# Great British Gangster Movies



## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

'The Long Good Friday' has to be the greatest, doesn't it?







"The Mafia? I shit 'em."

Or is it 'Get Carter'?






"You're a big man, but you're in bad shape. With me it's a full time job. Now behave yourself."

I only ask because I've just watched 'Sexy Beast' for the first time and I thought it was great; one of the best I've seen. Ben Kingsley! Christ! He was terrifying! And he played Gandhi once!






"I'm sweating like a cunt." 

So. What's your favourite?

Anyone that says 'Lock Stock' is a slaaaaaaaaaaag.


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

Lock stock


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!




Nah i love 'The long good friday', great film and it's got Helen Mirren in too


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

She's great in it; trying to hold everything together as Harold goes haywire. Ace.


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## Sunspots (Sep 6, 2008)




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## chooch (Sep 6, 2008)

Brighton Rock. 

Corking film.  Not a bad book nyevuh.


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## badlands (Sep 6, 2008)

Brighton Rock by a country mile.

The racecourse gangs. 

I rest my case.


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> She's great in it; trying to hold everything together as Harold goes haywire. Ace.


Great tits too


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Annierak said:


> Great tits too



A good point, well made. 

Who's the fella in Sunspots post then? Don't recognise him.


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> A good point, well made.
> 
> Who's the fella in Sunspots post then? Don't recognise him.


Thats James Fox from 'Performance'. Forgot about that, brilliant


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## FridgeMagnet (Sep 6, 2008)

_Get Carter_ is one of the most horrible nihilistic films I know of, so thumbs up to that.

Am I the only one who found Kingsley's character more clownish than anything else? I mean, a really dangerous clown obviously, but so far out of standard norms of behaviour that you'd have thought everyone would have gotten together and had him quietly gotten rid of a while ago.


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## Sunspots (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> Who's the fella in Sunspots post then? Don't recognise him.



Great film, if you can ignore Mick Jagger.

Look at the colours in that shot!


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> Great film, if you can ignore Mick Jagger.
> 
> Look at the colours in that shot!


I thought Jagger was really good in it. Sexy too which disturbed me a bit


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Ooh, fuck yeah. 'Performance'. I forgot that one, too.

"Drugs. Liquor. Free Love".

"I like a bit of a cavort". 

and numerous other Happy Mondays samples.


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> Ooh, fuck yeah. 'Performance'. I forgot that one, too.
> 
> "Drugs. Liquor. Free Love".
> 
> ...


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## Sunspots (Sep 6, 2008)

FridgeMagnet said:


> _Get Carter_ is one of the most horrible nihilistic films I know of, so thumbs up to that.



Yeah, no way out. 

Like _Performance_, it's got a great soundtrack too.


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Am I the only one who found Kingsley's character more clownish than anything else? I mean, a really dangerous clown obviously, but so far out of standard norms of behaviour that you'd have thought everyone would have gotten together and had him quietly gotten rid of a while ago.



There's always a bit of that with proper film nutters, though. Look at Dennis Hopper in 'Blue Velvet' - so OTT that it's ridiculous but genuinely scary at the same time.

You'd imagine someone like Kingsley would end up being killed, though, yeah. But not until the fellas at the top had used him to put the shits up everyone first.

The fella at the top, in this case, being Ian McShane; Lovejoy.


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## badlands (Sep 6, 2008)

This is when The Long Good Friday becomes made of


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

British gangster movies are great for spotting B-list TV actors, too. The bloke that Harold Shand brutally murders with a bottle in 'Long Good Friday' is Charlie off 'Casualty'.

The amount of people off 'The Bill' that get snuffed in the first half hour is incredible sometimes.


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## chooch (Sep 6, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> Yeah, no way out.
> 
> Like _Performance_, it's got a great soundtrack too.


Aye. _Long Good Friday_ soundtrack's horrible though, ain't it?


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## Sunspots (Sep 6, 2008)

Annierak said:


> I thought Jagger was really good in it. Sexy too which disturbed me a bit



I think he's the weakest link in _Performance_'s cast, and it's not as if he was even having to stretch himself with the part either. 

On the plus side, his musical contribution _(Memo From Turner)_ is fantastic, plus I imagine that his involvement pretty much guaranteed that the film ever got made and [-eventually...] seen.


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

chooch said:


> _Long Good Friday_ soundtrack's horrible though, ain't it?



I love it.

The Francis Monckman Orchestra. Quite how the fuck I've stored that bit of info in me head all these years, I'll never know. 

I think it fits the film perfectly. Bad blasting cheesy music to match the horrible hair and the 70's nylon flares. Ace.  Giorgio Moroder's hideous synth soundtrack to 'Scarface' works along the same lines.


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> _(Memo From Turner)_



Great song. One of the least heard tunes from the Stones best period, imo.


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> I think he's the weakest link in _Performance_'s cast, and it's not as if he was even having to stretch himself with the part either.
> 
> On the plus side, his musical contribution _(Memo From Turner)_ is fantastic, plus I imagine that his involvement pretty much guaranteed that the film ever got made and [-eventually...] seen.


Oh yes, he's the weakest character in it but he had presence.

What about 'The Krays'? Or was that just a Kemp too far?


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## FridgeMagnet (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> There's always a bit of that with proper film nutters, though. Look at Dennis Hopper in 'Blue Velvet' - so OTT that it's ridiculous but genuinely scary at the same time.
> 
> You'd imagine someone like Kingsley would end up being killed, though, yeah. But not until the fellas at the top had used him to put the shits up everyone first.
> 
> The fella at the top, in this case, being Ian McShane; Lovejoy.



Probably a personal thing; Hopper scared me last time I saw Blue Velvet. Perhaps also to do with the setting, in that, in Dirty Beast, a lot of the main characters are (or are meant to be) pretty hardcore, whereas BV concentrates on the innocent being introduced into the surreal world of crime etc.

N.B. _do not fuck with Lovejoy he will shit you_.


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Yeah - Context is all, FM, I agree.






'Antiques? I shit em'


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## Mrs Magpie (Sep 6, 2008)

Somewhere in this forum are some great stills from this film....

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/studios/hammer/filmography/1960/001.html


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 6, 2008)

_Villain_ (which also features Ian MacShane, in less leathery form) has Richard Burton as a Kray-alike by way of _White Heat_.

