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Good Won't Hunting

Now, don't get me wrong. I thought "Good Will Hunting" was a very good movie and am glad it won a couple of Oscars. And it does a far better job at capturing the real Boston than, say, "Celtics Pride" or "Blown Away" (to the point of including a line that only a local who was around before CharlieCards would understand: "He wanted to get you a T pass"). But even a movie written by a pair of locals has its errors:

Mind your Ps and Qs

When Lambeau goes to the boiler room to find out who the genius kid is, the head blob janitor eventually pulls out an index card that lists Will's address as "Q Street." There is no Q Street in South Boston (or anywhere else in the city).

Who da Man?

When Will walks out of court, he crosses in front of a blue-and-white "Metro Police" car. Boston no longer has any Metro Police, but even when we did, their cruisers never shared the blue-stripe-on-white scheme of Boston police.

Next stop: Quincy-Adams

Quick geography lesson: MIT is north of South Boston. Dorchester is south of South Boston. So why was Will always shown going through Dorchester on his way home from MIT? Maybe he was so deep in thought he kept missing his stop?

Also, he always took trains with red seats. The T hasn't used those models since 1994. Still, that doesn't explain why the cars were always so empty when Will was coming home from work - you'd think there'd be more people using the T in the early evening!

OK, here's the answer: The producers were originally going to use the new Red Line trains. But then they spotted some of the retired versions in the train yard near the Gilette plant and thought they'd add more "character." Plus, Matt Damon used to like sliding up and down the shiny red seats when he was a kid.

Speed walking

At one of his appointments with Will, Robin Williams says "walk with me." Next thing you know, they're sitting on a bench in the Public Garden. Only problem is that Williams portrays a professor at Bunker Hill Community College in Charlestown. It's a 15 or 20-minute *subway* ride between the two (even if you don't go through Dorchester first); forget about a quick walk.

RIP: The Tasty

The Tasty in Harvard Square, where Will's girlfriend first tasted his pickle, no longer exists (although in total fairness, it did when they made the movie).

Thanks to Maria Maddaloni and Paul Furio for pointing out the subway errors - and to Rob for explaining why they used old Red Line cars. And credit Eric Helmuth for pointing out the impossibility of walking from Charlestown to the Public Garden in 30 seconds.

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