The Firm (1988 film)
| The Firm | |
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| Directed by | Alan Clarke |
| Produced by | David M. Thompson |
| Written by | Al Hunter Ashton (as Al Hunter) |
| Starring |
Gary Oldman Lesley Manville Phil Davis Charles Lawson |
| Cinematography | Ben Philpott Richard Philpott John Ward |
| Edited by | John Strickland |
| Distributed by | BBC |
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Release date
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Running time
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70 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Firm is a 1989 British made-for-television drama film directed by Alan Clarke and written by Al Hunter Ashton for the BBC. It stars Gary Oldman, Phil Davis, Charles Lawson and Steve McFadden in his acting debut. The film is based on the activities of the Inter City Firm (billed as the "Inter City Crew") football firm of West Ham United during the 1970s and 1980s.
The film, which courted controversy on release, has come to be regarded among the finest films on the subject of football hooliganism. It is notable for having almost no musical score or music, save for Dean Martin's rendition of "That's Amore" over the opening titles. Oldman's performance has been hailed as one of the greatest of his career.
Clive Bissel (nicknamed "Bex", or "Bexy") is a married man with a baby son. He is the leader of a hooligan firm known as the ICC (Inter City Crew). His wife no longer approves of his activities as a football hooligan, which contrast to his respectable job as an estate agent. Even when his baby son injures himself with a craft knife Bexy has carelessly left lying around, he is unwilling to give up violence as he admits it gives him a "buzz". Conversely, Bexy's father shows acceptance of his son's lifestyle, happily taking a group photograph of the 'tooled up' gang and boasting of similar activities in his own era. However, he feels that Bex and his friends have gone soft because they now use weapons and worry too much about strategy, instead of just getting on with fighting rival mobs.
The film begins with a rival gang called "The Buccaneers" vandalising Bexy's Ford Sierra XR4x4 and spraying graffiti in a football dressing room while Bexy and his mates are playing football. Bexy's arch nemesis and leader of the Bucaneeers Yeti then drives a white Volkswagen Golf GTi cabriolet across the football pitch.
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