Sean Connery's nonce-hating copper in _The Offence_ touches on many on the moods and tones other films mentioned in this thread feature, without being itself a 'gangster' movie.

Stanley Baker's mid/late sixties Great Train Robbery analogue, _Robbery_, is a bridge between earlier, gritty British crime dramas like his own _The Criminal_ and subsequent, more self-consciously fun caper flicks like _The Italian Job_. That film's Charlie Croker (also of _Get Carter_) Michael Caine, made the journey back to the seedier seam of gangster movies in 2000's _Shiner_, in which he ekes out a similar - but more sympathetic - character to his turn in _Mona Lisa_.

_Get Carter_'s directer Mike Hodges returned to the limelight with the noirish _Croupier_ in 1998; he followed it up with the bleak, and more explicitly gangster-orientated _I'll Sleep When I'm Dead_ five years later, again featuring Clive Owen as his antihero.

Finally, consider _Shooters_, a film by Dan Reed which originated in his desire to make a documentary about real life gangsters in Liverpool, but which instead evolved into a semi-improvised piece of fiction on the same topic, starring many of the men he had met during his research into the subject - steroidal 'door men' and the like.


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## Mrs Magpie (Sep 6, 2008)

...and one of my favourite ever films is a gangster film of sorts...

Hue & Cry

www.britmovie.co.uk/studios/ealing/filmography/42.html


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## Sunspots (Sep 6, 2008)

chooch said:


> Aye. _Long Good Friday_ soundtrack's horrible though, ain't it?



Can't say I can even remember it, tbh! 



NVP said:


> British gangster movies are great for spotting B-list TV actors, too. The bloke that Harold Shand brutally murders with a bottle in 'Long Good Friday' is Charlie off 'Casualty'.



Yeah, there's a thug in _Performance_ played by Billy Murray, who's pretty much played villains or dodgy coppers ever since.  

One of those actors who's been in all the classics: _The Sweeney_, _The Professionals_, _Minder_, _Bergerac_, _Casualty_, _The Bill_ (-as DS Beech), _Eastenders_ (-as Johnny Allen), and in recent years has appeared in a number of 'geezer/gangster'-type films.  Bit of an ace face.


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> _Villain_ (which also features Ian MacShane, in less leathery form) has Richard Burton as a Kray-alike by way of _White Heat_.



I've always wanted to see that. The book was ace - mysoginistic main character acting out his hate fantasies through crime. Richard Burton sounds ideal for it.

ETA: just ordered it off Amazon. Ta for reminding me about it, DaveCinzano.


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## badlands (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> _Villain_ (which also features Ian MacShane, in less leathery form) has Richard Burton as a Kray-alike by way of _White Heat_.
> 
> Sean Connery's nonce-hating copper in _The Offence_ touches on many on the moods and tones other films mentioned in this thread feature, without being itself a 'gangster' movie.
> 
> ...



Really agree with you about The Offence.

And Croupier is excellent.


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## badlands (Sep 6, 2008)

And can I just say that London to Brighton is a pile of cack.


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## Sunspots (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> _Villain_



Of the genre, a pretty good film.  I've not seen it for about twenty years though.  

Rarely shown on telly, but it was available on video for a time in the nineties.  I think it's finally been released on DVD in the last year or so though.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 6, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> Can't say I can even remember it, tbh!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



And he is in the Roger Daltry-starring _McVicar_, which was in its own was a pretty powerful film which both shows the downside of the life of a professional criminal, and is imbued with an anti-authoritarian class rage throughout. It even manages to touch on themes of misogyny within a strongly masculinist subculture (though women are still firmly placed in the background), in a way Ritchie et al have blithely ignored in favour of a tits-and-guns-cor-blimey-missus bravado.

Before I forget, and in memory of Ken Campbell, who plays a bent brief in it, GF Newman's mini-series _Law And Order_ should be required viewing for younger goggle-eyed crime film fans. Again, lots of small screen Zeligs, especially of an _EastEnders_/_Casualty_/_The Bill_ vintage (Peter Dean, Derek Martin etc).


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## chooch (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> in memory of Ken Campbell


When did he die?


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 6, 2008)

chooch said:


> When did he die?



Last Sunday, sadly.


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Oh, yeah, McVicar was ace. Forgot about that one, too.


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> I only ask because I've just watched 'Sexy Beast' for the first time and I thought it was great; one of the best I've seen. *Ben Kingsley! Christ! He was terrifying! And he played Gandhi once!*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



oh NOW i get why you started this thread


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## chooch (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> Last Sunday, sadly.


He always seemed like a decent sort. Despite being born to play a bent brief.


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

sojourner said:


> oh NOW i get why you started this thread



It was a fucking great film - *really *enjoyed it.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 6, 2008)

A long time ago I read a pulpy novel called _Taffin_ about a debt collector who takes on a bunch of crooked developers. I can't remember any details, except that it was quite fun. I see there was a film version with Pierce Brosnan. I'm sure it isn't very good, but nonetheless, has anyone seen it? It's also got Frank 'Father Jack' Kelly, Ray McAnally and Patrick Bergin in it! And, erm, Alison Doody!!!


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Father Jack in a straight role? 

Nah, can't picture it. It's funny when you see him interviewed - he's dead posh.


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> It was a fucking great film - *really *enjoyed it.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 6, 2008)

PS

The greatest musical gangster film of all time - made by a largely British cast and crew: _Bugsy Malone_


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> PS
> 
> The greatest musical gangster film of all time - made by a largely British cast and crew: _Bugsy Malone_



i used to drink cinzano all the time when i was 15


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Yeah. It shows.


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> Yeah. It shows.



  i tried to think of a comeback and failed

have it


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

Pwn3d. 

Probably the only time I'll ever get to say that.

Allow me to gloat.


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

sojourner said:


> i tried to think of a comeback and failed
> 
> have it


Disappointing. You give in too easily. Need to have a quick mind, like moi


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 6, 2008)

sojourner said:


> i used to drink cinzano all the time when i was 15



I had you down as a blousy sarsaparilla kinda gal


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> I had you down as a blousy sarsaparilla kinda gal


She's actually a lambrini girl but we don't talk about it


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> Pwn3d.
> 
> *Probably the only time *I'll ever get to say that.
> 
> Allow me to gloat.



the _only _time 

you can have this one time

remember to save it though, cos it won't happen again


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## Voley (Sep 6, 2008)

I'm off to bed.

