Seeing behind the scenes

Boston Movie Tours takes you to the local locations you’ve seen in Hollywood films

If you’re serious about your Boston movies, it won’t be a spoiler to mention the scene in “The Departed” where Martin Sheen falls off the roof to his death. We need to mention it because that building is just one of the stops on Boston Movie Tours, which you can take as a guided walk or bus ride around the city.

The walk explores Beacon Hill, where almost all Boston movies were shot, to survey scenes from “Blown Away” and “The Boston Strangler.” The guides carry screenshots to point out differences between the real locations and the Hollywood scenes, poking fun at how Martin Scorsese turned Charles Street Cleaners into a restaurant. They joke that Scorsese had to get his vision just right for that clip, which lasts a mere five seconds, but the guides’ admiration for every production detail is apparent.  

Less intimate than the walking version, a longer bus tour ventures into Southie to visit the tourist favorite: L Street Tavern, a spot made famous by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s breakout movie, “Good Will Hunting.”

Nick Pistorino, director of operations at Boston Movie Tours, says the city has long been a top choice for filming because of its diverse neighborhoods and palette of backdrops.

“Because Boston is so eclectic, you can figure out where they’re shooting,” he says. “What helps most of the time is going around in my car and finding it out.”

Thanks to a Massachusetts tax incentive passed back in 2004, movies are increasingly filmed in Boston but are not necessarily “Boston movies,” says Pistorino. “The Pink Panther 2” was filmed here to save on costs but is actually set in France.

“It’s starting to turn around. Ever since ‘The Departed,’ we’re waiting for a really big movie to come out that’s good for Boston,” he says. “‘The Company Men’ with Ben Affleck looks like it might be that next big movie.”

Tourists and students will enjoy the waltz through Boston’s swankiest streets as they answer movie trivia, learn about the city’s history and see just where on the Common Matt Damon played rugby.

Boston Movie Tours
Tours daily, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
866-668-4345, $13-$39  
www.bostonmovietours.net