And Then You Die

I had never heard about this movie nor its director. It looks like a British TV crime drama, telling the story of a drug traffic lord, kingpin, and in the same time a family man who wants to get rid off his opponents. Not bad stuff, but a bit weak for my own taste. Good study on relationsip between characters whose depiction is rather well made for this kind of stuff. I like the lead character, the boss of this gang. Canadian gangsters against the Italian branch of the mob in Montreal. Not a widely known topic. Saved by the ending, very dark, gloomy and very unexpected. In summary, not so bad Canadian crime drama.

My name is David and I am a 39 year old man. I live in Pennsylvania. When I was young, in the 1980's, I saw this movie for the first time as it was recommended to me. Being from America the scenes that were made in Canada were interesting and brightly displayed. And although I did not know any of the actors at the time, their performances were very believable and really brutally realistic. When I was young I was a movie junkie and I know what is good and what is trash. This film is so gripping and "entertaining" you will find yourself glued to your TV screen. Right now I am going to say the only thing that can be said about this movie that the people of "today" can understand. This movie is so good you actually feel you are watching the lost episode of The Sopranos!

This is a good one! It has realistic acting and a very interesting view of crime in Montreal. It's a film on the order of Friends of Eddie Coyle. It is a heck of a lot better than Hollywood's phoney crime flicks - and it has a surprise ending!

Loosely based on actual happenings which I remember from the news. I recognized many of the actors from Canadian T.V. Also some of the location shots were familiar (and, alas) no longer exist. Suitable low budget T.V. fare. I watched on T.V. (MPIX). Any Montrealer, I'm sure, would like this picture because of the familiar location shots. For instance, the Montreal Pool Room with its French fried potatoes (frites) and steamed hot dogs (steamés). Years ago, I used to be a regular. Having been there several time in my salad days, I was happy to see the old place once more. Ken Welsh turned in a good performance. We cannot be completely negative with respect to average TV fare. This might not be the Godfather or Bonny and Clyde, but it does have its own merits.

AND THEN YOU DIE is based on the true story of Canadian drug kingpin Eddie Griffin (Kenneth Welsh). Griffin is a man with two lives. On one side he has a wife and son in an average suburban home, and on the other a crew of stone-killers. Unfortunately for Griffin, things start to go down in flames when he makes enemies of the RCMP and the Hells Angles in the same week, and one of his crew is blackmailed in to selling Griffin out.

I first saw this film on cable TV in college in about 1987, and I've been looking for it on video ever since. Finally I found it, and I was worried that I'd overestimated it in memory. I was wrong. This is an absolutely BRILLIANT movie about honor among thieves and the dark side of the law. It's intricate and perfectly paced with plenty of action. My only complaint is that the quality of the video I got is not very good. I hope enough people will watch it to create a demand for a re-issue!