Double X: The Name of the Game

You probably thought every film Norman Wisdom ever made had been on TV at least a dozen times in the past five years. But his personal favourite of his own films was an independent production in which he played a safecracker trying to go straight called 'There Was a Crooked Man' which flopped in 1960 and which problems over rights have kept off TV screens for over fifty years.

Shot at Bray Studios and in Scotland, parts of 'Double X' resemble a semi-remake of the earlier film; although in 1960 Wisdom would have played a character called Norman rather than Arthur, and Robert Asher would have breezed through it in about half the time. A serviceable cast (including Bernard Hill camping it up in the role Garry Marsh would have played in the fifties) disappear and then reappear throughout this tinny, talky film which looks and sounds as if it was shot on a camcorder by film students; and is more dated after less than thirty years than the earlier film probably is after over sixty.

For some reason, the director remade the not very good to begin with short film 'Vengeance' almost exactly, then expanded it with a lot of gangster hokum. Throw in Norman Wisdom playing it straight (as if guest starring in The Bill), an overheated plot like a teetering Jenga stack of cliches, and on first viewing you have the kind of stinker that negated the very idea of a British film. Having seen it multiple times, however, it's virtues become apparent - top of the list being Bernard Hill, having fun as the villainous Iggy. Every actor here seems to be acting in a different film of their own. There's an ever shifting inconsistency of tone throughout - like it was written in total seriousness but the absurdity of the material made it impossible for the cast to play it straight. In fact I think most of it was made up on the spot. It's not sleazy or violent enough to be a trash classic, but is still far better and more credible than anything Guy Ritchie ever did.

OK, before launching into anything lets just point out that this was made on a budget that would struggle to produce an episode of EastEnders. Filming anything on a small budget and producing something that looks this shiny, with so many professional looking stunts, should be complemented on cinematography and the sheer amount of work that is going to have gone into this production. However, that's about as far as the complements can go. The scenery and setting for the first half is brilliant, having a good looking (if slightly clichéd) car chase through Portpatrick followed up by an intriguing Tarantino like style of narrating Norman Wisdom's background involving the London mob rounded off with an eventful stand- off in an abandoned castle. It is from here on out that the film starts to fail. The American character is not well acted and up to this point, despite the nice twist, he was not heavily part of the story. Now that he is trust onto the screen as the main character, nearly every line is delivered so unconvincingly that it takes away from every scene any sense of atmosphere. Bernard Hill and Simon Ward bring a little bit of fun with their characters, even if Hills' Irish accent is a bit iffy. The music is stereotypical 90's but hasn't dated so badly that its painful to listen to, quite honestly the music timing is spot on perfect and adds plenty of tension to the most important scenes. The second half of the film is a complete let down and the steam really runs out around an hour into the running time, with too many stupid dialog plot holes and bad editing the movie ends on a note that makes you realize that after Scotland is left behind, you should just have turned it off. The ending is so abrupt it'll actually make you sit back and wonder what the hell just happened. Overall, the first half is an entertaining piece of cinema with Wisdom and Hill stealing the show alongside the stunning Scottish scenery. The stunt work is impressive for such a low budget and the music is hit and miss in providing moods. However, the rest of the cast and crew don't seem to know what they are doing and the script is so bare and corny that missed opportunities are rife throughout the entire film. Double X garners a bad reputation but its not all rightly deserved, its definitely worth a watch if nothing else is on and a must for any Norman Wisdom fans out there to see him turn his hand to a serious role - and he's very good at it.

DOUBLE X: THE NAME OF THE GAME is one of those long-forgotten independent films that came out during the 1990s, when a lot of young directors suddenly found themselves with the means to make their own movies unconstrained by the studios. This one's directed by a guy better known for his work on the BBC TV series DOCTORS and apparently based on a novel by an author nobody's heard of, which doesn't bode well.

It turns out to be an unwieldy little gangster film featuring Norman Wisdom in the leading role. Norman Wisdom! Yes, I couldn't quite believe it myself either. It's very odd to see Wisdom playing it straight and as an elderly hero type, although casting him as the young woman's father instead of grandfather was a very odd decision. There are even a couple of action scenes which are incredibly embarrassing for the old-time comedian. Bless him. He's not the world's greatest actor, but you love him anyway because he's Wisdom.

