Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning gangster film, The Departed, is about cops and criminals, loyalty and betrayal, and fathers and sons. The two pairs of fathers and sons around which the film revolves are not related biologically. Captain Queenan serves as a father figure to Billy Costigan, who works undercover, while crime lord Frank Costello (based on James “Whitey” Bulger) acts as a father figure to Colin Sullivan, a decorated cop who protects his gangster benefactor. These pairings are complicated by the fact that Costello and Billy also develop a close, father-son relationship while Billy works undercover. Costello’s downfall has less to do with good police work than with his failure as a father figure for Sullivan.
The film opens with Costello buying groceries and comic books for a young Colin Sullivan, whose own father is gone. Costello asks the boy if he does well in school, and then offers him a job. Costello ingrains his personal motto–“No one gives it to you. You have to take it”–into the young boy. When Sullivan grows up, he goes off to the police academy, and through his excellent performance gains a spot on the Special Investigations Unit, whose job, in the words of its supervisor, Captain Ellerby, is to “smash–or at least marginally disrupt–organized crime.” Sullivan is thus perfectly positioned to thwart the cops’ efforts to arrest Costello.
When Sullivan takes calls from Costello he often speaks to him as if he is his father. This is to avoid arousing suspicion, but also suggests the father-son dynamic between the two. When the cops plan on raiding Costello during his deal with the Chinese, Sullivan calls him to say, “Dad? I’m not going to make dinner. Something big has come up.”
If the first scene featuring Costello and Sullivan establishes their father-son dynamic, then so, too, does the first meeting between Cpt. Queenan and Billy Costigan. Billy is summoned to Queenan’s office, where the captain and Sergeant Dignam offer him the job of going undercover. Billy’s family’s connections in Southie and his uncles’ criminal records make him ideal for the task. The film’s script describes Cpt. Queenan as a “mild and scholarly man who might as well be a Jesuit history teacher.” Queenan is kind and wise, and thus makes a perfect father figure. Unlike the tough, brash, and vulgar Dignam, Queenan is meekness personified–his strength is concealed in gentleness.
Queenan treats Billy with warmth. When Queenan observes that Billy “doesn’t have much family,” Billy replies, “I don’t have any family.” His father is dead; his mother is dying. Queenan becomes the most stable paternal influence in Billy’s life, and one of the few people who treats him kindly. Queenan proposes that Billy plead guilty to an assault and battery charge, and then “serve enough jail time to convince anyone that it’s no set-up.” When Dignam comments that Billy has “already pretended to be a Costigan from South Boston,” meaning he learned how to fit in with his dad’s criminal side of the family, Queenan says, “Do it again. For me,” implying intimacy between the two although they have not known each other long.
Moreover, as the pressure of working for Costello wears on Billy, it is Queenan who encourages him. Again, speaking much like a father to a son, Queenan says to Billy, ” Hang tight for me. Just a little longer. We’re this close.” When Cpt. Ellerby suggests to Queenan that “direct access to your fucking guys would have certain fuckin’ advantages,” Queenan responds, “Not to my guy.” Queenan implies that the more cops who know the identity of his undercover agent, the more danger he will be in. Despite constant pressure to reveal Billy’s identity, Queenan steadfastly refuses to do so to protect Billy.
Although in their first meeting Costello inflicts some serious pain on Billy to find out if he is an undercover cop, the two grow increasingly close the longer Billy works for the gangster. Despite the fact that his sole purpose is to find a way to put Costello behind bars, and the fact that his life is constantly endangered by being undercover, Billy still develops a rapport with Costello. Early in their relationship, Costello seems to be constantly scrutinizing Billy, testing him to see if he is trustworthy. As the film progresses, he gives Billy greater responsibility. At one point, Costello mentions Billy’s father:
“You know if your father were alive and saw you, sitting here with me, let’s say he would have a word with me about this, in fact, he’d kill seven guys just to cut my throat. And he could do it, which is something you may not know about William Costigan, Sr.”
