"I don't want a fertile imagination, I don't want to know if society's to blame, I just want to catch criminals"
The film opens with two heavies waiting in a London flat, as a car pulls up in the street below they wake Burton giving him time to wash his face and compose himself. As he does so, the owner of the flat returns and they hold him captive. Fresh and alert, Burton enters the room and- with barely a word- begins to deliver a vicious beating and then takes out a cut-throat razor. Our next sight of the victim is when Burton looks up from beside a drip of blood (having made a crass joke about pigeon droppings) and sees him tied to a chair hanging from a window horrifically lacerated. On the other hand our next view of Burton sees him after he returns home and gently wakes his Mum with a cup of tea and offers to take her for a ride out to the coast. Now THAT is how to start a film!
This is one of those films that you rarely hear about, almost a lost classic. You'll be discussing Get Carter or The Long Good Friday and someone will say 'you should see Villain', only as no-one ever has the conversation moves on quickly. It's such a shame that this is forgotten and shite like The Business is relatively lauded. Richard Burton plays Vic Dakin, the kind of character that in summary sounds implausible; he's a gay, sadistic, sociopathic gangland boss who lives with his Mum and rules part of London through fear. It sounds implausible except that there was a guy like that in the sixties called Ronnie (or maybe Reggie, I get them confused) Kray. And, whether you find him plausible or not, the depth of characters like Dakin put this film streets ahead of most efforts in the genre.
It isn't just about Burton- and he is compelling, just the right side of overdoing it- everyone on show here is a cut above. Especially Ian McShane who, as Wolfie a small-time hustler and object of Dakin's sadistic lust, has an even more compelling part and really makes the most of it. Even some of the minor characters are fascinatingly written- Nigel Davenport's dogged, determined and stoical policeman Matthews who appreciates the futility of his task but presses on anyway; Joss Ackland's gangster who spends an entire hold-up chomping down hard-boiled eggs to ease his stomach ulcer; top-notch Irish character actor T.P.McKenna's rival gangster who is far more businessman than criminal; and smarmy, velvet-purring Donald Sinden as a crooked, seedy MP.
In fact, it isn't just the characters- the plot is formulaic but the dialogue is marvellous ("he's a bit bent for a start. You know the type, thinks the world owes him something. A wanker", "you festering pig", "Stupid punters. Telly all the week, screw the wife Saturday") especially when Dakin is upbraiding anyone who dares to even look at a woman ("sordid!") or doesn't wash their hands after taking a piss. I also liked the underlying themes that crime is just a job, a means of employment on both sides of the law and that removing one criminal just creates an opportunity for another jobbing criminal. The crime-as-a-business angle is never overplayed but the existence of a structure, hierarchy and protocol as a given is an important aspect to Villain.
I'd like to mention Christopher Challis' excellent cinematography, not only does he handle the task of transmitting gritty realism with aplomb but he manages to capture an excellent car chase and also take very intimate and graphic shots of various fights including the main crime around which the film revolves. Superb. The soundtrack too (Jonathan Hodge) is excellent, switching from tinny funk to stabbing synthy strings to John Carpenter-like piano motifs; all of it is reminiscent of films that would follow but oddly Hodge himself would get very little more work, similarly the director (Michael Tuchner) did little else of note. But at least they did this. A proper British gangster thriller that I loved- they even found a space for a Michael Robbins cameo- 8/10.
