Maxwell

At the age of 23 i can remember when Robert Maxwell died, this TV film does a great job of explaining some of the mystery behind the man, David Suchet is superb as the control Freak that is Captain Bob.

Anyone who likes the Wallstreet "greed is good" type will enjoy this, but spare a thought for the people who lost pensions, and a good quality of life in their old age. Cant wait for the DVD!

The tenacity of the man is quite superb in terms of business, but also a sense of a man craving someone to love him (which is apparently quite an apt observation from what I've read about him). The way in which people around him never seem to be able to truly work out what he is going to do is truly the sign of a mans true power. Pension stuff aside is he really worse than Rupert Murdoch (Maxwells great enemy)?

Cap'n Bob became prominent in 1984 when he purchased the Mirror Group Newspapers which he used as his own publicity machine and their pension fund as his own loot.

Maxwell also embellished his own personal history, a Czech born émigré who claimed to speak perfect English in a matter of weeks. Maxwell fought for the British army and later became a Labour MP.

David Suchet when he is not playing ace sleuth Poirot has a fondness for playing real life, over the top personalities with a dark even a malevolent streak.

Here he plays a slightly trim Maxwell. Its obvious Suchet has skipped a strict KFC only diet to play the obese Maxwell.

This Maxwell eats a lot. He also fights a losing battle with his girth as he uses plush towels to wipe himself at the toilet and having a testy relationship with his wife.

At the office he quietly but ruthlessly humiliates his own son in the boardroom before showing him how to negotiate down the price of newsprint.

However spiralling debt would lead to Maxwell's demise as he strived to become a global player and be a rival to Rupert Murdoch.

It was noticeable that on the day he died, the then editor of the Independent Newspaper, Andreas Whittam Smith was the first person to state that the Mirror Group as well as the other Maxwell companies will be broken up as they were heavily in debt.

Here we see a Maxwell hurtling towards disaster, running out of options, and becoming paranoid. A ruthless crook raiding his staff pension funds.

Suchet plays to Maxwell's contradictions. He wants to be part of the establishment but it does not want him.

Maxwell, the man of the people doing so much for charity but then with a banker, urinating from the side of his skyscraper on to the people on the street below.

Suchet does not want to portray Maxwell as a pantomime villain as he had a rough charm with his cynicism.

I was at Highbury Stadium the night of Maxwells disappearance was announced on tv. I reckon it was suicide. The chickens had come home to roost. Prison would have awaited his return. David Suchet gives a fine performance as Maxwell. Maybe slightly over the top but that was Capn Bob. Bombast and arrogance mixed with a machiavellian nature.

My Review - Maxwell Streaming on Prime My Rating. 8/10

Maxwell is a BBC tele movie I hadn't heard of till reading an article about its star David Suchet who plays Robert Maxwell the Czech born British media baron who was in direct competition with Rupert Murdoch .

Based on some factual events that script writer Craig Warner has cleverly embellished for dramatic effect .

Maxwell " portrays the last few months of a driven egomaniacs life and how he manipulated and intimidated his executives and family to bend to his will.

Robert Maxwell's character who in life was a former member of Parliament as well as being a suspected fraudster and spy could easily have been the inspiration for Logan Roy the character that Brian Cox portrays so beautifully in Succession .

The family characters are even similar and some fine performances from Ben Caplan as Maxwell's son Kevin who lives in his fathers shadow plus an all time favourite of mine British actress Patricia Hodge who plays Betty Maxwell the wife who has reached her use by date as far as Maxwell is concerned.

It's a very interesting cast we even get to see Dan Stevens (3 years before Downton Abbey) as Basil Brookes the young account executive who tries to reason with his megalomaniac boss.

David Suchet who plays Robert Maxwell is a superb character actor I always enjoy his performances. I've seen him play roles ranging from his signature role as Hercule Poirot to Lady Bracknell and even cast as a dynamic Vatican Cardinal Benneli on stage in Sydney in The Last Confession.

He excels playing powerful men and Robert Maxwell who was obviously a powerful but repellent British tycoon who turned money laundering into an art form.

This 90 minute movie is so well done and a credit to all involved including Director Colin Barr.

When Basil Brookes joins his board as financial director, Robert Maxwell owns hundreds of companies, is worth millions and is obsessed with his internal game of one-upmanship with fellow business magnate Rupert Murdock. Brookes finds himself taken in by Maxwell's larger than life character but with share prices dropping and Maxwell's determination that more public exposure for him is the answer, the empire starts to slide. As his advisors push him to offload assets to stabilise his debts, Maxwell pushes to go deeper into the hole to try and get out.

Although it very much a dramatised version of history that offers little sympathy to Maxwell, this film is interesting and engaging as it deals with a powerful and rich man. Like many powerful businessmen, Maxwell's money is not cash sitting in a bank and I did find it engaging to hear him discussing how wealth is about having access to wealth. On one hand he is correct of course but then on the other hand we already know where his attitude towards money. The film goes through the fall of Maxwell with broad brush strokes making up the story but this was never a film for the detail but rather a biopic of a caricature.

This is perhaps too harsh a comment though, because although the character is very much founded in this way, a strong performance by Suchet makes it much more than this and, in doing so, lifts the film as a whole. His Maxwell is suitably inflated and egotistical but he also adds just about enough madness and humanity to make the character interesting. Beyond him the support cast are little more than that – support; with Stevens, Caplan and others all filling in well enough. Director Barr has a very slight mocking tone but controls it to prevent it becoming a p1ss take before it turns darker.

A good television biopic then that goes through the story in good chunks but is mainly driven by a good central turn from Suchet, giving a performance that dominates without spiralling into ham at any point.