Costello is considering truly taking Billy under his wing, making him his protege. His reflections on Billy’s father are interesting because of the obvious similarities between Costello’s portrayal of Billy’s father and Costello himself: both possess strength and determination; both are capable of great brutality. Costello seems to see in Billy’s father a man to rival himself, yet one who always “kept his own counsel.” Billy’s father was the only member of his family not to live a life of crime. If Costello considers Billy’s father his equal, then he sees in Billy one capable of becoming his heir.
While Queenan is meek, kind, and compassionate, Costello is demanding, belittling, and verbally abusive. When Costello loses contact with Sullivan because his phone’s battery dies, Costello calls him on a land-line to berate him: “What the fuck is it with your phone?” Sullivan replies, “Last time I checked, I tipped you off and you’re not in jail.” What is Costello’s response? He shows Sullivan no gratitude, not even deigning to acknowledge the he did indeed avoid going to prison because of Sullivan’s help. He forces Sullivan to constantly work to earn his affirmation. Costello then asks Sullivan if he knows about an undercover cop in his crew. Sullivan says, “It’s locked up. Queenan and Dignam run the snitches. They don’t give anybody a peep. I’m doing the best . . .” at which point Costello interrupts him to mock him some more: “Your best? What do you think we’re in, the fuckin’ haberdashery business?” Like all bad fathers, Costello forces Sullivan to work for his approval, instead of showing him unconditional love.
Costello persistently dismisses and diminishes Sullivan’s performance, even as Sullivan protects him from the cops. Later, when Sullivan suggests that Costello keep a lower profile–“Frank, for me, you’ve got to lay low”–Costello merely scoffs, saying, “Laying low is not what I do.” Sullivan says, “Lookit, Frank, what good am I to you if you don’t listen to me?” A son’s worst fear is to not be heard by his father.
Queenan offers Sullivan the affirmation that Costello consistently withholds. During the cops’ attempt to raid Costello during his deal with the Chinese, Queenan perceives Sullivan’s nervousness and reassures him. He says, “The readiness is all. You know the players, call the game.” Queenan does not realize that Sullivan is nervous because he is worried about Costello being captured. Queenan alludes to Hamlet Act V Scene II. As he prepares to face Laertes in a fencing contest, Hamlet tells Horatio
“There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is ’t to leave betimes?”
Horatio worries for Hamlet’s safety, yet Hamlet himself is finally ready to embrace the moment, willing even to face death. Although Claudius’ invitation for Hamlet to fence with Laertes seems suspicious (Laertes has poisoned the tip of his sword, and Claudius has prepared a chalice of poisoned wine) Hamlet is not afraid. With a new-found faith in God’s providential ordering of things, Hamlet sheds his former anxieties and will no longer defer the moment of crisis. It is through his “readiness” to face Laertes that he succeeds in unmasking Claudius’ treachery and avenging his father’s murder, though it costs him his life. Queenan, thus, in his typically literary way, encourages Sullivan to be bold, to seize the moment, and act with heroism. Costello never shows this kind of confidence in Sullivan.
Queenan is the only man Billy can trust. When he calls Queenan, but gets Dignam, he demands to talk to Queenan. He says, “I’m gonna get on a plane unless you put Queenan on the phone.” After learning that Costello is an FBI informant, Billy, desperate, goes to Queenan’s house in the middle of the night. Inside, Queenan tells Billy, “Come and have something to eat.” Billy tries to say no, but Queenan insists, “We’ll talk in the kitchen. Come and have something to eat.” Despite how late it is, Queenan wants his surrogate son to be well-fed.
Although he reviles Costello and wishes more than anything that the cops arrest him, Billy still comes to see him as a father figure. As Billy and Costello discuss the problem of the rat in Costello’s crew, Billy speaks candidly with Costello:
“You’re seventy fucking years old. One of these guys is going to pop you. As for running drugs, what the fuck. You don’t need the pain in the ass, and they’re going to catch you. And you don’t need the money.”
Despite everything, Billy shows genuine concern for Costello. He implies that Costello should quit while he is ahead, should retire before one of his own thugs takes him down. As the conversation continues, Costello implies that Billy is under suspicion of being the rat. Billy argues that the rat would be the guy who thinks he can take Costello’s place at the top. The film again emphasizes the similarity between Billy and Costello when the crime lord asks, “You want to be me?” Billy’s reply reveals at once his affinity for Costello and his refusal to become like him: “I probably could be you. I know that much. But I don’t want to be you.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8xT_afGr-c
Billy is drawn to Costello personally, growing increasingly concerned for Costello’s well-being, but he is never seduced by the criminal lifestyle. While Billy expresses the respect he has for Costello’s abilities–“I base most of what I do on the idea that you’re pretty fucking good at what you do”–he ultimately rejects him as a model.
