History Film / TheTown

* PastInTheRearViewMirror: Doug. "Let me put it to you this way, I'm putting this whole fucking town in my rear view."

* IgnoredExpert: Doug warns Jem that pulling the second truck job is too risky, as it will be staffed by a "G.I. Joe" type who will [[HonorBeforeReason put his life on the line to protect the truck's cash]]. Doug wants to wait until less of a risk taker is put on the truck, when the crew won't have to deal with heroics. But Jem, who wants to earn fast and big, will have none of it. Doug is proven right when that "G.I. Joe" security guard does in fact take action by trying to hold up Doug, forcing Jem to shoot him. The result is that the crew barely escaped from pursuit by several police cars that have sighted them, and the FBI heat on them is that much more intense. That in turn eventually leads to the Fenway Park job getting blown.

* ShoutOut: In the extended cut, a scene happens where Doug is watching the drive-in movie theater shootout from ''Film/{{Heat}}''. ''Heat'' was the source movie that ''The Town'' took heavy influence from.

* TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive: Doug and Jem tell both men in the cash room that they know exactly where they live, and who their wives are, in order to scare them into opening the door to the cash room.

* VillainKnowsWhereYouLive: Doug and Jem tell both men in the cash room that they know exactly where they live, and who their wives are, in order to scare them into opening the door to the cash room.

* IgnoredExpert: Doug warns Jem that pulling the second truck job is too risky, as it will be staffed by a "G.I. Joe" type who will [[HonorBeforeReason put his life on the line to protect the truck's cash]]. Doug wants to wait until less of a risk taker is put on the truck, when the crew won't have to deal with heroics. Doug is proven right when that "G.I. Joe" security guard does in fact take action by trying to hold up Doug, forcing Jem to shoot him. The result is that the crew barely escaped from pursuit by several police cars that have sighted them, and the FBI heat on them is that much more intense. That in turn eventually leads to the Fenway Park job getting blown.

* IgnoredExpert: Doug warns Jem that pulling the second truck job is too risky, as it will be staffed by a "G.I. Joe" type who will [[HonorBeforeReason put his life on the line to protect the truck's cash]]. Doug wants to wait until less of a risk taker is put on the truck, when the crew won't have to deal with heroics. Doug is proven right when that "G.I. Joe" security guard does in fact take action by trying to hold Doug, forcing Jem to shoot him. The result is that the crew barely escaped from pursuit by several police cars that have sighted them, and the FBI heat on them is that much more intense. That in turn eventually leads to the Fenway Park job getting blown.

* FromACertainPointOfView: When asked by Claire about his father, Doug says that he "finally made it out to the suburbs" which is true, technically, only he left out the fact that where his part of "the suburbs" is actually the Cedar Junction state prison in Walpole.

* MenacingMask': In the first heist, the robbers wear hoods and rubber dark skull masks that feature discolored teeth. Later in the film, they wear matching nun costumes with rubber masks in the likeness of wrinkled women.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: A sort-of [[AvertedTrope aversion.]] There aren't 300 bank robberies a year in the city of Boston, but in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a whole, and usually along the lines of "worker [[StealingFromTheTill pocketing from the cash register]]" and "extortion note" rather than "automatic weaponry and creative masks".

* PaperThinDisguise: Played straight with the way Doug and Jem use their cop disguises to escape Fenway Park as the police move in. By using the disguises, they blend in with the real Boston Police Department officers. "Officer Coughlin" however gives himself away to Frawley by carrying his money bag with him, walking awa, and also shooting at Frawley when Frawley calls him by name (although what would happen if he hadn't reacted by shooting when his real name was called is not clear). While "Officer [=McRay=]" manages to escape because he behaves like every other cop at the scene-he draws a pistol and holds it in the same way the real cops are holding their weapons, as if he's just arrived. Plus Doug is not carrying a satchel full of money, so he doesn't stand out.
** Then again, what Doug is intending on is for none of the cops to notice he is not one of their own, which would make sense given that there's just been an intense shootout. The FBI SWAT team is engaging what they think are trigger-happy paramedics inside, and the police outside only hear shots, and shoot at both vehicles that try to flee the garage[[note]]The first is the Atlantic armored truck, whose driver tries to flee in the truck when Doug begins shooting through the gun port. He ultimately ends up doing a pirouette and lands on top of some cars in a parking lot. The other is Gloansy's ambulance. He gets shot a few times by a sharpshooter and then the ambulance slams into a mobile command unit.[[/note]] Therefore, no cop can tell just exactly who is shooting at who, other than that Gloansy and Des are offed. The scene is total chaos, such that it might be hard for the cops to tell if one of them might be an impostor. Subverted when Frawley gets tipped off that the other two are posing as cops when he overhears a police captain telling Dino that security said two police officers robbed them. After that, it's pretty quick for him to find Coughlin in the crowd when he notices an officer walking away from the action with a satchel on his shoulder. Doug gets away because he wears what every other cop is carrying and they were in pursuit of Jem.

* {{Corpsing}}: When filming the first robbery, Creator/RebeccaHall had a hard time keeping a straight face. The reason was because Creator/BenAffleck would direct while in full costume in a skull mask.

* BulletproofVest: [[spoiler: Doug takes most of a magazine from Fergie at near-point blank range and lives]]. Whether this is played straight or exaggerated is up to the viewer. [[spoiler: Though he is mortally wounded in the AlternateEnding where he dies]].

* ProductPlacement: Plenty abound around Fenway Park, but some noticeable ones include a scene where Doug and Claire are clearly inside a Dunkin' Donuts (the scene where Claire tells Doug about the tattoo she saw on the back of Coughlin's neck after he attacked the bank manager). The script even originally had Dez working for Verizon, instead of the fictional cable company "Vericom". A comparison of the script to the actual dialogue shows that every instance of Vericom used to be "Verizon" and was simply switched out.

