McVicar

Great film, great soundtrack, Daltry is awesome! They dont make them like this anymore.

First rate prison thriller with exceptionally good lead performances by Daltrey and Adam Faith (charming).

Great use of music, get the soundtrack if you are a Who fan

Often not spoken about as one of the best British movies made when it should be.

This one ranks up there with "Get Carter" (1971) and "the Long Good Friday" (1980) as one of the greatest UK gangster flix of all time. Roger Daltry is excellent in the title role, kind of like an English Papillon, except he's not innocent! The soundtrack's average but it does contain one truly funky, synthesizer-heavy instrumental ("Escape (part one)") that helps the action flow along better. Plus Daltry wears quite possibly the coolest pair of on-screen Adidas since Bruce Lee's in "Game of Death" (1978) The only thing missing is Keith Moon as a maniac convict but you don't have to like the Who to dig this one. I mean as McVicar himself says, "Being a thief is a terrific life. But the trouble is they put you in jail for it." Nuff said.

I nearly forgot this tremendous crime film from UK. It was made in the early eighties, the same year as LONG GOOD FRIDAY, also a terrific gem. This one was made by Tom Clegg a future prolific British director, and starred by a non actor - such a shame for the movie business, because Roger Daltrey is far far above being convincing in the lead role. He could have made many other films of this kind. The prison sequences, in the first part, are however a bit lame, the inmates picture a bit too smooth. I expected something tougher, compared to the rest of the film. I think it was too cliché, too easy described. Excellent film however.

OK. Decent enough film. 'Rock star tries his hand at acting' is so often a recipe for disaster, but Roger Daltrey is convincing here. And he has good support from the rest of the cast and the director. It is a low budget effort, and as such deserves credit for ending up as a very watchable piece of cinema.

I have one major problem with it though. And that is the way most of the convicts are seen as basically decent salt-of-the-earth blokes, while all figures of authority are seen as the harsh, unsympathetic enemy. This is especially so in the first half of the film, when we are expected to sympathise automatically with the prisoners (most of whom are seen as extremely likable chirpy cockneys doing their best against the unfair adversity of being in the nick) against the guards (all very unsympathetically played as tyrants or halfwits).

I'm not a strict moralist. And I don't believe that all people in prison are monsters. But if you watch the film you will see what I mean. There is a subtle balance required in presenting the human side of an armed robber, or even a petty thief, in a film. It can be done, and done well. But here all we get is a lazy 'it's us lovable villains versus them lot' mentality. And what is annoying is that this is 'beneath' the makers of the film. I think they were talented enough to be able to write and play more rounded characters and get a similar message across in a more authentic way.

Anyway: that's my main problem with McVicar. Watch it and see if you agree. It is not a bad film - I've given it a 6, which seems to accord with the IMDb opinion. If anything, it is worth seeing for the curiosity value of Daltrey's decent performance.