The film features a second lead in the form of CARRIE star William Katt. He's obviously been shoehorned into the plot in a bid to appeal to American audiences who'd no doubt scratch their heads at the prospect of seeing some old duffer as the main character. Katt feels wooden and uncomfortable, but being a fan of the actor I liked him anyway. The film begins quite promisingly with explosions and car chases and the like before descending into inanity with a boring, drawn-out back story with some very unsatisfying plot twists.

Basically, Wisdom plays a bad guy surrounded by even more ruthless gangster types. A bit of back-and-forth back-stabbing plays out, along with some mild thriller elements, but it's not particularly believable and the story seems to literally fall apart as it goes on. To compensate for this, a bunch of familiar faces have been brought into play. Bernard Hill and Simon Ward are here, alongside cameos for Derren Nesbitt and Vladek Sheybal, and the gorgeous RED DWARF actress Chloe Annett. Their presence doesn't make DOUBLE X a good film, but it is a fun oddity to seek out.

O.k. i watched the film last week because lots of people said it was a terrible film and i like bad films plus i like norman wisdom and was looking forward to seeing him play a diffrent style of role than he usually plays. Wisdom plays a gangster, well a safecracker in a gang he is sort of the brains behind the operation a mild mannered quiet fellow who hasent got quite the sort of mean spirit the rest of the gang have. So the story is this, a man visiting scotland from chicago who was a policeman meets wisdom in a empty hotel restraunt, he chats to him and is interested in him somewhat (we find out why later, i dont want to give it away but it is a nice twist). Anyway wisdom is acting edgy and after the fella buts into wisdoms business wisdom takes him hostage and orders him to drive wisdom to the ferryport, while driving wisdom tells the man his story, how wisdom was a safecracker for a gang but felt they were going to kill him after his next job so he sort of set the gang up (more on that later) and ran away from the gang but not before they kidnapped his daughter hilariously tying her up and putting her in a "silence of the lambs" style dungeon conveniantly put in the basement of a club the gang member owns. So wisdom has escaped the gang but they are after him, so he has to form a unlikely truce with the american so wisdom can escape to safety but things dont exactly turn out as planned. Thats all i really can tell you as the twist about halfway through is best kept for you to watch for yourself. Now for the film itself, wisdom puts in a tired performance to be honest, if you want to see him tackle a serious role watch "going gently" or if you want to see him in a diffrent light to his usual films watch "whats good for the goose" thats a great film as its sort of a naughty sex comedy quite diffrent to wisdoms usual style of film. I think because of wisdoms previous slapstick films it can be at times difficult to take him seriously, there were numerous parts in the film where i was half expecting him to shout "MR GRIMSDALE" and fall down a set of stairs but unfortunatly it didnt happen, he was quite old in this film and im afraid it shows, theres a part in the film where he has to slap a woman and its such a feeble slap im surprized they didnt reshoot it. As for the other actors in the film the always good "bernard hill" (yosser hill from boys from the blackstuff) plays a gangster called ignatious "iggy" smith and he is a shining example of how a actor should play that sort of role, im serious his performance really makes the film so so SO good, he maniacally chews his way through every scene and is a joy to watch, he is a disabled gangster with a bad leg (ha) so bad is his leg all someone had to do when confronted by him in a scene was to push him over and he was lifeless as a darlek, he has all the good lines here whether throwing his boss out of a helicopter or taking part in hilarious slow motion gun fight in a warehouse where his bad leg seems to hilariously get better he is phenomenal in the role. Chloe annett sleep walks through her role, as do most of the actors and i think thats the main problem here because apart from bernard hill and norman wisdom (for the time he is in the film) the other actors and actresses just dont do much. So its a watchable film, but it whould have been a lot better off as a 2 part crime thriller on bbc or itv, thats the level we are at here people, a highlight for me was a ridiculously english drive by shooting where the gunmen open fire on 2 men from a bargeboat on a english river !!!!. If you do like the film another film to check out is the hilarious chris twemlow masterpiece (cough cough) the 1983 film that is g.b.h. that film is the bees knees and makes this film look like citizen kane, you have been warned.