Villain

The Leonard Maltin movie guide described this movie as being "nasty" and "stomach-churning". Actually, by today's standards, the level of violence on display here you could probably easily get away with on prime time network television. Anyway, the tame by today's standards violence wasn't an issue with me. The main problem is with the script. The movie starts off fairly well, but quickly becomes very slow and talky, and the dialogue isn't particularly colorful or interesting to grab the viewer. (This problem can be found with a lot of other British movies this age or older.) As for Richard Burton, while his performance here is not one of his worst, it's also not one of his better ones. One problem for him might have been the fact that his character's appearances are somewhat less in number than you might think. This is not an awful movie, but for the most part it's kind of bland and forgettable. If you want to see an early 1970s British crime drama, I would suggest you watch the 1971 Michael Caine movie "Get Carter" instead.

This film may not be a classic but it is one of my favourite films of the early 1970s and is worth watching if only for the great cast. Richard Burton's portrayal as a vicious, homosexual mother-fixated, career-criminal psychopath is superb (the Kray twins had only recently been sentenced and comparisons can be drawn). It would have been easy to portray Vic Dakin-great villain name- as an American-style, one dimensional cardboard villain. Instead it is a study of intelligent evil. His character carries an air of menace made all the more frightening by his eloquence and intellect. The film has a good British cast (watch out for a scene-stealing Nigel Davenport as the police officer in charge), gritty 1970s locations and all the usual formula: the planning and execution of a robbery, torture scene, blackmail and even a hospital kidnap! What more could you ask from an old potboiler gangster film? Go on, watch the

film and make up your own mind. A strong British film and a must for fans of Richard Burton.

Michael Tuchner's "Villain" is everything a gangster film should be; tough, violent, grim and filled with loathsome characters who have no redeeming features. The film is clearly influenced by the Krays and does an excellent job of creating a vision of what the real underworld is like, with no comical scenes or foolish characters - the overall tone is ice cold.

The film's plot is pretty familiar with Richard Burton playing Vic Dakin, one of the top crime bosses in London, who is seeking more power through controlling a prominent politician (Donald Sinden) and planning a major robbery.

The film benefits hugely from the casting of Richard Burton in the lead role of Vic Dakin who, like Ronnie Kray, is a gay, mother-fixated psychotic. Although the Welsh Burton does struggle with the Cockney accent, he is totally believable as the character and must be commended for his no-holds-barred performance, which few other Hollywood stars would have dared risk their career on. It is testament to Burton's performance that a former Kray henchman rates it as the most realistic portrayal of a British gangster on screen and very close to what Ronnie Kray was really like. In other words not a very nice man as the film stated at the time - "Meet Vic Dakin, then wish you hadn't."

Why "Villain" has become so forgotten is a mystery. It was made in the same year as "Get Carter" in 1971 but neither film was a hit. However "Get Carter" eventually found a large cult following and is now widely regarded as a British classic. Although "Villain" is one of the top five British gangster films it is not quite in the same league as "Get Carter", "The Long Good Friday" and "Brighton Rock" but it does deserve wider recognition.

You have to live Burton camping it up as a psychotic mum loving gangster. It's all a bit small budget but if you stumble upon it you will enjoy it. It's quite violent in places as Burton is proper psych!!

Villain is a classic example of the English gangster genre which stretches from Brighton Rock, through Get Garter and the Long Good Friday, to Lock, Stock etc. Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have fashioned a kind of East-End version of White Heat with Burton in the mother-fixated Jimmy Cagney role.

Burton gives us his Ronnie Kray impersonation and clearly relishes the sly dialogue of the script. The support includes notable turns from Nigel Davenport, Donald Sinden, and an hilarious Joss Ackland as a would-be heavy with an upset tummy.

The action is well-handled and the settings convincingly grubby but it's the superb dialogue that repays repeated viewings.