* [[OneLastSmoke One Last Soda]]: Not quite a smoke, but before [[SuicideByCop he provokes the police into shooting him]], [[spoiler:Jem]] enjoys the last of a discarded beverage he sees on the ground.

* PaperThinDisguise: Played straight with the way Doug and Jem use their cop disguises to escape Fenway Park as the police move in. By using the disguises, they blend in with the real Boston Police Department officers. "Officer Coughlin" however gives himself away to Frawley by carrying his money bag with him, walking awa, and also shooting at Frawley when Frawley calls him by name (although what would happen if he hadn't reacted by shooting when his real name was called is not clear). While "Officer [=McRay=]" manages to escape because he behaves like every other cop at the scene-he draws a pistol and holds it in the same way the real cops are holding their weapons, as if he's just arrived. Plus Doug is not carrying a satchel full of money, so no one thinks he stands out.
** Then again, what Doug is intending on is for none of the cops to notice he is not one of their own, which would make sense given that there's just been an intense shootout. The FBI SWAT team is engaging what they think are trigger-happy paramedics inside, and the police outside only hear shots, and shoot at both vehicles that try to flee the garage[[note]]The first is the Atlantic armored truck, whose driver tries to flee in the truck when Doug begins shooting through the gun port. He ultimately ends up doing a pirouette and lands on top of some cars in a parking lot. The other is Gloansy's ambulance. He gets shot a few times by a sharpshooter and then the ambulance slams into a mobile command unit.[[/note]] Therefore, no cop can tell just exactly who is shooting at who, other than that Gloansy and Des are offed. The scene is total chaos, such that it might be hard for the cops to tell if one of them might be an impostor. Subverted when Frawley gets tipped off that the other two are posing as cops when he overhears a police captain telling Dino that security said two police officers robbed them. After that, it's pretty quick for him to find Coughlin in the crowd when he notices an officer walking away from the action with a satchel on his shoulder. Doug gets away because he wears no additional equipment other than what every other cop is carrying.

* ChanceMeetingBetweenAntagonists: After the armored car robbery, and the very tense police pursuit in the North End, the gang have managed to escape across the Charlestown Bridge before the cops can block it off and are switching cars... only to, in the midst of switching cars for the second time, stop in their tracks because there's a police officer sitting in his car directly across the street, watching them. After a few seconds, the cop turns his head away and decides it's better to just let them continue on their way.

* CurbStompBattle: Towards the film’s climax, an FBI SWAT unit is dispatched to deal with the robbers. [[spoiler: Dez is almost immediately killed by an FBI sniper and Gloansy is shot multiple times before crashing the getaway ambulance into a police van and succumbing to his injuries. Jem manages to get away but is tailed by Frawley, whom he fires at but runs out of ammo. Not wanting to go back to prison, Jem comes out of cover with his guns drawn and is killed by an FBI marksman within a second. This film serves as a reminder that you don’t want to get on an FBI SWAT team’s bad side.]]

* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:Jem's]] final fate. Cornered by Frawley and the BPD, he can either go to prison or get shot. He's out of ammo. So he aims his empty weapons and the cops do exactly what they've been trained to do when someone points a weapon at them, and empty their pistols into him before they can realize that he's out.

* BestFriendsInLaw: Doug has an on-off relationship with his best friend Jem's sister Krista. Jem is actually really enthusiastic about their relationship, as it means that he and Doug are practically family. However, it's a pretty rocky one and Doug dashes Jem's hopes that there's any future in it since he's in love with Claire.

* CowboyCop: {{Subverted}}. Frawley may seem like a very dark take on this, but nothing he does violates the law or standard police protocol. He's simply ruthlessly efficient and willing to anything with the law to do his job.

* FreeWheel: During the police chase, the gang's minivan loses its left front hubcap while trading paint with a police car,.

* BestFriendsInLaw: Doug has an on-off relationship with his best friend Jem's sister Krista. Jem is actually really enthusiastic about their relationship, as it means that he and Doug are basically family. However, it's a pretty rocky one and Doug dashes Jem's hopes that there's any future in it.

* ShellShockSilence: Used to great effect [[spoiler:during the Fenway Park shootout, when the SWAT team throws flashbang grenades into the parking garage at Fenway Park]].

''The Town'' (2010) is a [[TheCaper heist film]], based on Chuck Hogan's novel ''Prince of Thieves'', that follows a team of bank robbers in the UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} neighborhood of [[HollywoodNewEngland Charlestown]] and the law enforcement personnel attempting to stop them.

* {{Corpsing}}: When filming the first robbery, Creator/RebeccaHall had a hard time keeping a straight face. The reason was because Creator/BenAffleck would direct while in full costume - as in the skull mask.
* CowboyCop: {{Subverted}}. Frawley may seem like a very dark take on this, but nothing he does violates the law or standard police protocol. He's simply ruthlessly efficient and willing to do whatever's allowed to do his job.

** Claire is played by English actress Rebecca Hall, and her accent subtlely slips throughout the movie. One example is in the scene where Doug and Claire are on a date and run into Jem. The line "So I've been telling all my friends about you," is clearly said in Hall's native British accent.

* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:Jem's]] final fate. Cornered by Frawley and the BPD, he can either go to prison or get shot. He's out of ammo. So he raises his empty weapons and the cops do exactly what they've been trained to do when someone points a weapon at them, and empty their pistols into him before they can realize that he's out.
* TrojanAmbulance: Doug and Jem enter Fenway Park disguised as Boston police officers, steal $3,500,000 in gate cash, and prepare to escape in an ambulance, dressed as paramedics.