on the other side
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there's another car pulling into the
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same spot
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that's the angle kind of looking that
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way yeah this is a busy busy busy
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neighborhood as you can see in here the
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only vehicle on the street is
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is will's car
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completely different
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than it is right now
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i mean just look there's there's really
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nowhere to park down here
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it is overcast and dreary today
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or this afternoon
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i guess i'm really thankful
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that i brought an umbrella they brought
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an umbrella
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they brought an umbrella
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so through here
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a lot of people
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utilizing the oversized swan boats down
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there but crossing over this bridge
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there's a sculpture of george washington
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down the way but over here
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is what is now known as the robin
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williams bench
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to kind of get my bearings here
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showing george washington there
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and
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from my best recollection this is the
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angle here
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this is
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the spot
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you see there are a lot of benches
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out here now this is not the screen used
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bench by any means they have replaced it
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it looks as if they put some brick
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underneath it
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but this is the angle i think the camera
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was more like this
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now out of this passing
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you know the internet the world news
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organizations it just really
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touched a cord with a lot of people and
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one of the the
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you know to honor robin a lot of things
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were kind of floating around the web and
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the most popular probably of all of them
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you know obviously genie from aladdin
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but also this scene
13:26
right here from this angle
13:28
where robin williams
13:29
is sitting here
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next to the
13:32
the will character played by matt damon
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and he gives his dialogue
13:40
and it was all from from this angle see
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if i could match something up here yeah
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it's definitely 100 the spot
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with the angle of the curvature
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a little concrete area there and looking
13:51
the other way you can see that
13:53
sculpture of george washington on the
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horse
13:58
behind them as they're delivering the
14:00
dialogue
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with this very unique tree with all the
14:04
knots on it
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it also should be noted
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that nowhere on the bench area itself is
14:13
there any sort
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of mention of robin
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however
14:24
a place for barbara and her pups to
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pause
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so this would have been the view they
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had when they were delivering those
14:36
lines in that scene acting that out
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very dramatic moment
14:46
and that's over their shoulders there
14:46
and again this bench has been replaced
14:48
not the same bench
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okay i'm getting really wet
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i had to put my camera down on the
16:42
tripod
16:47
and then i put the umbrella over the top
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of it's like something out of et
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that was the only way i could get that
16:54
without the camera getting soaked
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this bus right here is the harvard
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shuttle
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harvard shuttle bus
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right over here on this corner is going
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to be my last spot going to be stopping
17:26
at
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i also got to say finding parking
17:29
anywhere around here very difficult
17:36
drove around for probably another 20-30
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minutes when i got to the spot
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a lot of one-way streets
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here in the boston
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area and for someone from out of town
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doesn't know my way around very
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confusing
17:50
but eventually found parking and
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i want to show this building which can
17:53
be seen very prominently and probably
17:55
one of my favorite scenes
17:57
from the film
17:58
that transpired right over there but you
18:01
see this
18:14
the iconic do you like apple scene
18:14
took place right across the way over
18:16
there i believe it was a dunkin donuts
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at the time
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yeah take a look it's still painted
18:21
green
18:22
and he notices that someone that he got
18:24
into a little bit of a verbal
18:25
altercation in the bar
18:27
is over here at the donut shop
18:35
so will goes across
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the road
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into could it have been this one or that
18:40
one
18:40
and you'll notice there's kind of a
18:42
angled roof triangle roof there with a
18:44
clock
18:45
that is kind of obscured now
18:48
trees have kind of grown up a little bit
18:50
but it's now going to be a new brunch
18:52
place that place that was the dunkin
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donuts that he taps on the window so
18:55
behind those trees is that
18:58
angled clock
18:59
just walking up a little bit of a way
19:01
just to make sure it's there yep it is
19:04
so there is that but you don't really
19:06
see it from the the proper angle and it
19:08
would have been the second pane of glass
19:11
over oh because a bird
19:14
the second pane of glass over now these
19:16
have been
19:17
changed they've added some wood into
19:18
here but the dunkin donuts that was here
19:20
they used to have kind of like
19:22
different different sections as well so
19:24
they probably just kind of added on to
19:26
that it was the second one
19:28
so with the clock behind the trees here
19:30
it would have been right down here
19:32
first he kind of taps on it like this
19:34
to get the guy's attention doesn't get
19:36
the attention and then
19:39
bangs on it like that do you like apples
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how do you like them apples smash it the
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smashes the paper right up there
19:49
i got her number
19:51
how do you like them apples and i love
19:53
the fact
19:54
that they recorded the audio from the
19:57
other characters side looking in so we
20:00
watched that scene
20:01
you can faintly hear matt damon outside
20:03
this window
20:04
standing here instead of crisp crystal
20:06
clear audio from his perspective you're
20:09
getting it from the other side of the
20:11
glass
20:13
perspective
20:20
that's so cool
20:20
and i guess grafton street pub is going
20:23
away
20:28
dunkin donuts that was here is gone too
20:28
my favorite spoof of that moment
20:31
definitely was from futurama you like
20:33
bananas
20:39
i think it's actually
20:39
funnier than the real moment i don't
20:40
know the real moment was pretty genius
20:41
too but you like bananas
20:45
how you like them bananas
20:47
this was a lot more time consuming than
20:49
i thought it would be
20:51
did not take into account on
20:53
how the parking situation would be
20:54
traffic wasn't too bad but just kind of
20:57
looping around to find parking at all
20:58
the spots on all the one-way streets
21:01
but i got done there's there's a couple
21:02
more
21:04
but i felt like ending with the
21:06
apple scene was pretty good there's one
21:08
or two little kind of tiny spots but i
21:10
hit the key ones
21:12
on a very rainy
21:14
day
21:16
i will be in this area for a while
21:19
technically staying on the state line of
21:20
rhode island and massachusetts
21:27
it's not too far around to
21:27
to go to quite a few things that i want
21:29
to do rhode island massachusetts
21:31
connecticut
21:32
who knows where
21:34
where i will go over the next series of
21:35
days but going to be around here for
21:37
just a little while
21:39
probably a week
21:41
give or take a day maybe a little more
21:43
than a week i don't know
21:45
let's say a week
21:50
that's gonna do it for today i'll see
21:50
you in the next video the vlog