A very good night to the U75 alkie crew. 

xxx


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

Annierak said:


> She's actually a lambrini girl but we don't talk about it



fuck me, but if dave isn't living in some 50s fucking american mystery novel...


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

Night NVP


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

NVP said:


> I'm off to bed.
> 
> A very good night to the U75 alkie crew.
> 
> xxx



lightweight


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## Annierak (Sep 6, 2008)

sojourner said:


> fuck me, but if dave isn't living in some 50s fucking american mystery novel...


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 6, 2008)

Sixties, if you don't mind, ladies


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## sojourner (Sep 6, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> Sixties, if you don't mind, ladies


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## Sunspots (Sep 7, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> The greatest musical gangster film of all time - made by a largely British cast and crew: _Bugsy Malone_



True.  I considered mentioning it too, but then I thought it maybe didn't really fit this thread because it was a musical, set in Chicago, with (-dodgy) American accents, etc.  So, I dunno...  

A great film though.  I've fond memories of seeing it as a kid; they showed it to us one Christmas _('77/'78?)_ in junior school, on a rickety reel-to-reel projector that kept breaking down...   

I hate musicals, but _Bugsy Malone_ is the exception.


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## badlands (Sep 7, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> True.  I considered mentioning it too, but then I thought it maybe didn't really fit this thread because it was a musical, set in Chicago, with (-dodgy) American accents, etc.  So, I dunno...
> 
> A great film though.  I've fond memories of seeing it as a kid; they showed it to us one Christmas _('77/'78?)_ in junior school, on a rickety reel-to-reel projector that kept breaking down...
> 
> I hate musicals, but _Bugsy Malone_ is the exception.



What. You hate Cabaret?


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## Sunspots (Sep 7, 2008)

badlands said:


> What. You hate Cabaret?



I've got the standard objections to musicals: I just find it almost impossible to bear when characters break out in song, apropos of nothing.  And all that fucking 'spontaneous' synchronized dancing...  

Actually, I've just remembered _Dancer In The Dark_.  A musical, with a-singing 'n' a-dancing... -and I _...er..._ liked it.  

(-Aaaanyway... this is all kind of derailing the OP.  Apologies.)


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## Numbers (Sep 7, 2008)

Gangster No.1

"One day I'll catch up with you. You want a war? I'll give you a fucking war one arm tied behind me back. I'll shoot you - blow you to kingdom come. They'll need a dustpan and brush to scrape you off the walls. Make mincemeat out of ya. Pie and mash, puddles of blood. I'll leave you lying there. Go rot, the lot of you. Calling me a cunt?"


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## Kaka Tim (Sep 7, 2008)

The Hit - early 80s film with Terrance Stamp playing a criminal turned grass whose been living out in Spain for years. Now the gangster he got locked up has sent over John Hurt and Tim Roth to deliver retirbution. Its like a gangster road movie with the three of them plus a women hostage driving and driving through the heat accross Spain. Its great - especially Tim Roth in football hooligan mode taking on the unfortunate locals in a bar.


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## Voley (Sep 7, 2008)

Kaka Tim said:


> The Hit - early 80s film with Terrance Stamp playing a criminal turned grass whose been living out in Spain for years. Now the gangster he got locked up has sent over John Hurt and Tim Roth to deliver retirbution. Its like a gangster road movie with the three of them plus a women hostage driving and driving through the heat accross Spain. Its great - especially Tim Roth in football hooligan mode taking on the unfortunate locals in a bar.



That sounds good. Great cast.


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## two sheds (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm still not sure there's been anything to better the gritty realism and serial murder scenes in The Lavender Hill Mob, though.


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## Sunspots (Sep 7, 2008)

Kaka Tim said:


> The Hit



Good call.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 7, 2008)

I have a confession to make; I do carry a torch for Danny Dyer and Jason Statham and Tamer Hussan. Whilst they are all actors of limited range, when they nudge up against the boundaries of what they are best known for, they do seem to rustle up a few surprises. I do feel a little troubled by the creative partnerships they find themselves in, especially when it comes to their mentors' characterisation (or otherwise) of women - Guy Ritchie and Nick Love neither seem that progressive or enlightened if their screen work is anything to go by. Yet I still find myself drawn to films that without those actors in them I would normally be repulsed by.

Love's _Goodbye Charlie Bright_ is stretching the idea of 'gangsters' a little thin, but it is essentially about gangs and tribes, albeit ones at the tamer end of the scale. It's about a small band of friends on a council estate, with Dyer as a peripheral figure. It doesn't really have much to say, but it is halfways articulate about it - friendship, growing up, the crossroads of life and all that. Ultimately the film rejects gangsterism. On the other hand, Dyer's more recent effort, _Straightheads_ is a short and unpleasant film about gang mentality as seen from the victim's perspective. It drifts into exploitation revenge thriller, but it starts strong. It's written and directed by documentarist Dan Reed, who also husbanded _Shooters_, which I mentioned yesterday.

_The Business_ is a nice little Costa del Crime morality play by Love, with Dyer a wide-eyed young go-getter attracted by the pretty women, fast cars and drug money. Tamer Hassan is very likable in it too. And there's unpleasantness along the way. It reminds my of a less pretentious Jake Arnott story, blending together many real life events and characters into one tidy plot-driven tall tale (see _The Long Firm_ and _He Kills Coppers_). You could say similar things of the recent Jason Statham heist flick _The Bank Job_, though it gets far too muddled halfway into the picture, and the brio soon wears thin.

Sticking with the Dyer/Hassan/Love axis, there's - if we extend the gangster remit to include organised football violence - _The Football Factory_. Again, it's all about boys and their balls, but it does at least acknowledge the innate misogyny of it all from the beginning, unlike the glossier and far more contemptible _Green Street_. And it has Frank Harper in it. Frank Harper, you may remember, was one of the few truly excellent things in _South West Nine_.