When Sullivan is promoted to head up the internal investigation into the rat in the police department, he asks Queenan for advice. Queenan tells him to “Follow Costello and you’ll find his rat.” Ironically, Sullivan uses Queen’s own idea against him. Sullivan deploys a team to tail Queenan when he meets up with Billy. Sullivan lets Costello know where Queenan and Billy are meeting, and Costello sends some of his thugs there. Queenan and Billy talk on the roof, and Billy again expresses his frustration at still being undercover and his fear of getting killed: “I’m telling you, he’s gonna find out who I am. He’s gonna fuckin’ kill me, I know it.” Queenan tries to calm Billy down, as usual, and promises to help him: “I hear you. I’m sorry for you trouble. Look, I’m not gonna jeopardize your safety any longer. I’ll get you out. I can’t do it overnight but I’ll do it.”
By the time that Queenan and Billy realize that Queenan was tailed, Costello’s men are already inside the building. Queenan urges Billy to get out using the fire escape. When Billy asks what Queenan will do, Queenan says, “I’ll be fine. If you get made I can’t protect you. Go down the fire escape. Now. That’s an order. I’ll be fine.”
Queenan shows his fatherly love for Billy by sacrificing himself so that Billy can escape. He places himself squarely between Billy and danger. He waits for Costello’s thugs, giving Billy time to get away. The elevator opens, and the thugs advance. Queenan faces them with equanimity. With an unlit cigarette in his mouth, he asks “One of you mugs got a light?” They proceed to throw him out of the window.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sbd3akiEGQ&feature=kp
After Queenan dies, Sullivan learns that Costello is an FBI informant from Queenan’s notes. The prospect that Costello will betray him, coupled with Costello’s ongoing failure to appreciate him, convinces Sullivan to beat Costello to the punch. Toward the end of the film, Sullivan warns Costello that the police are tailing him. Instead of sending others to supervise a drug deal, however, Costello insists on going himself for the excitement. He demands that Sullivan “Get rid of the fuckin’ tail!” This proves to be the last straw for Sullivan. Costello has finally alienated him enough for him to betray his mentor. Sullivan tells Ellerby and the other cops where Costello is going, and then sends a team to ambush him.
By the film’s end, Billy has taken Sullivan’s place as Costello’s favorite son. While Sullivan is in the midst of betraying Costello, Billy tries to warn him of his impending downfall. He asks Costello, “How do you know you don’t have a tail?” Costello shrugs this off, but Billy persists, “What if they took one off and put another one on, Frank?” Billy has come to genuinely care about Costello, to see him as a father figure.
After the cops spring their trap, Sullivan confronts an injured Costello about being an FBI informant. Sullivan asks if the FBI know about him, Costello replies, “I never gave anybody up who wasn’t goin’ down anyway.” Sullivan repeats his question, paranoid that Costello ratted him out. Only when he is reduced to utter desperation does Costello show signs of fatherly affection for Sullivan, but it is too little, too late:
Sullivan: “Frank, Frank, do they know about me?”
Costello: “I know about you, Colin. You know I’d never give you up. You’re like . . .”
Sullivan: “A son . . . to you? Is that what it is about, all that murderin’ and fuckin’ and no sons?”
Costello tries to raise his gun, but Sullivan shoots him. Sullivan is right that after all the sex and death Costello has engaged in, he still has no son, hence his interest in Sullivan and Billy.
It turns out the Costello felt that Billy was a better son than Sullivan. His lawyer kept tapes of Costello’s conversations, so that he could blackmail anyone who turned on him. As Billy taunts Sullivan, when Costello died, “His lawyer came to me. Costello trusted me the most.”
The Departed thus presents a tableau of fathers and sons: Queenan the loving father, Costello the abusive father, Sullivan the disgruntled son, and Costigan the loyal son.
