Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (2014)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (2014) *** (out of 4)Extremely well-detailed account of James 'Whitey' Bulger's reign of terror in Boston and what the FBI knew and covered up. Bulger's story became front page news when he was recaptured after several years on the run and then it became even bigger with the Johnny Depp film BLACK MASS.This documentary goes into great details in regards to the various crimes that were committed. The documentary really doesn't shy away from blasting not only Bulger but also the FBI who seems to have known a lot more than they ever revealed and it cost a lot of people their lives. The documentary actually makes the FBI the biggest villains and after viewing the film you can't help but agree.What works the best is that the documentary really covers the story from all sides. We hear from the men who were actually doing the illegal stuff including murder and we also get to hear from the prosecutors as well as the defense. People should be warned that very graphic crime scene photos are also shown and best of all is that we get to hear from the victim's families and see how their lives have been destroyed due to what Bulger was doing.

Number 2 on America's Most Wanted list after Osama Bin Laden, James "Whitey" Bulger terrorized Boston for years without ever being charged with so much as a misdemeanor. Bulger was a monster, murdering over a dozen known victims, but did the FBI and local law enforcement give his reign of terror over South Boston a free pass? If this documentary did nothing more than simply chronicle the trial of Whitey Bulger, it would be a great documentary. Because, simply put, this is the biggest organized crime trial in a long time, rivaling the Family Secrets case of Chicago or the Pizza Connection case of New York. But they go much further.We get some background on Irish crime in the Boston area. Nothing too thorough, but enough to grasp the situation and neighborhood that Bulger grew up in. Whereas the Sicilians had displaced the Irish in just about every major city when it comes to organized crime, in Boston the Irish remained strong.Even better, we get an overview of the Top Echelon Criminal Informant Program (TECIP), starting with rarely seen footage of Joe Valachi in 1963 and working up to the present. This is a comparison of Bulger and Gregory Scarpa (another murderous mobster protected by the FBI), but then we get to a serious question: was Bulger even an informant as the FBI claims? Angela Clemente, the leading authority on federal informants, thinks not.Bulger himself speaks in the film, saying police, ATF and FBI were paid off in cash, not information -- Bulger claims up to $25,000 or even $50,000 at a time. Now, of course, he may be lying. He made a career of lying and stealing. But what if he is telling the truth? Then this becomes a story of not only a ruthless killer... but a deeply corrupt justice system.This documentary is brilliant and really is must-see viewing.

Interestingly, this focuses more on the crimes (or potential crimes) of law-enforcement, especially the FBI, than on the admitted crimes of terrorizing mob boss 'Whitey' Bulger. Bulger's trial is highly unusual, in that the defense is making no effort to say their client is innocent, and they know he'll spend his last days in prison (he's 83 at the time of the trial). The issue is really; instead of being an informant as claimed by the FBI and others, did Whitey really have them all on his payroll? Is the government more worried about cleaning their own dirty laundry without blame than in getting Whitey behind bars? And the larger moral question, even IF Bulger was an informant, was that really worth letting him run free, killing 19 people and raining fear on the residents of South Boston? There's no conclusive smoking gun of a conspiracy, but there sure is a ton of circumstantial evidence, and Berlinger gives a good job of presenting it in a building, cinematic fashion – starting with the simple fact that everyone knew Whitey ran the neighborhood for years and years, yet he was never once charged with anything. And then somehow he knew to run just before the authorities rounded up all the leadership of his gang, surviving as a fugitive for 16 years. Not as emotionally powerful as Berlinger's great "Brothers Keeper" and very strong "Paradise Lost", but always engaging on an intellectual and moral level.

Greetings again from the darkness. Definitely one of the best documentaries at this year's Dallas International Film Festival, this is one detailed and informative expose' that focuses not just on bad guy Whitey Bulger, but a seemingly corrupt system that allowed him to maintain his power.Joe Berlinger is an award-winning and very prolific documentarian, and he certainly goes all in here with an overwhelming amount of information, detail and speculation. The film begins with the 2011 arrest of Whitey Bulger after 16 years on the lam. We then explore the trial, as well as the background of Bulger's 30 years of power in South Boston (after his release from Alcatraz).The interviews are fascinating. We get first person responses from attorneys, thugs from the Bulger syndicate, as well as many of the victim's family members ... some still so desperate for justice after decades of pain.The Bulger defense team claimed immunity due to his status as an FBI informant. Of course, this claim opens up the real intrigue here ... how deep did the corruption go with local law enforcement, the FBI and the judicial system? Was Bulger empowered by those who should have been protecting the citizens and pursuing him? Many questions are asked, and the likely answers do not quell conspiracy theorists.While some documentaries seem a bit thin as they stretch material, Mr. Berlinger's approach is to supply much information, many details, and an endless stream of interviews ... all to force us to wonder if Whitey Bulger's reign of southie crime was permitted, even encouraged, by those we thought were the good guys.