Keeping with the hooligan trope, we might wander through _The Firm_ by Alan Clarke and _ID_. Phil Davis featured in the former as blond yuppie yob Yeti; the latter was directed by him. Broadening our parameters, we might even consider Clarkie's other work: the virtually dialogue-free _Elephant_ is a meditation on tribal violence in Northern Ireland in which context and justification is completely removed, political struggle of all flavours reduced to nothing more than unrelenting, unsexy, unclear moments of sudden brutality. And of course the borstal portrayed in _Scum_ is an institution riddled from the top down with gangs, young and old, in authority and beyond it.

Bringing things more firmly back into the organised crime fold, we return to Phil Davis, who is an old-fashioned British hoodlum in the Antonia Bird-Ronan Bennett blagger mystery _Face_. This film shares its half glossy, half gritty tone with _ID_; both are rooted in kitchen sink drama and polemical film making, and yet both also try and up the adrenal ante. This approach was supplanted by the late nineties by the balls-out, day-glo sadism perpetuated by Guy Ritchie, and helped give us _Layer Cake_, a fast-moving movie about the shift in the British underworld from high risk/low yield armed robbery into the money machine that is drugs trafficking. Again, women are low down the filmmakers' priorities; again, second string characters are relegated to two-dimensional ciphers or humorous turns; again Tamer Hassan has little to do but does it well. Still, it provided Daniel Craig with his calling card for Eon, and older character actors like George Harris, Colm Meaney, Kenneth Cranham and Michael Gambon are all given a chance to shine.

(Talking of Gambon, and returning to the _Elephant_ine idea of Northern Irish political gangsterism, he was excellent as a Loyalist godfather in the mid-seventies ceasefire set _Nothing Personal_.)


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 7, 2008)

Whilst we're on the subject of craggy faced veterans like Stamp (_The Hit_) and McDowell (_Gangster Number 1_), consider also _The Limey_ and TV serial _Our Friends In The North_. In the former Stamp is an old age gangster come to California to find out what happened to - and avenge - his daughter (shades of Jack Carter). In the latter, McDowell steals the sixties London scenes with his porn baron Benny.


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## Gingerman (Sep 7, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> A long time ago I read a pulpy novel called _Taffin_ about a debt collector who takes on a bunch of crooked developers. I can't remember any details, except that it was quite fun. I see there was a film version with Pierce Brosnan. I'm sure it isn't very good, but nonetheless, has anyone seen it? It's also got Frank 'Father Jack' Kelly, Ray McAnally and Patrick Bergin in it! And, erm, Alison Doody!!!


Ive seen it,its pretty awful actually was filmed in Co.Wicklow,Brosnan and Doody are way too glamorous to convince,only watched it because Im from that part or Ireland meself.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 7, 2008)

Gingerman said:


> Ive seen it,its pretty awful actually was filmed in Co.Wicklow,Brosnan and Doody are way too glamorous to convince,only watched it because Im from that part or Ireland meself.



It's always good to see one's prejudices confirmed, cheers


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## alsoknownas (Sep 7, 2008)

My two faves:  Performance, and Sexy Beast.


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## Louloubelle (Sep 7, 2008)

My favourites are

Brighton Rock
The Long Good Friday
Get Carter 


I also really enjoyed The Italian Job.  Quintessentially British although much of the film is located in Italy, it's one of those enjoyable Sunday afternoon films with lots of excellent character actors.  Talking of character actors I just love The Ladykillers (the originals of both films of course)


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## Grandma Death (Sep 7, 2008)

Numbers said:


> Gangster No.1
> 
> "One day I'll catch up with you. You want a war? I'll give you a fucking war one arm tied behind me back. I'll shoot you - blow you to kingdom come. They'll need a dustpan and brush to scrape you off the walls. Make mincemeat out of ya. Pie and mash, puddles of blood. I'll leave you lying there. Go rot, the lot of you. Calling me a cunt?"



About time someone mentioned this superb film!


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## Sunspots (Sep 7, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> TV serial _Our Friends In The North_.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> McDowell steals the sixties London scenes with his porn baron Benny.



I love(d) this series.  Ambitiously panoramic storytelling, and yeah, the storyline of Geordie's entanglement in the Soho underworld is good stuff.


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## Jon-of-arc (Sep 7, 2008)

Numbers said:


> Gangster No.1
> 
> "One day I'll catch up with you. You want a war? I'll give you a fucking war one arm tied behind me back. I'll shoot you - blow you to kingdom come. They'll need a dustpan and brush to scrape you off the walls. Make mincemeat out of ya. Pie and mash, puddles of blood. I'll leave you lying there. Go rot, the lot of you. Calling me a cunt?"



Yeah that wasn't a bad film and Paul Bettany showed some real promise in it.  Not seen him do anything half as interesting since though.   

Did also have some slightly dodge moments, but over all it was better than your average Ritchie-fest...


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## zoltan (Sep 7, 2008)

There can only be Get Carter.

Everyone loses. What more do you want ?

The Roy Budd soundtrack is fabtastic


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## FridgeMagnet (Sep 7, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Yeah that wasn't a bad film and Paul Bettany showed some real promise in it.  Not seen him do anything half as interesting since though.
> 
> Did also have some slightly dodge moments, but over all it was better than your average Ritchie-fest...



It came out at the wrong time, that's the thing - I never watched it because I've always thought "oh just another fucking bandwagon gangster film". Since then I've heard more than a few people say it's good.


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## Voley (Sep 8, 2008)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Yeah that wasn't a bad film and Paul Bettany showed some real promise in it.  Not seen him do anything half as interesting since though.
> 
> Did also have some slightly dodge moments, but over all it was better than your average Ritchie-fest...



The cover doesn't help. 

It's got that 'right-cockney-barrel-of-old-monkeys' feel about it. Probably trying to cash in.

Going on what others have said, I wouldn't mind seeing it now, though.


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## Nanker Phelge (Sep 8, 2008)

I love 'Mona Lisa' - Bob Hoskins, Prostitution, A white Rabbit, Sir Michael, Joe Brown, a decent motor, ornamental spaghetti, Robbie Coltrane, great London and Brighton locations, midgets, maniacs and a scathing Cathy Tyson in a top notch performance.

It's a bit sentimental in places, but a great watch.

Get Carter is my favourite, and I really enjoy the Limey too.


