Villain (1971 film)
| Villain | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Meet Vic Dakin. Then wish you hadn't'.'
|
|
| Directed by | Michael Tuchner |
| Produced by |
Jay Kanter Alan Ladd, Jr. Elliott Kastner (executive producer) |
| Written by |
Dick Clement Ian La Frenais Al Lettieri (adaptation) |
| Based on | novel The Burden of Proof by James Barlow |
| Starring |
Richard Burton Ian McShane T. P. McKenna Donald Sinden Nigel Davenport |
| Music by | Jonathan Hodge |
| Cinematography | Christopher Challis |
| Edited by | Ralph Sheldon |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by |
MGM-EMI (UK) MGM (US) |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
98 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | over ₤1 million (UK) (est.) |
Villain is a 1971 gangster film directed by Michael Tuchner and starring Richard Burton, Ian McShane, T. P. McKenna and Donald Sinden.
Ruthless East End gangster Vic Dakin has plans for an ambitious raid on the wages van of a plastics factory. This is a departure from Dakin's usual modus operandi and the job is further complicated by his having to work with fellow gangster Frank Fletcher's firm.
Essentially a standard story about a heist, there are intricate sub-plots depicting:
In a growing trend for movies of the same era and genre (Get Carter, A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection for example) some of the violence is quite graphic especially during the heist and foreshadows several 1970s cop TV shows such as The Sweeney, Target and Special Branch.
The film was written by an unusual combination of two well-known British comedy television writers, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and the American actor Al Lettieri, renowned for his 'tough-guy' image in films such as The Godfather and The Getaway as well as for his real life associations with the New York Gambino Family.
Burton wrote in his diaries that he was approached to make the film by Elliott Kastner, who had produced Where Eagles Dare with Burton:
It is a racy sadistic London piece about cops and robbers - the kind of 'bang bang - calling all cars' stuff that I've always wanted to do and never have. It could be more than that depending on the director. I play a cockney gangland leader who is very much a mother's boy and takes her to Southend and buys her whelks etc but in the Smoke am a ruthless fiend incarnate but homosexual as well. All ripe stuff.
...
Wikipedia