Salaud

I've watched 'Villain' innumerable times since I taped it off a late night Channel 4 screening in 1999. Why? Because it's truly excellent.

Atmosphere, plot, quirky characterisations, violent action, dialogue, squalid sex - brother, it's got the lot. A far, far more interesting film than the same period's 'Get Carter'.

Scripted by venerable British comedy maestros Clement and Le Frenais from an initial novel adaptation by the simian faced American character actor Al Lettieri (and I'm sure there's an interesting story behind that process), 'Villain' is remarkably modern in its tone. We aren't presented with goodies or baddies, simply players of the never-ending game:

Vic Dakin (a darkly humorous Richard Burton) is the good old traditional mother-loving gay psychopath who enjoys slicing up informers with a cut-throat razor;

Wolfie Lissner (a superb Ian McShane, playing probably the most interesting character in the piece) is a survivor who'll do what ever it takes to survive, be it pimping unsuspecting lovelies to the elite, selling pills to late night ravers or taking the brunt of Dakin's sadisitic sexual urges;

Bob Matthews (a wry Nigel Davenport) is the disillusioned copper dedicated purely to bringing Daykin down - "I don't want a fertile imagination, I don't want to know if society's to blame, I just want to catch criminals".

And Gerald Draycott (an eternally eyebrow-cocking, seedily lecherous Donald Sinden) is a charmingly corrupt politician with a weakness for the kind of nubile young girls Wolfie supplies.

The script traces the intertwining fates of these characters after a bungled wages heist with terse, witty precision. Oddball subsidiary figures like Joss Ackland's ulcer-ridden crook (who gobbles pain-relieving hard boiled eggs during a getaway) and James Cossins' bitter, wife-hating clerk garnish the proceedings like tangily flavorous seasoning. The backdrop of grubby and grim seventies Britain is so well sketched that you can almost smell it. Jonathan Hodge's musical score is both percussively minimalist and hauntingly lyrical - very powerful. And its a rare triumph for the otherwise hack-like Michael Tuchner, who directs superlatively here with vigorous assurance.

Look out for stalwarts like Tony Selby, Tim Barlow and an uncredited Johnny Shannon ('Performance's Harry Flowers) as a copper coshing con.

"Got a hard-oh, have ya? DRIVE!!"

British gangster films have always been with us, but in the case of this very rare and hardly ever shown on TV classic, VILLAIN was to be the real start of many vicious gangster films to follow. For some insane reason Richard Burton never got any real film awards for any films he did. His films were very varied indeed. And it probably came as a shock to many when he stepped into the role of vicious London crime boss Vic Dakin. It's a performance with such frightening menace, that you wonder why this film is not shown more on television. It is also not on DVD and videos of the movie are hard to find, or of a very high price sold by collectors who wish to make a profit on this very rare gem. People go on and on about Get Carter, another great film, and I agree on it also being a classic, but for me Villain is just as good. If you can watch this film and can get hold of a copy, I urge you to do so. You won't be disappointed.

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!!

I saw this movie about 15 years ago, so it is somewhat hazy now. But I remember it had a cast of solid British character actors. It also possessed an aura of menace and creulty that went from Vic Dakin down through the rest of the cast. The dialogue was tough and believable, as was the violence. The Dakin character was obviously based on Ronnie Kray, but so what, the Krays were topical at the time.

I enjoyed this film. It certainly stands up against the drek of today. I am sick and tired of violence and gangster's being treated with clever and stylistic humour.

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.