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## Jon-of-arc (Sep 8, 2008)

FridgeMagnet said:


> It came out at the wrong time, that's the thing - I never watched it because I've always thought "oh just another fucking bandwagon gangster film". Since then I've heard more than a few people say it's good.



Oh no, its well worth a watch.  Bettany is truly scary.  His gangster boss is perhaps a bit camp (and the rival gangster boss is definately very camp...) but it has an engaging story line.  Not quite as good as sexy beast and never destined to be thought of as a true classic, but check it out.


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## ViolentPanda (Sep 8, 2008)

double post


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## ViolentPanda (Sep 8, 2008)

NVP said:


> British gangster movies are great for spotting B-list TV actors, too. The bloke that Harold Shand brutally murders with a bottle in 'Long Good Friday' is Charlie off 'Casualty'.



It wasn't *that* brutal, after all, he did explain why, in a roundabout kind of way...

"I was good to you, even when you was aht of order!!"

I mean, he'd let his boss down, what did he expect, a pat on the back?


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## Yuwipi Woman (Sep 8, 2008)

The only one I've seen is Love, Honor, and Obey which is perhaps the worst piece of shit ever recorded on film.  Plot?  What plot?  

I saw the Stallone remake of Get Carter and thought it almost unwatchable.


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## Bakunin (Sep 8, 2008)

ViolentPanda said:


> It wasn't *that* brutal, after all, he did explain why, in a roundabout kind of way...
> 
> "I was good to you, even when you was aht of order!!"
> 
> I mean, he'd let his boss down, what did he expect, a pat on the back?



Upsetting the IRA to the point where they wiped out his firm one by one and managed to scare the US Mafia away was a pretty bad career move for him, yes.

Now, we all know that one of the IRA assassins was a certain Pierce Brosnan (his first major film role, IIRC) but his killing partner is also a distinguished stage and screen actor.

For the grand prize of my calling you a total anorak and allowing you to join the Order Of The Smug Bastard (an internet-based society for those devoted to obscure facts) what was his name?

Clue - He had a starring role in the historical drama series 'Sharpe' starring Sean Bean.



Yuwipi Woman said:


> I saw the Stallone remake of Get Carter and thought it almost unwatchable.



So did everyone else.

Although I did like Rachel Leigh Cook in that film, hubba hubba.


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## Bakunin (Sep 8, 2008)

ViolentPanda said:


> It wasn't *that* brutal, after all, he did explain why, in a roundabout kind of way...



If anyone think the bottling scene is brutal, may I refer them to the scene at the end of 'Casino' involving the blokes with baseball bats?

Now that's brutal, by any standards.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 11, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> Yeah, there's a thug in _Performance_ played by Billy Murray, who's pretty much played villains or dodgy coppers ever since.



I was having another think about this, and remebered that he is also in _Essex Boys_, which is not a great British gangster film, but which had potential. It's about the Rettenden triple murder, and stars Sean Bean and Charlie Creed-Miles. Alex Kingston is there too. What could have been an intense and dark look at the Range Rover slayings and the Essex ecstacy trade (Leah Betts, Raquel's and all that) quickly descends into a dull melodrama focused around romantic subplots.


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## Bakunin (Sep 11, 2008)

Bakunin said:


> If anyone think the bottling scene is brutal, may I refer them to the scene at the end of 'Casino' involving the blokes with baseball bats?
> 
> Now that's brutal, by any standards.




Here's the baseball bat scene in all its (thoroughly unpleasant and really quite nauseating) glory.


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## Sunspots (Sep 11, 2008)

Bakunin said:


> Here's the baseball bat scene in all its (thoroughly unpleasant and really quite nauseating) glory.




Is it _Casino_ that also has that _head-in-a-vice_ scene too?


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## Bakunin (Sep 11, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> Is it _Casino_ that also has that _head-in-a-vice_ scene too?



The one where, in the uncut version, the bloke's eyeball pops out?

Yep, and the infamous 'cheaters justice' scene where a casino cheat has his hand smashed up with a hammer as well.


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## Sunspots (Sep 11, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> I was having another think about this, and remebered that he is also in _Essex Boys_, which is not a great British gangster film, but which had potential. It's about the Rettenden triple murder, and stars Sean Bean and Charlie Creed-Miles. Alex Kingston is there too. What could have been an intense and dark look at the Range Rover slayings and the Essex ecstacy trade (Leah Betts, Raquel's and all that) quickly descends into a dull melodrama focused around romantic subplots.



I remember reading all the news reports about the murders at the time they happened, but I've never seen _Essex Boys_. Bit put off by the thought of Sean Bean and Alex Kingston, presumably 'cockneying' it up to the hilt... 

A quick look on IMDB though reveals that Terry Winsor directed and co-wrote not only _Essex Boys_, but also 1983's _Party Party_!


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## Juice Terry (Sep 11, 2008)

Gangster No 1 for me, I love that film.

If you're after brutality you'd have to go some to beat the scene where Paul Bettany gives the special treatment to Lennie Taylor.

"Look into my fucking eyes!"

Oh and its got Eddie Marsan in it too

Eddie Miller: What's that? 
Gangster: That? That's my favourite axe, Eddie


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## STFC (Sep 11, 2008)

I saw Gangster No 1 years ago and I thought it was awful. Really bad. Since then quite a few people have said they rate it, so I may give it another try.

Am I the only person here who actually enjoyed Love Honour & Obey? It's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, it's just a feature length episode of Operation Good Guys with Ray Winstone and karaoke. But I really liked Operation Good Guys. I also fancied Denise Van Outen.


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## Voley (Sep 11, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> I was having another think about this, and remebered that he is also in _Essex Boys_, which is not a great British gangster film, but which had potential. It's about the Rettenden triple murder, and stars Sean Bean and Charlie Creed-Miles. Alex Kingston is there too. What could have been an intense and dark look at the Range Rover slayings and the Essex ecstacy trade (Leah Betts, Raquel's and all that) quickly descends into a dull melodrama focused around romantic subplots.



Isn't that the same story as in Rise Of The Footsoldier?

That one was all a bit Guy Ritchie for me an' all.


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## Iam (Sep 11, 2008)

Bakunin said:


> Here's the baseball bat scene in all its (thoroughly unpleasant and really quite nauseating) glory.




