Gangster No. 1

Malcolm McDowell, Paul Bettany, David Thewlis, Saffron Burroughs

2000, IFC Films.

To be honest, after Lay3rCake and Snatch, I was expecting a similar piece of entertaining British gangster film - and this film does deliver that, at least at the beginning.

McDowell is the old gangster in 1999, Paul Bettany is the gangster in the late 60's, where he emulates and betrays his mentor, the gangster Freddie Mays (Thewlis). Basically, what we have here is a truly chilling performance by Bettany as a complete psychopath, who's only goal is power and money and the only method he intends to employ in the pursuit of this is total gory bloodthirsty savage killing sprees. This man is a monster, pure and simple.

There's a scene in which Bettany killing another gangster, camera POV is you, the audience, and it's very effective, it shows what seems like an eternity to die, and reveals the truly helpless feeling that victims of such a crime must experience. Horrifying, but words can't describe it.

So, we have an effective performance of a madman. After he sets up Thewlis to go to jail for the crime I just described, Bettany/McDowell are free to take over the gang and the movie moves through the next three decades, where it goes off into fantasy land.

For instance, I find it truly hard to believe that any gangster of any caliber would have gotten away with such personal interactions in murder and even bank robbery! Bank robbery! Hands-on murder! True gangsters who have any staying power have others to do that for them. Like any decent manager or CEO, you delegate that kind of stuff. The people who revel in it are the people who die at early ages . . . .GangSTAS, not GangSTERS.

And then, the interminable ending, the eventual release of Thewlis from prison, and the showdown between the two that shows how Thewlis has matured and how McDowell has spent all this time emulating him because he wants to BE him, but can never find the internal peace and happiness that Thewlis has found through love.

Yes, it's understandable, and I'm glad they fleshed it out - McDowell's insanity stemming from the hatred of the man he wants to BE - but they belabored the point, overstated it, just as I'm overstating my commentary about it.

So, with that, McDowells final "Top of the World, Ma" dive off the building at the end just rang hollow.

Like the previous post, this movie was very very good up until they had to wrap it up. This all leaves me to ask,

Where did all the good endings go?



VG