A Very British Gangster

Manchester is his own. Dominic Noonan is represented as the "owner" of Manchester in this convincing documentary. It is everything but Hollwood, as thats what it's not to be. He portrays the stereotypical British criminal, although in his sidekicks' own words "I wouldn't say we are criminals." 'A Very British Gangster' says everything that is needed to be known. Very British, very stereotypical British gangster like. Suited up, no matter how cheap they look, their gold chains and rings and just a simple run through of Dominic Noonan's life, exploiting all his plus and negatives, even if you find them all negative, they are all very interesting to find out about.

Recommend, in the eyes of a Media Studies Student.

I'll cast in with those who note that if this man is truly a dangerous criminal--and there are for sure hints of this in the reported trials, allegations, arrests, well-attended family cortèges, and police interest--it isn't with the lot of teenage yobs put forward as his entourage in this perplexingly patchwork mash-note of a documentary. The Godfather mediating bit seems like a load of malarkey on the face of it, and if heavy-duty criminality is going on it is going on comfortably off stage, abetted by the infatuated naiveté of the director who has seriously lost his bearings.

A meaningful documentary could have been constructed around Dominick Noonan and a truer balance of the personality of this superficially engaging reported "gangster' presented if the director had decided, truly decided, for himself, whether Noonan is or is not a heavy-weight criminal. If not, then there really is very little point to the film which becomes a delusional record of a poseur; if so, then the director would have been forced to reassess his raw materials that fail to deliver the goods on providing any actual documentary record of that criminality except through a veil of evasive teasers.

In my personal opinion this title is an excellent overview of Manchester life, as the title says 'A very British Gangster' which anyone living in Manchester will know fully the reputation the Noonans have. (unlike some of the comments made about them i.e 'Clownish Baffoons'???!!!) Desmond's link to major cities across the country made the Noonan's unique, the fact he had the audacity to start dealing with Gangsters from other cities in the UK made them unstoppable. The documentary also portrays Manchester correctly which in some areas is very poor and slum like

An excellent Film/documentary on life in Manchester, which perhaps doesn't show the full extent of what they are actually capable of !!!!

After just watching this very insightful documentary into one of Britains most infamous criminals, Dominick Noonan, I got to say I really did like it.

Dominick Noonan, born, bred and in his own words...will die in Manchester, has been running the city for years, spending more of his life behind bars than on the outside. He has a MASSIVE reputation, and rightfully so, we hear how and what he done to get his rep (to show whos the boss to a rival gang, he cuts a dog's head off and putting it on a pool table in a pub, now known as THE DOGS HEAD, then promptly says next time it will be a human's head)...but he actually comes across as quite a decent guy too...just don't get on the wrong side of him!

He does a lot for the community, offers services to rival the police(people actually get hold of him rather than the police to sort domestic problems i.e noisy neighbours, people who owe money etc, etc... because he is more likely to get the problem sorted with better results), as well as running his own security firm.

All credit to the the film-maker Donal Mcintyre, he follows Dominick around over a period of time, and we get to know a lot of his posse, mainly made up of teenage lads, but some of the questions he gets out of Dominick are unbelievable, anybody else would surely of had a cricket bat wrapped round their head! The documentary also involves Dominics' brother, who was a self-confessed ganglord, who was tragically murdered, and we see the unbelievable scenes where the majority of the city came to a complete standstill on the day of his funeral.

This is a REAL documentary..not a film, so don't expect FOOTBALL FACTORY or RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER, this is real, uncompromising footage of one of Britains most infamous gangsters.

To be fair after watching this for about 20 minutes I thought this was a David Brent, Office type spoof documentary about someone believing they were a gangster. One of the most cringe-worthy things I have ever seen, a bloke living in a terraced house in Manchester,driving a clapped out Volvo with a posse of 17 year old boys in TK Max suits parading behind him. The only reason to watch this is for a good laugh at an individual who takes himself seriously where viewers wouldn't in any sense of the word and seems to believe he really is some crime lord. The more this (mock) documentary goes on the more you find yourself just wondering what the film makers are seriously thinking...are they taking the pi55 and mocking this individual (my guess is yes) or making a genuine insight? Ricky Gervais has nothing on this fella