The first time I saw this uncensored, I had to stop watching. Too much.

To be honest, once the wiping out starts, I've pretty much had enough of Casino.


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## Yuwipi Woman (Sep 11, 2008)

STFC said:


> Am I the only person here who actually enjoyed Love Honour & Obey? It's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, it's just a feature length episode of Operation Good Guys with Ray Winstone and karaoke. But I really liked Operation Good Guys. I also fancied Denise Van Outen.



It had its moments.  I enjoyed seeing the meeting between the two gangs with the two thugs in the back growling and making faces at each other.  The ending was actually pretty good.  It would have been better if the plot was tighter and the comedy aspects more integrated into it.  It just seemed really disjointed.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 11, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> I remember reading all the news reports about the murders at the time they happened, but I've never seen _Essex Boys_. Bit put off by the thought of Sean Bean and Alex Kingston, presumably 'cockneying' it up to the hilt...



Just slightly...

Sean Bean
Alex Kingston



Sunspots said:


> A quick look on IMDB though reveals that Terry Winsor directed and co-wrote not only _Essex Boys_, but also 1983's _Party Party_!



I rather like _Party Party_, if it's the one I'm thinking of - Daniel Peacock and a bunch of other 80s character actors playing younger than their years?


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## STFC (Sep 11, 2008)

NVP said:


> Isn't that the same story as in Rise Of The Footsoldier?
> 
> That one was all a bit Guy Ritchie for me an' all.



Rise of the Footsoldier was Carlton Leach's story. He was an associate of the three blokes killed in Rettendon, but I don't know how involved he was. I can't recall him being mentioned in Essex Boys or in the book I've read about the killings (Bloggs 19).


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## Sunspots (Sep 11, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> Just slightly...
> 
> Sean Bean
> Alex Kingston



I grew up in the East End and Essex, and I can't even understand what Sean Bean says there.  



DaveCinzano said:


> I rather like _Party Party_, if it's the one I'm thinking of - Daniel Peacock and a bunch of other 80s character actors playing younger than their years?



That's the one.  

It was first released when I was about fourteen and just starting to go to parties myself.  Seems ridiculous to say it now, but I think I actually went to see it half in the hope of _learning_ how to negotiate the mysteries of parties: getting off with girls, _not_ getting into fights with nutters, and trying to get pissed on rubbish lager...   

It had a half-decent soundtrack though, if I recall correctly...

_(-Sorry for the non-gangster derail, everybody.)_


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 11, 2008)

Sunspots said:


> I grew up in the East End and Essex, and I can't even understand what Sean Bean says there.



He's saying "Why d'you have to fuck about being clever?" 

Quite the feminist!

My favourite line of Sean Bean's is when he's the 'cockney' wannabe SAS chap in _Ronin_:

"D'yer see that?! Lovely bit o' raspberry jam back there! ...Pull over!" 
<leans out>
<retches>


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## ViolentPanda (Sep 11, 2008)

Bakunin said:


> Upsetting the IRA to the point where they wiped out his firm one by one and managed to scare the US Mafia away was a pretty bad career move for him, yes.
> 
> Now, we all know that one of the IRA assassins was a certain Pierce Brosnan (his first major film role, IIRC) but his killing partner is also a distinguished stage and screen actor.
> 
> For the grand prize of my calling you a total anorak and allowing you to join the Order Of The Smug Bastard (an internet-based society for those devoted to obscure facts) what was his name?


Okay, I'm a spod ! It was (not sure if I'm spelling this right) Dara O'Malley, who was also in the opening minutes of "Withnail and I".


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 11, 2008)

ViolentPanda said:


> Okay, I'm a spod ! It was (not sure if I'm spelling this right) Dara O'Malley, who was also in the opening minutes of "Withnail and I".



He was also kicked in the nuts by the aforementioned Sean 'Apples & Pears' Bean in the first _Sharpe_ TV film.


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## Bakunin (Sep 11, 2008)

ViolentPanda said:


> Okay, I'm a spod ! It was (not sure if I'm spelling this right) Dara O'Malley, who was also in the opening minutes of "Withnail and I".



'PERFUMED PONCE!'

Daragh O'Malley indeed. And he does look like a bloke I'd like to stay firmly on the right side of, as well.

You are correct, sir, and I hereby invest you with the Order Of The Smug Bastard, as promised.



DaveCinzano said:


> He was also kicked in the nuts by the aforementioned Sean 'Apples & Pears' Bean in the first _Sharpe_ TV film.



Indeed, an especially crushing boot in the nads, IIRC.

And he's also Dido's uncle, no less.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 12, 2008)

It's not a feature film, but across its pilot and two TV series, _Gangsters_ is definitely worth a mention here.

It was made in the mid-late seventies, set in a contemporary, multicultural Birmingham, and was as much influenced by Bollywood and Hong Kong action movies as by European auteurs and spaghetti Westerns and American avant-garde directors. Sorry, that sounds terribly pretentious - but honestly, watch a few episodes, you'll see what I mean.

The main characters are an ex-SAS soldier just out of prison, and a Pakistani-British policeman. There are white gangs and black gangs, (south) Asian gangs and Chinese gangs; there's drug trafficking and gun running, prostitution and protection rackets; there's comedy and tragedy. Believe it or not, there are even prominent, strong roles for women in it. Did I mention that this was made in the seventies?

In many ways it is tinted throughout with racism and sexism and homophobia, but the programme addresses its own prejudices within the story - a fistful of meta, if you will. Watching it today I feel less distaste than I do when I watch something like, say, _Life On Mars_ or _Ashes To Ashes_ (both of which I like), because it does not hide behind the shallow defence of "well, we're just making fun of the unenlightened bad old days" whilst simultaneously revelling in the ability to throw out racial epithets and treat women as sexual objects with no opinions of their own.

There are great, sometimes refined, sometimes broad performances, too: Maurice Colbourne and Ahmed Khalil are excellent in the main two parts, with a chemistry that is at odds with more modern TV drama pairings, which tend to just place a network's contract star (a Ross Kemp, a John Hannah, a Robson Green) with someone cheap but reliable. Alibe Cassidy is amazing as Sarah Gant, a woman with dignity and fire but also a heroin habit - it's a shame she didn't seem to get more meaty roles after this. Then there is a torrent of familiar character actors like Saeed Jaffrey, Oscar James, Paul Barber, Robert Lee and Pat Roach, all given space to breathe. Oh, and Paul Satvendar is very enjoyable as Kuldip.

