The Departed (2006)
The Departed is Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as an undercover cop infiltrating the Irish mob, and Matt Damon as a mobster infiltrating the police. Both try to identify the other before being exposed.
Oscar Triumph
Released October 6, 2006, it grossed $291M worldwide and won 4 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director (Scorsese’s first after 5 losses). Based on Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs (2002), it’s Scorsese’s most commercially successful film.
All-Star Cast
DiCaprio, Damon, Jack Nicholson (as crime boss Frank Costello), Mark Wahlberg (Oscar-nominated for profanity-laced role), Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin deliver career-best performances. The cat-and-mouse tension is relentless.
Shocking Ending
SPOILER: Nearly everyone dies. The elevator headshots are brutally sudden. The final “rat” shot on the balcony (symbolic and literal) is cinema’s most nihilistic ending. The film’s violence is sudden, unglamorous, and realistic.
Legacy
It proved Scorsese could adapt non-American source material. The Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” became synonymous with the film. TikTok users quote Wahlberg’s “Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe f*** yourself.” It’s peak Scorsese brutality.
Source: IMDb | Box Office Mojo