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The Firm [DVD] [1989]
 
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The Firm [DVD] [1989]

DVD ~ Gary Oldman
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £5.99
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Firm [DVD] [1989]
57% buy the item featured on this page:
The Firm [DVD] [1989] 4.7 out of 5 stars (6)
£5.89
The Firm (Special Edition) [DVD] [1988]
43% buy
The Firm (Special Edition) [DVD] [1988] 3.8 out of 5 stars (4)
£10.58
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Product details

  • Actors: Gary Oldman, Lesley Manville, Phil Davis
  • Directors: Alan Clarke
  • Format: Full Screen, PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Prism Leisure
  • DVD Release Date: 2 Feb 2004
  • Run Time: 67 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000056KP9
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 65,243 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
These days people are dangerously nostalgic about the sinister tackiness of the 1980s, but there's no stiffer antidote to such delusion than Alan Clarke's The Firm. This unforgettable film was made as a one-off drama for the BBC in 1988, but its cult following has grown steadily through video, thanks to a startling central performance from a young Gary Oldman, and the riveting manner in which Clarke captures the lethal, mindless energy of football hooliganism.

Oldman plays Clive "Bexy" Bissell, working-class East London boy done good: a prosperous estate agent, proud homeowner, happy husband and doting father. But his chief pleasure is to be team leader ("top boy") of a bunch of overgrown yobs who attend football matches in order to cause violence. At weekends Bexy leads his "Inter City Crew" into rucks with rival warlords such as Yeti (Phil Davis) and Oboe (Andrew Wilde), in search of what he calls "the buzz", no matter the cost to his young family and his future prospects.

The Firm was entirely shot on SteadiCam, enabling Clarke to drop the viewer right into the thick of the action and exploit some hair-raisingly authentic rowdiness from his talented cast. Among these thugs, soap fans will spot Eastenders' Steve McFadden and Charlie Lawson of Coronation Street. The Firm is a masterpiece of social-realist drama, and one of the most virulently anti-Thatcherite films of its time. An avid supporter of Everton FC, Clarke responded to Al Hunter's script because he felt that the vicious idiots spoiling football were a new breed of disgrace. The tabloids raised a stink about the film's violence, and the BBC delayed its broadcast until 1989. A year later, Alan Clarke died of cancer, But The Firm is a tremendous last testament from the finest English director of his generation. --Richard Kelly

Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
DVD 5
English
Region 0
Dolby Digital Stereo English
Dolby Digital Stereo


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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic portrayal of English hooligans - classic drama, 5 Jul 2002
By A Customer
After watching this drama, one cannot be surprised at the global acting acclaim Gary Oldman later achieved. The young Oldman delivers a terrifyingly realistic portrayal of a well-heeled leader of a gang of football hooligans. Under Alan Clarke's direction, not a second of film is wasted: repeated watching will constantly reveal new details and refinements of plot and character missed on previous viewings.

The thrills and exuberance of 1980s football hooliganism are vividly captured by a well-researched script. Oldman's character devotes his life to West Ham's Inter City Firm (ICF), as it was in its 1980s heydey. Many details of the ICF portrayed in The Firm are realistic: the movement consisted largely of autonomous groups who united under the ICF banner on match days; and the ICF were - at the time - the most feared hooligan firm in the country.

The drama focuses on the attempts of Oldman's character to unite England's warring firms (in the manner that the ICF united the West Ham firms), but his national ambitions bring him into vicious conflict with rivals in London and Birmingham.

As a footnote, those interested in exploring the history of the real ICF could find insight in the autobiographical books of Cass Pennant. Like Pennant's books, The Firm captures the sentimentalism (and even, in strange sense, the innocence) of old-style football hooliganism.

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Gangs, Fights, Football, Violence. It's all here, 15 May 2004
By A Customer
The Firm is a very realistic look into the world of soccer gangs and the fights. The Firm stars Gary Oldman as Bex, the leader of the ICC (Inner City Corporation), a gang of brutal soccer fans who want to prove that they're the hardest gang in the area. But are they the only gang....

Bex's life isn't just spent riotting, he has a beautiful wife, a child and lives on a brand new estate (this was made in 1989, it won't be new now). Bex's problem is that he doesn't know what comes first, the riotting or the family. The film's riot scenes are brilliantly filmed, such as the fight in the car park about 40 minutes in the film, or the riot in the pub near the film's end. The film's one letdown is that football isn't featured enough because the films about soccer gangs riotting in east end London.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Firm (PPA1510), 4 Mar 2004
"I need the buzz"

Gritty, realistic, and violent. This film (that was made for the BBC and originally broadcast in 1989), caused quite a stir with attempts being made to stop it being shown.

Short and direct, what you get is 67 minutes of superb acting, camerawork, and direction. Winner of the Prix Europa for TV fiction. This is not really fiction based though - a lot of research was obviously done by the writer, and it comes over as a kind of documentary-drama.

Gary Oldman is brilliant as 'Bexy', and totally believable as the estate agent/family man who is also the leader of the 'Inter-City Crew'. The violence escalates throughout the film culminating in a shocking climax. With your finger on the pause/slow forward button, check out Oldman as he enters the pub and the girl wearing a red jacket!

A follow-up with the firm in Europe would have been fantastic, but regardless this film is worth repeated viewings.

The director Alan Clarke has left a fine legacy of work. Check out 'Scum' and 'Made in Britain' for confirmation that he was one of Britain's greatest directors.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars football the way it used to be
this flim understands football and the way it use to supported
firms up and down the country would fight to be top dog . Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars A tunnel with no light at the end.
I bought this DVD thinking it would be a great DVD about football hooliganism, which I thought it was definatley not. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2003 by burnley_til_i_die

5.0 out of 5 stars You wanna T-cut that son
Another masterpeice from the late and greatly missed Alan Clarke.Gary Oldman was born to play Bexy and the humour in the film will have you smiling anytime you think about it... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2001

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