The Boston Masshole

~ MaryG

What’s the most annoying trope in books or movies?

Listen, one thing I know about is Massholes. I grew up with plenty of them. I know when the accent is real.

In movies, they never get it right. Even Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who grew up in highbrow Cambridge, don’t get it quite right. (Despite that slight flaw, I loved the film Good Will Hunting. It captured one of the key characteristics of Masshole mentality—class awareness. “You think you’re bettah than me cuz you go to Hah-vahd? Well Faaaack you”)

Mark Wahlberg, on the other hand, is an objectively terrible actor, but an authentic Boston Masshole. Did you know he grew up in the infamous South Boston “projects” and was involved in a number of serious racially-motivated assaults and harassment incidents as a teenager in Boston during the mid-1980s? I did! He’s the type of guy I would’ve avoided like the plague in high school.

This is a famous image by Stanley Forman. Titled “The Soiling of Old Glory,” the photo won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Forman took the picture on April 5, 1976, for what was then the Boston Herald American. A young white man lunges at a black man (Ted Landsmark) with the sharp point of a flagpole, with the American flag attached.

Well, this is all a long-winded way of saying that I finally saw an authentic portrait of that trope last night. The film Tony about one summer in the life of the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has a great Masshole character played by Leo Woodall. He’s SO good in this. In my opinion, he steals the film, which is largely set on Cape Cod in the summer of 1975. His accent and demeanor are perfect. It just figures that he’s a Brit! He totally nailed his part. GENXers should go see the film for Woodall and the soundtrack (including some classic Jonathan Richman) alone.

Leo Woodall as the Masshole character—a restaurant worker named Sal—in Tony (in theaters now)
Here’s me at a dinner with Ted Landsmark (from the Pulitzer Prize winning photo) in 2013. It was an honor to meet such a distinguished Bostonian.

16 thoughts on “The Boston Masshole”

  1. Totally agree. Every time I see a “Mainer” in a movie trying to do a down east accent I cringe. Or laugh, which isn’t much better.
    I miss Anthony Bourdain. Glad that movie got New England right.
    Great surprise picture of you at the end meeting history.
    👍

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, the Maine accent is so cringe, when done wrong. (You can’t get there from here 🤣)
      I never read Kitchen Confidential or watched much Bourdain on TV, but I liked the film a lot.

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  2. Stunning in this photo, Mary. Also thanks for introducing me to this term! As well, I had no idea there was a new Bourdain film out. Seems something I should see. 🙂

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    1. Thank you Stephanie! And yes, I think you’ll like this film, but it’s tricky to find. It’s playing in the more “art house” type theaters. Hopefully it will come to a streaming service that most people have soon!

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  3. I’d never heard of Massholes until reading your blog. I like the ring to it. It feels like the very definition of what it describes. I’m sure other parts of the country have their own local type of masshole.

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    1. Exactly! I think the Brits must have a better and more affordable way for aspiring actors to become professional ones. It’s unbelievable how many great actors they churn out, given it’s a much smaller country.

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    1. Thank you for your comment. I assume I’m not the only who can’t stand Mark Wahlberg films lol 😂 The Brits are so good at churning out great actors. It’s actually annoying that they play Americans better than Americans!

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