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From Amazon.co.uk
Gangster No. 1 is without doubt the most stylish British violent crime thriller from the many produced at the end of the 20th century. For all the pop-video glamour of Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, neither have anywhere near as much a sense of danger as is shown here. Paul Bettany ignites the screen with a fury that explodes far more than it smoulders beneath his tautly kept temper. The tale concerns his ascent to the titular position of primacy in 1960s London, told in flashback by his present-day self (an equally riveting Malcolm McDowell). A lust for power won't allow anything to stand in either incarnation's way, especially the foppish posturing of established crime boss Freddie Mays (David Thewlis). What distinguishes this from many other tales of greed is that the never-named Gangster actually wants to be Freddie, not simply replace him. Saffron Burrows plays the suffering trophy moll in the middle of this personality clash and provides about the only level head and gentle tongue in what is otherwise a super-violent and super-profane script. This is what The Krays should have been, and therefore not for the squeamish. --Paul Tonks
Product Description
London, 1968. Gangster (Paul Bettany) is rising fast through the ranks of Freddie Mays' (David Thewlis) crime organization, his ruthless efficiency soon making him Freddie's right-hand man. But when Freddie falls for nightclub hostess Karen (Saffron Burrows), Gangster becomes jealous and begins to hatch a plot which will get rid of Freddie for good.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A true example of British film-making at it's best.
This film has some of the sharpest writing, mesmerising acting, stylish editing and unconventional cinematography I have ever seen.
Paul Bettany is actually frightening as young Gangster: in this film he seems to hold a rage within him that always remains just below the surface of his completely calm but fuming expression, but which occaisionally bursts out in short, sharp explosions, bordering on pure madness. When he forces his 'victims' (for want of a better word) to look at him - "Look at my eyes" - you find your gaze riveted to the screen.
Malcolm MacDowell is equally brilliant as Gangster's older self, displaying how truly unhinged the character is, how he has been damaged by his quest for power. And David Thewlis is, as usual, perfect in his role of Freddie Mays - sleek, smart, clever - the epitome of British gangster without becoming a cliche, as he brings something to his character which the usual No#1 Gangster in British films is almost always without.
An amazing film, I strongly suggest you watch it: it will broaden your mind and change your previous ideas of controversy.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Green Knight
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
This has to be one of the best films of its kind - and it's really rather difficult to classify. Perhaps it's better not to try - perhaps it's better just to revel in this wickedly unpleasant and often darkly amusing British tale of gangster rule by violence and menace.
While I am the first person to abhor violence and bad language in films (both ingredients are so often a compensation for a movie's inadequacies) GANGSTER No.1 gets away with murder. Many times over. Packed to the hilt with oodles of beating, stabbing, slashing and slaying, none of the violence or astonishing use of expletives is gratuitous. It's all driven with crazed logic by the oddball and psychopathic characters that inhabit the screen throughout this fascinating movie's horribly well-constructed 97 minutes.
From the moment it begins, the audience can't help but be riveted to these tough guys in sharp suits who rule the shadowy streets of '60s London. The excellent cast does the screenplay proud, obviously relishing every extreme moment. The gore is copious - as copious as the five-star swearwords, but the effect is never less than stunning, and for all the right reasons.
This film has great style, and ably survives its mildly disappointing - though somehow inevitable - finale, and is superbly directed and photographed. I can only wonder why it isn't better known, and I'm very glad to have discovered it. It's a worthy companion to classics like 'The Krays'.
Enjoy - if that's the right word - because you certainly won't forget it in a hurry.
While I am the first person to abhor violence and bad language in films (both ingredients are so often a compensation for a movie's inadequacies) GANGSTER No.1 gets away with murder. Many times over. Packed to the hilt with oodles of beating, stabbing, slashing and slaying, none of the violence or astonishing use of expletives is gratuitous. It's all driven with crazed logic by the oddball and psychopathic characters that inhabit the screen throughout this fascinating movie's horribly well-constructed 97 minutes.
From the moment it begins, the audience can't help but be riveted to these tough guys in sharp suits who rule the shadowy streets of '60s London. The excellent cast does the screenplay proud, obviously relishing every extreme moment. The gore is copious - as copious as the five-star swearwords, but the effect is never less than stunning, and for all the right reasons.
This film has great style, and ably survives its mildly disappointing - though somehow inevitable - finale, and is superbly directed and photographed. I can only wonder why it isn't better known, and I'm very glad to have discovered it. It's a worthy companion to classics like 'The Krays'.
Enjoy - if that's the right word - because you certainly won't forget it in a hurry.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
This is a brilliantly presented and told story of unrivalled lust for power. The story charts the rise of Gangster, played by Bettany, and his ruthless rise to power at the expense of the unbelievably likeable Gangster Mays. The McDowell finale and narration are as superb as the direction, which whilst being occasionally repellant, paints Gangsters as what they are ,ruthless, ambitious and extremely violent. This is a far cry from the Dick Van Dyke Cockneys of Guy Ritchie's cinema world and is all the better for it
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
This is what Gangster films should be like. There are no ultimate winners in this game. Everyone is a victim no matter where they sit in this moral slimepit.
Paul Bettany gives a searing portrayal of our anti-hero, the Gangster No.1 of this tale. He plays it the way it is meant to be. There is nothing about him that you want to like. In fact, all of the gangsters portrayed are bereft of any traits that are remotely admirable. He barely clings to sanity in everything he does and constantly challenges himself to cross the boundaries of decent human behaviour. There is a very strong homo-erotic undertow in this tale of one person's fixation on becoming top dog, which is not fully explored unlike the mid-Sixties' "Villain" which starred Richard Burton. Interestingly, our boy's arrival at the pinnacle of crimelordery is a hollow win. He now has what he wants, the material trappings the 'respect', the noteriety and pursues these long after his peers have long since grown up and obtained a life.
