Madso's War

Madso's War is a 2010 American crime thriller television film directed by Walter Hill and written by Chris Bertolini. It stars Matthew Marsden, Kelly Overton, Kevin Chapman, Michael Mulheren, David Patrick Kelly, William Lee Scott, and Tim Murphy, with Harris Yulin, Mircea Monroe, Adam Trese, Billy Lush, Billy Smith, James Colby, Joel Marsh Garland, and Allan Graf in supporting roles.

The film was originally created as a two-hour television pilot for Spike TV. It aired on Spike on December 30, 2010.

Premise
After the boss of Boston's Irish mob leaves town, a low-level gangster, Madso Madden, gathers a group of petty crooks to seize control of the streets.

Production
The film was based on an idea by executive producer Dana White, best known for his association with Ultimate Fighting Championship, who had lived in Boston and wanted to tell a story about the Irish mafia gang of Whitey Bulger. He brought on Chris Bertolini to write the script and sold it to Spike. In an interview, White stated that he understood the audience to be "18- to 34-year-old males who are the ones watching Spike TV". He further stated, "We're going to push the limits on this show, like Nip/Tuck and The Shield — violence, sex, bad language. We're going to see how big Spike's balls are on this one."

Filming took place in Boston in late 2008. The working title was The War of '04.

Director Walter Hill had his name taken off the film and was credited as "Rob Marcus". Hill's biographer calls the film "unfocused and chaotic."