Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

Director:

Ben Affleck

Writers:

Ben Affleck (screenplay), Aaron Stockard (screenplay)

Stars:

Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 34 wins & 30 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Casey Affleck	...	Patrick Kenzie
Michelle Monaghan	...	Angie Gennaro
Morgan Freeman	...	Jack Doyle
Ed Harris	...	Remy Bressant
John Ashton	...	Nick Poole
Amy Ryan	...	Helene McCready
Amy Madigan	...	Bea McCready
Titus Welliver	...	Lionel McCready
Michael Kenneth Williams	...	Devin
Edi Gathegi	...	Cheese
Mark Margolis	...	Leon Trett
Madeline O'Brien	...	Amanda McCready
George Carroll	...	Bubba (as Slaine)
Trudi Goodman	...	Roberta Trett
Matthew Maher	...	Corwin Earle

Storyline

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons - they're not cops and they know the tough Boston neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Kenzie and Gennaro face drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they are about to solve their case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that could tear them apart.

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Plot Keywords:

moral dilemma | missing child | surprise ending | private detective | kidnapping | 

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Taglines:

Hope begins where the secrets end.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 2010, Dennis Lehane wrote a followup to his novel Gone Baby Gone, Moonlight Mile, which once again concerns detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro as well as several of the main characters involved in the case covered in Gone Baby Gone. Lehane put an oblique reference to this movie into the text of Moonlight Mile: he describes one character as being like Robert Ford, the reallife killer of outlaw Jesse James. Ford's story was told in the 2007 movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, in which Ford was played by Casey Affleck (the same actor who played Patrick Kenzie in this film).

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Goofs

Patrick's teeth appear extremely yellow when he is outside talking with Angie about finding Amanda in a dumpster, but are white when he goes and meets Helene.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Patrick Kenzie: I always believed it was the things you don't choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family. People here take pride in these things, like it was something they'd accomplished. The bodies around their souls, the cities wrapped around those. I lived on this block my whole life; most of these people have. When your job is to find people who are missing, it helps to know where they started. I find the people who started in the cracks and then fell through...

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Crazy Credits

In the credits, Ben Affleck gives special thanks to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, both members of the Boston Red Sox World Series championship teams of 2004 and 2007.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Gone Abie Gone (2012)

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Soundtracks

No Matter What You Do
Written by Arthur Lee
Performed by Mojave 3
Courtesy of 4AD Ltd.

User Reviews

One of the Year's Best

"Gone Baby, Gone" is one of the best films of the year. It is being compared to "Mystic River" and "The Departed" because it takes place in Boston, but I actually liked it better than either of those films.

The opening credits start with the camera showing close ups of people's faces. The close ups are a recurring theme throughout the movie. It's because this is not just a film about a child kidnapping. It is a film about people and that is what lifts this film above so many others.

Director Ben Affleck shows confidence and style in his first film. After this, he does not need to perform in any more films. He is a much better writer and director than he is an actor.

All the performances in the film are superb. Casey Affleck has to carry the film and he does a great job. He is a stoic, deadpan, detective. But unlike the Noir detectives of the past, he is not a loner. He has a lot of friends and he has his girlfriend played by Michelle Monaghan help with the investigation. He uses his connections to find out things the police cannot.

Beyond that, the less you know the better.

If you like crime dramas that also work as character studies, you should run out and see "Gone Baby, Gone."

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gone Baby Gone

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,299,000, 21 October 2007

Gross USA:

$20,292,962

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,612,443

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, The Ladd Company, LivePlanet

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1