And the look of the show is adventurous, too: using stylistic cinematic devices from all around the world, as well as crash zooms and whip pans and a rich palette of colours, the show really digs deep to make it visually interesting as well as thematically stimulating. The pilot is particularly appealing in this way.

So if you find a copy, give it a go.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 13, 2008)

NVP said:


> Isn't that the same story as in Rise Of The Footsoldier?
> 
> That one was all a bit Guy Ritchie for me an' all.



After you mentioned this film, I got hold of it and watched it last night.

I actually thought it was alright; I think the IMDb rating (6.9) is about right. It's fairly proficiently made, though the camerawork is a little too kinetic all of the time in the first half for my taste. 

I suspect too much has been crammed into it (football hooliganism from the late seventies into the dawn of the nineties, taking in Bill Gardner, the ICF and the police crackdown; then running doors from sticky-floored niteklubs into ye birthe of acide house; involvement in 'security', 'protection' and then 'distribution' work; then into the whole Essex clubs/drugs nexus, leading up to the Rettendon murders).

There are some strikingly detailed touches along the way - the answerphone messages during the period between the first news of the murders and the identities of the dead men being revealed, and the disfigured corpses - which appear to have been developed out of the original court evidence.

However, the film does seem to attribute to Leach more influence and importance than he actually had. It also seems to conflate his experiences with those of others. For example, his original meeting with Craig Rolfe sounds very similar to an incident related by (head of security at Raquel's nightclub/Tucker associate) Bernard O' Mahoney. The car destruction scene also sounds like an event O' Mahoney claims to have orchestrated. There are several more such instances.

And stepping back from the film - which I found visceral and watchable - I do wonder why it is hung around Leach. For the first hour, Leach is clearly at the centre of the events being portrayed, yet for most of the 'Essex Boys' narrative which fills up the rest of the movie, it's all about what Tucker, Tate and Rolfe do (and what is done to them); Leach doesn't really figure in it.

Cast-wise there's not much for women to do in it, sadly (for all the problems with _ID_ and _The Firm_, at least Claire Skinner and Lesley Manville were given a little more meat to work with), but the men in it do look and sound like the sorts of people they are playing. Ricci Narnett (one of the scary soldiers from _28 Days Later_) does well as Leach (though the part is perhaps written too much as a 'hero' of sorts), whilst Terry Stone, Craig Fairbrass and Roland Manookian are enthusiastic as Tucker, Tate and Rolfe. The Tucker hair looks just like the photos, too! 

There are definitely too many moments when things descend into pointless musical montage, and the voiceover narration doesn't help hide that the structure of the film is confused and bloated; but overall, though, a fairly decent flick. Better than _Essex Boys_ and _Green Street_, and not as idolatrous of violence and violent people as Guy Ritchie.

PS It has both Frank Harper and Billy Murray (who also produced) in it


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 30, 2008)

After seeing _ROTF_, which I didn't think was that bad, I decided to have a crack at _Rollin' With The Nines_, an earlier film by the same director/writer team, which most certainly *was* that bad.

It's got potential, it's just rubbish overall. There's a nice opening sequence, which hints at an interesting premise - a narrative based around the journey of a gun through the underworld - but it's cast aside in minutes in favour of a stodgy, standard 'rise of a hoodlum' schtick. The twist - if you can call it a twist and not blush whilst saying it - is that the gangsters are Black Britons. Cue embarrassing stereotypes, leaden dialogue, boring film.

Vas Blackwood and Robbie Gee are in it; they're not terrible. Naomi Taylor (previous credit: an episode of _Doctors_) is actually rather good, not that her character or lines are very interesting. Billy Murray has a tiny role as a Cockney uber-villain. Turbo Terry Stone is a loudmouthed cop, and in this film his inexperience shows up more than in _ROTF_, especially when his partner is the eyebrow-raisingly wooden posh boy Dominic Alan-Smith. The co-writer (and brother of the director) Will GIlbey somehow wangles himself a meaty second-string role as another copper on the trail of the gangsters, despite not noticably having any acting ability (and having trouble with basic speech). Jason Flemyng has a cameo as - wait for it, and bear in mind this is a British gangster film - a police boss called Captain Fleming.

This sort of stuff goes on and on.



Spoiler: The Bad Stuff




All the lame racial stereotypes. Really. Short of throwing in watermelon smiles and having massive, hissing black snakes slithering around chained up, alabaster-skinned young virgins, I'm not sure how much lower it could sink. To precs: black people are either musicians, or criminals. And when they're criminals, they're really rubbish at it, because they're all emotional and stuff, and can't be trusted, or their tiny little peanut brains aren't as good as superior white criminals' brains, and they end up getting caught or killed.
The lack of characterisation at any stage. Who are these people, and why should we care about them? Never mind, Simon from Blue just got blatted in the brain!
That pointless sex scene. It's just boring.
The whole Bristol subplot never gets explored, because of the car chase!
The rape thing was the worst of exploitation; the only purposefor it was to give the lead woman character a reason for being quite so pissed off to suddenly want to become a drugs baroness (on top of her brother being killed). To me that's not just lazy scriptwriting, it's downright offensive.
The rubbish 'meaningful' character names (Rage, Temper, Hope etc).
Honestly, that Dominic Alan-Smith seems to be the main cop character, and he's just so awful! Didn't anyone notice at the auditions that he just can't act?
Cameo appearances by Dizzee Rascal and Kano! Imaginatively cast as a crack dealer and a gangster!




Still, on the other hand...



Spoiler: The Good Stuff




Simon 'Blue' Webbe gets shot quite early on. In the face.
There's No Vinny Jones.
There's a nice little chase sequence, talking in motorway, country lanes, cars and a helicopter, which is fairly ambitious for a tiny little Britflick.
The assault on the Yardie house is impressively exuecuted, even if from a plot point of view it's totally shit. Reminded me of _Bad Boys 2_.
Cameo appearances by Dizzee Rascal and Kano! Imaginatively cast as a crack dealer and a gangster!


