The Hot Potato

This film had so so much potential, but the bloody music, especially the starting credit music really dampened everything.

If the soundtrack was more upbeat then yes, this film could of been right up there with LSTSB.

Ray did a grand job, and is a lucky sod too having of had the pleasure of kissing the lovely, Louise I may add.

It was also great being a time warp film and seeing some great old classic cars.

Don't get me wrong, this film has it's flaws, but the story holds up, and keeps you interested. No switching off half way through with this flick.

Overall, good entertainment with a few beers. Buy, rent, enjoy!

The 'official' blurb kinda tells the tale, but I would have said it thus: two London Eastend gobshites acquire a lump of 'hot' (meaning a chattel to which they do not have absolutely clear title of ownership) uranium and decide to 'monetize' it, as our yank cousins would put it.

First they approach Colin Meany's character, the local heavy, Harry - a role just made for Colm! - who takes them to 'the twins' - obviously you should read the psycho 'Cray Bros.' here - after which we meet a succession of weird and wonderful con artists, villains, bullies and a really spooky CIA spook.

And all the time the characters' domestic arrangements are moving ahead, complexifying the action and putting additional demands on the characters.

The action is full of novel ideas and twists and turns, yet never inconsistent - the storyline is well served by script and actors. Worthy of remark is the cinematography in so many European city locations, as well as out in the bush.

Overall it's just a fabulous film, the only way to lose interest during this is to die (laughing or otherwise) during the show. As another commentator remarked, it is not full of the foulmouthedness so usual today, and I must also remark that - unlike Hollywood - it did not leave a death toll to compare with Dachau, as most yank 'entertainments' do.

Buy it, rent it, pirate it - just don't miss it!

I thought I might have found a gem when I came across this. Alas it's abysmal.

An interesting idea played straight in 'City in Fear' (1959) and with tongue in cheek in 'Kiss Me Deadly' (1955), but here with a score that occasionally parodies John Barry's for 'The Ipcress File' (from which it also borrows the black CIA spook with a hat and a pipe) to make sure we know it's being played for laughs; of which there are very few, alas. The very last shot, however (borrowed from 'Kiss Me Deadly'), is worth sitting through the end credits for.

Period piece. Brits ken and dan find a hunk of uranium and triy to sell it for cash. Although this sounds so similar to a u.s. Film from 1950, maybe 1960. The opening credits state: based on a true story by kenneth sneath. Stars ray winstone, jack huston. With all the wacky underworld characters they meet, and their own greed, it's something of a farce. And now that word is out, the thugs are out to knock em off and just take the uranium without paying. We're off to roma. With the germans and the american. It's an international heist! It's okay. No big surprises. Written and directed by tim lewiston.