I loved this film as it did not glamorise its subject matter and spared you nothing in terms of violence and its consequences.
If I was to make any gripe about this film, it would have been regarding the casting of our protagonists in young and older form. Both actors are superb, but too physically dissimilar for my sensibilities. Second and lastly, I would have preferred a different ending.
One hell of a film and proves that we can still make great films.
Paul Bettany gives a searing portrayal of our anti-hero, the Gangster No.1 of this tale. He plays it the way it is meant to be. There is nothing about him that you want to like. In fact, all of the gangsters portrayed are bereft of any traits that are remotely admirable. He barely clings to sanity in everything he does and constantly challenges himself to cross the boundaries of decent human behaviour. There is a very strong homo-erotic undertow in this tale of one person's fixation on becoming top dog, which is not fully explored unlike the mid-Sixties' "Villain" which starred Richard Burton. Interestingly, our boy's arrival at the pinnacle of crimelordery is a hollow win. He now has what he wants, the material trappings the 'respect', the noteriety and pursues these long after his peers have long since grown up and obtained a life.
I loved this film as it did not glamorise its subject matter and spared you nothing in terms of violence and its consequences.
If I was to make any gripe about this film, it would have been regarding the casting of our protagonists in young and older form. Both actors are superb, but too physically dissimilar for my sensibilities. Second and lastly, I would have preferred a different ending.
One hell of a film and proves that we can still make great films.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
A superb ride through the underworld of "Brit gangstaz"! Edge-of-your-seat, magnificent performance by McDowell(even better than his usual!). I'm glad to see that the famous scene missing from the cinema release is included on the DVD. It's raw, uncut, extreme - in other words, THE TOP!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By S. Hapgood
VINE™ VOICE
Format:VHS Tape
This film should be given A LOT more recognition than it does. It's one of the best British films I've seen in recent years. Stylishly directed, it shows one man's determination to become the top dog in the underworld. Not exactly an unfamilier scenario, but where this differs from a lot of other gangster flicks is with the cold-blooded portrayal of the central character. He doesn't even appear to be human at times. He has no name, no family (no Violet Kray-style mum to fawn all over him), no apparent personal life whatsoever, (it comes as a bit of surprise to find he's actually got a flat to live in!), he seems to exist solely to wreck brutality, murder and mayhem. This could so easily have been ridiculous, making him a pantomime villain, but the superb acting of Paul Bettany and Malcolm McDowell, as the younger and older gangster, never allows this to happen. Both are quite chilling in the role. David Thewlis has a good go at playing Freddy Mays, the butcher of Mayfair, but he always comes across as far too decent a bloke to be a gangland overlord!
There are some highly memorable scenes in this, most particularly the gruesome blood-splattered part where Bettany literally butchers a rival mobster, and then takes a shower afterwards with his weapons! And the scene where McDowell rages about still being top dog, after letting it slip that he's effectively tired of living a completely loveless life and wants done with it all, is top quality stuff. There is no hero-worshipping nonsense about gangsters in this film. Bettany's idolising of the gang-leader is shown to be as immature and pathetic as any schoolboy crush. The erotic undertones to his "crush" on Freddy Mays are done with great subtlety.
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3.4 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
compelling but too nasty
I think this film achieves what it set out to do-great performances and to take things a further than weve seen before- it achieves both and therefore is refreshing in some... Read more
Published 18 days ago by Mr. J. Fowler
5.0 out of 5 stars
gangster no. 1
Loved this film when I first saw it years ago. Bought it for someone who had not seen before.
Good price.
Good price.
Published 5 months ago by Eileen Banks
1.0 out of 5 stars
More like a big number two!
I first watched this film in the cinema as a teenager and left feeling numb, empty and ripped off! Surely it wasn't that bad was it? Read more
Published 10 months ago by Duncan B
3.0 out of 5 stars
Gangster No1
A good British gangster movie starring some excellent actors. It captured the feeling of the sixties superbly. It's surprising that it wasn't a bigger commercial success.
Published 14 months ago by Stevet
5.0 out of 5 stars
gangster number 1
fantastic film loved it i think the main character was based on mad frankie frazer entertaining, scarey and vicious .
Published 16 months ago by spinepain1
4.0 out of 5 stars
"It's not who you know, it's who you kill."
"And you, Mr. Freddie Mays, you had to go swimming in her eyes. Dancing in her hair. You had to slip into her mouth, slide over her tongue. Read more
Published 17 months ago by C. O. DeRiemer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost, but not quite.......
A cut above the myriad of Danny Dyer, London gangster films, No.1 has fantastic attention to detail and on the whole is very watchable, despite some fairly graphic violence, which... Read more
Published 23 months ago by FiTP
5.0 out of 5 stars
''bloody'' good.
a real suprise, havnt seen such good gangster movie for long while. great period piece set in the 60s has real feel about it. Read more
Published on 28 May 2011 by jessy
1.0 out of 5 stars
a [very] poor man's Goodfellas
The first 30 seconds of this film were promising...then it all fell apart. From the dreadful miscasting to the over-use of the 'c' word. Read more
Published on 20 April 2011 by Lynn Braben
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not no1 but still a great.
Love this film and watch it over and over, great cast and performances, if u have'nt seen it, it's simple but keeps u coming for more.
Published on 9 Mar 2011 by mark sammons
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