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Culturegasm: British Crime Films

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  1.  (1081.1)
    What's good? What's not so good? Hit me up. I'm going to be writing soon and I need some inspiration.
    • CommentAuthorsacredchao
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.2)
    Snatch and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels are both good times. Didn't care for Layer Cake myself, but others enjoyed it.
  3.  (1081.3)
    Richie's early films were great works.

    I blame Madonna for the lack of quality in his later films.

    I blame Madonna for a lot of things.
    • CommentAuthorThumpsquid
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.4)
    Are you interested in old British crime films? If you are, find a copy of "the Blue Lamp"
    • CommentAuthorsacredchao
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.5)
    I blame Madonna for the lack of quality in his later films.


    Yeah, but he was a one-trick pony anyway, so I don't think he'd have lasted long, even without her interference.
  6.  (1081.6)
    Are you interested in old British crime


    Yes. Modern, post-modern, neo-noir, whatever. Just give it here.

    Yeah, but he was a one-trick pony anyway, so I don't think he'd have lasted long, even without her interference.


    The committee agrees.
    •  
      CommentAuthorIan Mayor
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.7)
    As legend would have it; Bob Hoskins in conversation with Micheal Caine, once said

    "There are three great British crime films, the one I made, the one you made, and the one we both made"

    Whether he said it or not, the sentiment provides you with a good starting point.

    The Long Good Friday has been called The British Godfather, which it kind of is, a stunning, bloody epic.

    Get Carter as grim as hell, a revenge story set in the North East.

    Mona Lisa prostitution and redemption. Harrowing.

    I'm not personally a fan of Guy Richie but for some more recent British crime films you should try Gangster No.1 and Sexy Beast. Both well worth your time.
    •  
      CommentAuthortim12s
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.8)
    Italian Job. 'Put your foot down Tony, E's getting rather close...'
    Get Carter.
    Ladykillers.
    Lavender Hill Mob.
    Long Good Fackin' Friday.
    Mona Lisa.
    Sexy Beast. 'Rowntree - Like Smarties, Like Shaft!'
    Scum. 'I'm the daddy now, next time, I'll fucking kill ya!'
    The Firm.
    Made In Britain.
    Croupier.

    To name a few.
    •  
      CommentAuthororwellseyes
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008 edited
     (1081.9)
    I second (third?) The Long Good Friday. Hard men who will fuck you to death as much as look at you, lovely.

    I saw that as a kid a couple years after "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" came out. Very...different view of Bob Hoskins.

    Dirty Pretty Things: Really under-rated film about organ trafficking and the underclass in London. Not a glorificaiton of the mobster in the slightest, more about their victims than anything. There's a line "We are the people who clean up your shit" that rings in your head for days.
  10.  (1081.10)
    As legend would have it; Bob Hoskins in conversation with Micheal Caine, once said

    "There are three great British crime films, the one I made, the one you made, and the one we both made"


    One of the many reasons to enjoy Bob Hoskins.

    Dirty Pretty Things: Really under-rated film about organ trafficking and the underclass in London. Not a glorificaiton of the mobster in the slightest, more about their victims than anything. There's a line "We are the people who clean up your shit" that rings in your head for days.


    I will be checking this out.
  11.  (1081.11)
    Get Carter is awesome, a personal favourite.
    Lock, Stock and Snatch are both good fun.
    Sexy Beast is worth it for Ben Kingsley's performance alone.
    I quite enjoyed Layer Cake although it is a little smug.
    Croupier is flawed but intensely watchable.
    Made In Britain is a short, sharp hit.

    I'm going to throw in a vote for This Is England as well, it ain't exactly a crime film but it's unbelievably powerful and deals with the seedy underbelly of life in the seventies. Probably the best film I saw last year.

    London to Brighton is another low key piece of work that works on several levels.

    If you're really scraping the barrel there's always Essex Boys which, aside from being based on a true story, is entertainingly awful and features Sean Bean failing entirely to do an Essex accent.
  12.  (1081.12)
    Damn you Ian Mayor for beating me to my suggestions of Sexy Beast and Gangster #1. Sexy Beast was my first introduction to Ian McShane (long live Deadwood), and Gangster #1 had some fun stuff going on, despite the fact that the only character to be played by two actors is the lead (maybe this was subtext, but I missed it if it was).

    Also recommend I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, a Clive Owen flick about a brother's revenge.

    The holy trinity of British gangster movies (Carter,Friday and Mona Lisa) shouldn't need any more nods before you see them, but what the heck, go see them.
    •  
      CommentAuthorIan Mayor
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.13)
    Let's also throw Dead Man's Shoes into the mix, another Shane Meadow's film (like the afformentioned This is England), a revenge drama set in the arse end of Yorkshire and featuring a Paddy Considine performance that will blow your socks off.
  14.  (1081.14)
    The ladykillers is great. sexy beast is also awesome...

    and i'd second dirty pretty things, i enjoyed that one imensly and not just because audrey tautou is a beauty.


    also, don't forget Carry on, Constable.
  15.  (1081.15)
    Let's go all the way back to the adaptation of Brighton Rock , with scary Richard Attenborough. And the 1950 London noir " Night and the City".

    Apart from that , Get Carter , Long Good Friday and Dead Man's Shoes are big faves.

    Never saw the quality of Guy Ritchie....thought Lock Stock and Snatch were both two hour lager adverts.
  16.  (1081.16)
    I would like to add Face.
    •  
      CommentAuthormuse hick
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.17)
    the worst guy ritchie film was revolver -- that gave me a fucking headache. it's one of those films where you think 'ok, i am going to watch this again because it will make sense' but it doesn't. okay maybe it does -- maybe it does to him, maybe it does some people; people who still cared that far into the film. for me it got to be like a turd swirling in the bowl and never flushing.

    dead man's shoes was amazing, and sexy beast. i think all the ones i would have recommended have been covered.
    • CommentAuthorpi8you
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.18)
    I'll second The Italian Job, the original Michael Caine version of course, such a great romp.
    • CommentAuthorsacredchao
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.19)
    Dirty Pretty Things: Really under-rated film about organ trafficking and the underclass in London. Not a glorificaiton of the mobster in the slightest, more about their victims than anything. There's a line "We are the people who clean up your shit" that rings in your head for days.


    That was an amazing film.

    I'll Sleep When I'm Dead was OK. Not Owen or Malcom's finest moment, but watchable.

    Carol Reed's The Third Man was good. Noir stuff with Orson Welles.
    •  
      CommentAuthorUnsub
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2008
     (1081.20)
    I'm having a time out until I can learn some manners.
    Damn Michael Caine is the man! Flawless would have sucked without him but it actually was a decent show.

    I did not really like Sexy beast. I just couldn't imagine anyone putting up with his crap for more than 10 minutes without killing him.

    Gangster no1 was much better. It had the same sadistic violence as Sexy Beast but enough real motivation to explain it.

    Here is one that is a bit out there "Clockwork Orange" ,strip it down and it is a brit teen gang film. It inspired a generation of skinheads(myself included) to engage in a little of the ol ultra violence.

    It is such an iconic vision the brit 60's crime scene that you would think there would be more modern movies with a gang of hard men wearing denim pulling scores with sawed offs from Ford Transport Vans. Top Gear did a episode about how the Ford Transport van was the perfect crime vehicle of the day.

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