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## Voley (Sep 30, 2008)

DaveCinzano said:


> However, the film does seem to attribute to Leach more influence and importance than he actually had.



Agreed. They were really struggling to keep him involved in it by the end.

I didn't like it much - too many extras from The Bill and all that fast-edit crap that everyone seems to think's great these days. The football violence bits were exciting though - I found myself going 'ohhh fuuuuuck!' when Man U cornered them - and I did think it was gripping. If a bit naff.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 30, 2008)

NVP said:


> I did think it was gripping. If a bit naff.



That about nails it!


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## DaveCinzano (Apr 14, 2010)

Billy Murray: you're _not_ a lawyer, and I really don't think you're working for me 

Anyways... A British gangster film: 

_A Sense Of Freedom_, directed by John (_The Long Good Friday_) Mackenzie, with David Hayman as 'Scotland's most violent man', gangster Jimmy Boyle. There's violence, charisma, disgust, deviance... But it feels real, not polished too much.

Stark and one of the most powerful prison films I've seen, avoiding clichés and stock tropes, instead constructing a vivid world of isolation through colours (or lack thereof) and sounds. Highly recommended.


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## Voley (Apr 14, 2010)

DaveCinzano said:


> _A Sense Of Freedom_, directed by John (_The Long Good Friday_) Mackenzie, with David Hayman as 'Scotland's most violent man', gangster Jimmy Boyle. There's violence, charisma, disgust, deviance... But it feels real, not polished too much.



Have ordered that off Lovefilm. Ta.


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## tim (Apr 14, 2010)

DaveCinzano said:


> It's not a feature film, but across its pilot and two TV series, _Gangsters_ is definitely worth a mention here.



I remember this from my childhood and also saw the Play for Today pilot recently at the BFI mediateque, worth seeing.


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## Sunspots (Apr 14, 2010)

DaveCinzano said:


> _A Sense Of Freedom_, directed by John (_The Long Good Friday_) Mackenzie, with David Hayman as 'Scotland's most violent man', gangster Jimmy Boyle. There's violence, charisma, disgust, deviance... But it feels real, not polished too much.
> 
> Stark and one of the most powerful prison films I've seen, avoiding clichés and stock tropes, instead constructing a vivid world of isolation through colours (or lack thereof) and sounds. Highly recommended.



Another one I've not seen since the mid-eighties or something.  I agree though; I remember it being raw, brutal stuff.

Didn't know 'til now that it was directed by John Mackenzie!  (-But it figures.)


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## DaveCinzano (Apr 16, 2010)

Also directed by John Mackenzie was a (IIRC) BBC Scotland four-parter called _Looking After Jo-Jo_, about drug dealers in Edinburgh's schemes helping to create the 80s smack boom; much less satisfying, even though it had a decent cast (teaming up Robert Carlyle and Kevin McKidd post-_Trainspotting_ was a coup for the Beeb), but worth a peek.


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 19, 2010)

DaveCinzano said:


> A long time ago I read a pulpy novel called _Taffin_ about a debt collector who takes on a bunch of crooked developers...


 


Gingerman said:


> Ive seen it,its pretty awful actually was filmed in Co.Wicklow,Brosnan and Doody are way too glamorous to convince,only watched it because Im from that part or Ireland meself.



This is on BBC1 right now


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## ska invita (Aug 19, 2010)

Sunspots said:


> I think he's the weakest link in _Performance_'s cast, and it's not as if he was even having to stretch himself with the part either.
> 
> On the plus side, his musical contribution _(Memo From Turner)_ is fantastic, plus I imagine that his involvement pretty much guaranteed that the film ever got made and [-eventually...] seen.


 Funnily enough i just watched  this this week. On the DVD extras it has something about the films release problems: MGM stumped up the money, trying to cash in on Jagger's pulling power. Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg did the first edit , spent a long time on it, got it all right, showed it to MGM and they thought it was a pile of shit and refused to release it - especially as Jagger wasnt in it till after half way.

This other fella came in and edited, and managed to chop in a couple of irrelevant scenes with Mick into the first half, which just about kept MGM happy - it got release two years after shooting. 






The guy who plays the main boss (David Litvinoff) was the vocal coach who taught James Fox how to speak propper = Fox being a bit of an aristo up until then.

Anita Pallenberg was on smack throughout





^^^highlights from the DVD extras there


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## Nanker Phelge (Aug 19, 2010)

I think my list would be:

1) Get Carter
2) Performance
3) Brighton Rock
4) The Long Good Friday (wouldn't be half as good without Hoskins)
5) Sexy Beast

Special mentions to: Gangster No 1, Villain, Face (The first half of it anyway),  The Cook, The Thief etc.

Gangsters TV show from the seventies got very surreal.

Three tv shows worth looking at are:

Fox: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fox-Complet...ef=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1282218900&sr=1-1

Out: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Complete-Special-Tom-Bell/dp/B000LXHJIM/ref=pd_bxgy_d_h__img_b

Law and Order: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Law-Order-BBC-1978-DVD/dp/B0015083MQ/ref=pd_bxgy_d_h__img_c


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## krtek a houby (Aug 19, 2010)

Have I mentioned _The Fear _yet, with Iain Glenn?


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 9, 2010)

I saw a brief tweet somewhere about the _Brighton Rock_ remake not being shown at the London Film Festival for some reason or other. Can anyone tell me what that is all about?


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## kyser_soze (Sep 9, 2010)

> I do carry a torch for Danny Dyer



Fackin' 'ell!

For me:

Get Carter
Sexy Beast
LGF
Mona Lisa
The Italian Job 
Gangster No.1 - if only for 'Eddie'


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 31, 2010)

Avoid:

_The Crew_ (based on Kevin 'Awaydays' Sampson's 'Outlaws')
_Daylight Robbery_ ("Best British heist movie since _The Italian Job_" claims _ITV At The Movies_ somewhat implausibly on the cover)
_Circus_ (the one with Eddie Izzard set in Brighton)


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 19, 2014)

Voley said:


> Father Jack in a straight role?
> 
> Nah, can't picture it. It's funny when you see him interviewed - he's dead posh.



Here you go, Father Jack in all his glory:



And as a bonus, here's Father Ted too:

 

Thanks, Netflix!


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