- Creator: Kenny Lyon
- Genres: Comedy, Action and Adventure
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Possibly Boston
When thieves broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on March 18th, 1990 and made off with the biggest haul in art history, they found the paintings much easier to steal than to sell.
Project collaboration:
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Synopsis:
Shortly after midnight on March 18, 1990, thieves broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston dressed as policeman and made off with the largest haul in art history. The heist itself was laughably simple and is well documented as such.
What happened next, however, was anything but.
Possibly Boston - half meticulously researched fact and half informed speculation - is the story of the fencing of Vermeer's The Concert, Rembrandt's only seascape, and eleven other works; of the tiger that three petty criminals caught by the tail and how it very nearly ate them.
Kevin Broderick returns to his father's Boston paint and body shop after spending three years in jail for refusing to testify against friends involved in a small time auto body parts ring; he is determined to stay straight.
But one of his roommates in prison, a career criminal with a history of art theft, has put a bug into his ear about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and a particular painting there: Vermeer's The Concert.
Eventually he enlists two old neighborhood friends - Sulli Sullivan, the Irish ne'er do well who got him jail in the first place, and Chechhi, an Italian with mob connections - to help him rob the museum. Much careful planning, a pair of intentional "failed" attempts, and one night of relatively simple work later, they are in possession of the largest haul in art history.
Then comes the hard part.
Selling the art was never the intention. Sure that the paintings were insured to the hilt, Kevin's plan had been to broker a deal for the insurance reward. But, in one of the many "stranger than fiction" twists in the real life story, the paintings were completely uninsured.
As it turns out, Isabella Stewart Gardner's will stipulated that not a single thing could be changed in the collection. Since the paintings couldn't be replaced, they were never insured. To this day there are empty frames on the wall where the stolen works formerly hung.
Suddenly the story changes to an at-times hilarious game of cat and mouse involving Kevin - who alone knows where the paintings are - and various underworld groups and figures. The mafia, the IRA, a Columbian druglord, and various characters from the criminal underworld of Boston joust with each other and Kevin in the attempt to cash in on the original theft.
The only representative of the law and order world - Kirk Doubleday, the FBI agent assigned to the case - is hopelessly outclassed by the criminal class.
Along the way, Kevin becomes involved with Sarah, a reporter covering the case for the Boston Times; the strain of the situation causes a standard breakup under the most un-standard of conditions.
Eventually the paintings make their way to... wherever. Never found, their fate is just as well determined by the ending of Possibly Boston as anything else.
What happened next, however, was anything but.
Possibly Boston - half meticulously researched fact and half informed speculation - is the story of the fencing of Vermeer's The Concert, Rembrandt's only seascape, and eleven other works; of the tiger that three petty criminals caught by the tail and how it very nearly ate them.
Kevin Broderick returns to his father's Boston paint and body shop after spending three years in jail for refusing to testify against friends involved in a small time auto body parts ring; he is determined to stay straight.
But one of his roommates in prison, a career criminal with a history of art theft, has put a bug into his ear about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and a particular painting there: Vermeer's The Concert.
Eventually he enlists two old neighborhood friends - Sulli Sullivan, the Irish ne'er do well who got him jail in the first place, and Chechhi, an Italian with mob connections - to help him rob the museum. Much careful planning, a pair of intentional "failed" attempts, and one night of relatively simple work later, they are in possession of the largest haul in art history.
Then comes the hard part.
Selling the art was never the intention. Sure that the paintings were insured to the hilt, Kevin's plan had been to broker a deal for the insurance reward. But, in one of the many "stranger than fiction" twists in the real life story, the paintings were completely uninsured.
As it turns out, Isabella Stewart Gardner's will stipulated that not a single thing could be changed in the collection. Since the paintings couldn't be replaced, they were never insured. To this day there are empty frames on the wall where the stolen works formerly hung.
Suddenly the story changes to an at-times hilarious game of cat and mouse involving Kevin - who alone knows where the paintings are - and various underworld groups and figures. The mafia, the IRA, a Columbian druglord, and various characters from the criminal underworld of Boston joust with each other and Kevin in the attempt to cash in on the original theft.
The only representative of the law and order world - Kirk Doubleday, the FBI agent assigned to the case - is hopelessly outclassed by the criminal class.
Along the way, Kevin becomes involved with Sarah, a reporter covering the case for the Boston Times; the strain of the situation causes a standard breakup under the most un-standard of conditions.
Eventually the paintings make their way to... wherever. Never found, their fate is just as well determined by the ending of Possibly Boston as anything else.
Latest Work
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Script 1 - Kenny's Original Draft11/17/10
