Gangster No.1 (2000)
Country: GB/GER/EIRE
Technical: col 105m
Director: Paul McGuigan
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Paul Bettany, Saffron Burrows, Kenneth Cranham
Synopsis:
A young thug gets a position with a top dog in the criminal underworld and doesn't rest until he has taken over his racket, his flat and his personal wardrobe.
Review:
Extraordinary study of criminal psychopathology - the compulsion to violence with household tools, the aversion to women, the imposition of the will through intimidation and the 'look' in the eye. Bethany does it admirably; unfortunately McDowell, after a bravura opening, shows that he has not developed in this area of his repertoire since Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Consequently the last act rather loses the energy of what went before. Still, the cast, the convincing evocation of the criminal milieu in the 60s and the shrewd analysis of what it turned into through the 70s and 80s all make this the next best film of the millennial gangster boom to Sexy Beast, and even more foulmouthed.
Country: GB/GER/EIRE
Technical: col 105m
Director: Paul McGuigan
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Paul Bettany, Saffron Burrows, Kenneth Cranham
Synopsis:
A young thug gets a position with a top dog in the criminal underworld and doesn't rest until he has taken over his racket, his flat and his personal wardrobe.
Review:
Extraordinary study of criminal psychopathology - the compulsion to violence with household tools, the aversion to women, the imposition of the will through intimidation and the 'look' in the eye. Bethany does it admirably; unfortunately McDowell, after a bravura opening, shows that he has not developed in this area of his repertoire since Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Consequently the last act rather loses the energy of what went before. Still, the cast, the convincing evocation of the criminal milieu in the 60s and the shrewd analysis of what it turned into through the 70s and 80s all make this the next best film of the millennial gangster boom to Sexy Beast, and even more foulmouthed.
Country: GB/GER/EIRE
Technical: col 105m
Director: Paul McGuigan
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Paul Bettany, Saffron Burrows, Kenneth Cranham
Synopsis:
A young thug gets a position with a top dog in the criminal underworld and doesn't rest until he has taken over his racket, his flat and his personal wardrobe.
Review:
Extraordinary study of criminal psychopathology - the compulsion to violence with household tools, the aversion to women, the imposition of the will through intimidation and the 'look' in the eye. Bethany does it admirably; unfortunately McDowell, after a bravura opening, shows that he has not developed in this area of his repertoire since Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Consequently the last act rather loses the energy of what went before. Still, the cast, the convincing evocation of the criminal milieu in the 60s and the shrewd analysis of what it turned into through the 70s and 80s all make this the next best film of the millennial gangster boom to Sexy Beast, and even more foulmouthed.