Villain

The Blu-ray disc version of this film has greatly improved sound and picture quality over the standard DVD disc version. Also this is a lovely package!!!.

Fantastic British gangster movie from the early 70’s. If you enjoyed The Sweeney and Get Carter this is a must see movie. Well acted, directed, written - and with a very well known ensemble cast. Gritty and realistic with Richard Burton’s character firing on all cylinders!

“Villain” is something of an outlier, the only film in Richards Burton’s illustrious career where he played an out-and-out… villain… sorry. A sadistic, psychopathic criminal with a Mother Complex, who’s openly gay - which was a really big deal back in the early 70’s - “Vic Dakin” is a very nasty piece of work an’ no mistake.Overshadowed by the superlative “Get Carter” which was released a few months earlier, there’s still much to enjoy in this early 70’s, very British crime thriller, including a number of brutally effective set pieces, Donald Sinden as a sleazy, womanizing MP, Nigel Davenport as “Inspector Matthews,” the stolid, hard-working copper determined to take Dakin down, and a young Ian McShane as the mildly androgynous “Wolfie,” a small-time hustler who’s relationship with Vic is, shall we say, painfully complicated.But the main reason to watch Villain is, if you couldn’t guess, Burton, as he slides effortlessly between laddish bonhomie, cold-eyed menace, and snarling histrionics with ease. Whether he’s slicin’ someone up with a straight razor, terrorizing a corrupt toff in a casino lav, takin’ ‘is dear ol’ Mum on a day trip to Brighton, or kickin’ someone’s ribs-in to make a point, Burton’s “Dakin” prefers the personal touch, dominating the screen, the cast, and the film itself.MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW.The plot of the film is propulsive and doesn’t let up for a second. Vic Dakin, a London gangster known for his viciousness and sadism, runs a lucrative protection racket, while dabbling in a little blackmailing on the side, is given a tip about a potential wages job at a factory in the outskirts of London that could net him about £70k, which would be about £1M today.An immediate complication is that the factory, and therefore the job, is in another gang’s territory; lucky for Vic his opposite number is an old pal from way back, “Frank Fletcher” played by T.P. McKenna, so a meeting is quickly arranged, a deal is made whereby the two “firms” will work together, and plans are put in place.The day of the robbery arrives and everything goes like clockwork, at least initially, but the targets of Dakin’s planning realize that something’s up and the operation falls apart in double quick time. What should have been a surgical strike on the car carrying the factory wages descends into brutal hand-to-hand combat resulting in the couriers being beaten to within an inch of their lives, and some of Dakin’s gang, including his old pal Fletcher, sustaining serious injuries.This sequence is thrillingly realized by director Michael Tuchner - whose first film this was! - and puts you right in the middle of the action.In the chaotic aftermath the gang splits up, with the money being left in the care of one of Fletchers associates, as Dakin is sure that Inspector Matthews will come knocking on his door. But Dakin’s rage over the bungled job, his paranoia over the location of the money, and the psychological pressures of a very personal loss, push him over the edge, leading to rash decisions, a brutal climax, and a final confrontation with his nemesis, Inspector Matthews.SPOILERS END.You might wonder why the actor who gave us definitive portrayals of Henry V, Henry VIII, Hamlet, Coriolanus, Mark Antony, and Thomas Becket amongst many others, would throw himself into something that was ultimately dismissed as low-grade schlock by the critics of the day. Well, Burton explained it thus in his diaries; “It is a racy sadistic London piece about cops and robbers - the kind of 'bang bang - calling all cars' stuff that I've always wanted to do and never have... I play a cockney gangland leader who is very much a mother's boy and takes her to Southend and buys her whelks etc but in the Smoke am a ruthless fiend incarnate but homosexual as well. All ripe stuff.”All ripe stuff indeed! The film contains a couple of gratuitous boob shot scenes, which is in keeping with the generally sleazy milieu, and Vic’s homosexuality, coupled with his sexual sadism, is treated as utterly transgressive and repellent.All this makes “Villain” probably one of the best British Gangster films you’ve never seen, so, for the sake of a couple of quid on Prime Video, what’re you waiting for? Go ahead and treat yerself, y’know that’s what Vic would want... and you wouldn’t want to disappoint Vic now, wouldya?

Villain is directed by Michael Tuchner and adapted to the screen by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais and Al Lettieri from the novel The Burden of Proof written by James Barlow. It stars Richard Burton, Ian McShane, T.P. McKenna, Donald Sinden, Nigel Davenport, Fiona Lewis, Joss Ackland, Cathleen Nesbitt, Colin Welland and Tony Selby. A Panavision/Technicolor production, music is by Jonathan Hodge and cinematography by Christopher Challis.Ruthless London gangster Vic Dakin (Burton) agrees to orchestrate the robbery of a wages van. However, when it is requested for him to work with another gangster's firm, Dakin is less than enthused, especially as his private life is hanging heavy on his shoulders.1971 saw the release of the magnificent Get Carter, surely a benchmark film in the pantheon of British neo-noirs. The year also witnessed Straw Dogs and A Clockwork Orange bursting forth to bother the tabloids and gnaw away at the paying public's conscious, there really was something stirring In the violent belly of Blighty. There was also another very violent British film out in 71, Villain, a criminally overlooked slice of grim Britannia.Richard Burton, he a bastion of rugged masculinity and hard drinking legends, is here playing a sadistic homosexual gangster with a paunch. He is not beyond using a razor to enact retribution on a squealer, or to beat his boyfriend Wolfie Lissner (McShane) before making love to him, but he loves his mother beyond compare though! This was a tough sell to Burton fans one would think, which may go some way to explaining why it disappeared quickly and has still to this day been largely consigned to cult status appraisals only. In fact some of the more intimate scenes between Burton and McShane were cut, so the supposed fall out could have been worse. I say supposed because there's conflicting stories as to how the film actually performed at the box office...Viewing it now reveals Villain to be a biting piece of British cinema, often uncompromising and filled to the brim with character's either damaged or carrying around some sort of affliction or kinky trait. It is pure neo-noir, both in characterisations and narrative drive. Dakin is a maelstrom of tortured emotions, his anger issues frightening but off set by his mother fixation. Wolfie is a bisexual pimp and in a rut, Gerald Draycott (Sinden) is the MP with a thirst for sex getting in deeper than he can handle and on it goes. Thug with an ulcer, hapless girlfriends, snitch, blackmail, murder, violence unbound, nudity, sadism and two hard bastard coppers not beyond giving someone a few lumps to get what they need.Then of course there is the robbery itself, a chase and heist sequence of events that are excellently constructed by the makers. The script pings with menacing humour and the writers have a good ear for London dialogue. The London backdrops are classic early 70s monuments and iconic period points of interest, all photographed in that grubby low key way that sits perfectly with the unfolding story. Cast is a who's who of British actors of the time, and all perform well up to standard to make this a riveting and potent viewing experience. There were some complaints about Burton's accent, but it really isn't that bad and only becomes noticeable when he is called on to shout. Burton is great, a bold role gets a bold performance and it is definitely one of his most under valued turns.Not as brill as Get Carter, but it's something of a must see for any fan of British gangster films, while it actually makes for the perfect companion piece to Michael Caine's magnum opus. 8.5/10