Great British Gangster Movies
- Thread starter Voley
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Bakunin
I am Noodle's bitch.
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.
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!
Juice Terry
rama lama fa fa fa
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
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
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.
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.
Voley
🐀
Isn't that the same story as in Rise Of The Footsoldier?
That one was all a bit Guy Ritchie for me an' all.
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.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
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.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Just slightly...
Sean Bean
Alex Kingston
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?
I grew up in the East End and Essex, and I can't even understand what Sean Bean says there.
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.)
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
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>
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
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".
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Okay, I'm a spod
He was also kicked in the nuts by the aforementioned Sean 'Apples & Pears' Bean in the first Sharpe TV film.
Bakunin
I am Noodle's bitch.
Okay, I'm a spod
'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.
Indeed, an especially crushing boot in the nads, IIRC.
And he's also Dido's uncle, no less.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
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.
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.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
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
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
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.
Still, on the other hand...
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.
- 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...
- 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!
Voley
🐀
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.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
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.
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.
Voley
🐀
tim
EXPLODED TIM! (Help me!!!)
I remember this from my childhood and also saw the Play for Today pilot recently at the BFI mediateque, worth seeing.
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.)
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
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.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
ska invita
back on the other side
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.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.
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
Nanker Phelge
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
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
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
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Have I mentioned The Fear yet, with Iain Glenn?
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
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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