British hard man and thug life films. recommend some...

Hangdogroad

51st State, set in Liverpool. I found it overly cartoonish but its got a great cast.

igCorcaigh

I'm not sure of the exact term for this type of cinema, but it is one of my most favourite genres. I call it British Social Realism. Even the likes of God's Own Country might count, but I'm getting away from the OP's request.

Simple scenes of bleak mundanity; a kitchen sink, a farmyard barn with grunting animals... Even the Royale Family might belong in this genre... all of life is there.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118804087#Comment_118804087

NEDS - or 'Non Educated Delinquents' I just watched over the weekend. V good film, extremely dark and disturbing, about a kid from Glasgow inner city who starts off as a very smart kid in school that goes astray.

Hangdogroad

Early 80s Liverpool set BBC series Boys From The Blackstuff has one of the iconic screen hardmen Yosser Hughes.

Hangdogroad

Made In Britain. 1983 made for tv movie with Tim Roth playing a complete psycho skinhead. Big influence on This Is England.

Lefty2Guns

Some great recommendations in the thread. Have seen a lot of them, loads I haven't even heard off so looking forward to sourcing them.

Recently watched 'Villain' which was recommended, really enjoyed it.

'Wild Bill' is another one worth a watch. Available on Netflix I think.

Would 'Quadrophenia' fall into this category. Class film.

Also, 'The Firm' with Gary Oldman worth a watch.

silliussoddius

Essex Boys starring Sean Bean.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819444#Comment_118819444

Yeah Quadrophenia would fit in no problem just for Phil Daniels performance alone although I do like Sting's cameo in it too.

bodhrandude

Another one came to mind from the late sixties, not so much criminality as such, Kes deals with school bullying, Billy being the weak guy who only cares about his pet Kestrel, a brilliant film set in a rough part of working class England. Ken Loach has done some great films.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kes_%28film%29

km991148

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118826856#Comment_118826856

Wow, haven't seen someone mention this for a long time. I keep asking if people have seen it and the answer is usually no.. but it's hard to recommend it as it's so bleak.. I think our English teacher put it on in second year secondary school, not sure they would these days

bodhrandude

Didn't realise Small Faces was up on Youtube, worth a watch, not the band by the way. 😆

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqFx3W8QWQc

NewbridgeIR

John Cameron's score for Kes is wonderful. Short & sweet.

NewbridgeIR

Two more films worth a watch; have both on VHS

Sitting Target (1972) - Ollie Reed and Ian McShane. Great soundtrack from Stanley Myers. Here is trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8THRCX47qCc

The Squeeze (1977) - Edward Fox and Stacy Keach. Rough stuff.

Full film is on You Tube. Here is trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sYXaMsTeUM

Also both The Sweeney (1977) and Sweeney 2 (1978). More violent than the TV series and tremendously entertaining.

bodhrandude

The Offence from 1972 with Sean Connery is a brilliant film, tense psychological drama where a detective looses it while questioning a child molester suspect, Ian Bannen plays the suspect and is fecking brilliant (Robert the Bruce's dad in Braveheart).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZT-x_dp4jo

chicorytip

Snatch.

Hangdogroad

Haven't seen this in full but the trailer is a lot of fun.

https://youtu.be/hc5M0iwwZ6E

bodhrandude

The Angels Share - Scottish film made by Ken Loach in 2012 about a Glasgow headcase who finds his marbles and saves his relationship while developing a taste for Scotch whisky, it starts off quite violent but becomes a bit of a heart warming comedy, worth a watch.

Hangdogroad

Scrubbers (1982). A female Scum, young Kathy Burke is among the cast.

NewbridgeIR

A couple more of television series

Fox (1980)

East end gangland family. Peter Vaughan stars. All episodes on YouTube. Here is first one. Great rats scene from 38:00 onwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4It9-xFQJo

Widows (1983)

London gangland female-style. Ran for three series. Great scripts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TE9l7tlEww

p to the e

Films:

• Sweet Sixteen - Martin Compston, he of Line of Duty, plays a Scottish teenager with a knacker tache who reluctantly takes up a life of crime to help his mother who is soon to be released from prison. The Scottish (Glasgow?) accent is so thick it has subtitles in parts.
• The Guv'nor - Documentary about infamous unlicensed boxer Lenny McClean as told by his son.
• The Krays - Spandau Ballet meets notorious gangsters. A decent watch though.

TV Shows:

• Cracker - Robbie Coltrane is the anti hero in this gritty crime drama. Introduced us to a young Robbie Carlyle portraying a character as deranged as his Begbie character.
• This Is England - The film was mentioned above but the TV series is also worth a look. Like the film it mixes laugh out loud comedy with terrifying lows.

frosty123

My Beautiful Laundrette

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118915199#Comment_118915199

The Krays - good call. Great film. ITV4 have shown it countless times now. Strictly speaking, it's Gary and Martin Kemp, who are both marvellous in it - Tony Hadley is not in it!

Cracker - I see it has started being repeated on the telly (Virgin Media 3 perhaps?). Robbie Coltrane is great in it.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118915199#Comment_118915199

I watched this on Amazon. Couldn't find it anywhere. But had no subtitles. Ruined my overall enjoyment of the movie. I'd say I could only make out about a third of what was being said. It didn't really matter in terms of understanding everything that was going on. But it got frustrating after a while. It was so difficult to know what they were saying. Decent film overall. But nothing very memorable.