¡®Black Mass¡± may sound like a classic horror film featuring Vincent Price or Barbara Steele, but it¡¯s actually a modern crime film about a gangster nicknamed ¡°Whitey,¡± played by Johnny Depp. Confusing? Yes, even more so when you examine its promo photos of a dome-headed Depp in aviator shades, which seem to promise ¡°Fear and Loathing: The Sequel.¡±
Alas, Dr. Gonzo is nowhere to be found in ¡°Black Mass,¡± but there is plenty of what he used to call ¡°bad craziness.¡± The movie is based on the real-life story of James ¡°Whitey¡± Bulger, a street thug who rose to control the Irish-Catholic neighborhood of South Boston from the 1970s to the ¡®90s with drug and bookmaking networks that spread much farther across the state and country. He was eventually indicted in 1994 but fled before he could be arrested, remaining a fugitive for 16 years ¡ª a feat worthy of Walter White from ¡°Breaking Bad.¡±
Whitey was well known in Boston, surprisingly so considering that his brother Billy was president of the Massachusetts state Senate. Some in ¡°Southie¡± (South Boston) considered Bulger a local boy made good, a Robin Hood figure, but almost anybody who dealt with him knew better: Bulger was a slit-eyed lizard who had no qualms about killing people and removing all their teeth. Viewers who don¡¯t hail from New England may have never heard of him, but movie buffs should note that Jack Nicholson¡¯s character in ¡°The Departed¡± was loosely based on Whitey.
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