Ray Burdis has been an entertaining talent to British audiences since the 1970's others may remember him from spoof cop series 'Operation Good Guys' or even the excellent film 'Love, Honor and obey'; either way he also directs and writes. This is his take on the auto biography of Paul Ferris the notorious gangster from Glasgow. Ferris is played by Martin Compston ('Sweet Sixteen', 'Sister' and 'Strippers vs Werewolves' - cant win em all) and as ever he really delivers.
The film takes us back to Ferris' early days and the Glasgow of the 1970's when he was picked on by the Welshes for supporting the wrong team and as a result he claimed he developed debilitating psoriasis (in his book). His father tells him to be a lion and never a lamb and after being pushed too far he becomes just like them. Only a lot more violent. Thus begins his life of crime and violence.
He gets sent to a detention centre and after a few more run ins at the age of just nineteen the local heavy Arthur Thompson ( locally called 'The Godfather') takes him on as an 'enforcer' and he takes to it like a duck to water, quite a lot of 'water' to be honest. Thompson is played by Patrick Bergin who always does great character roles and never really gets the recognition he deserves, still I digress. This then takes us on a spiral of violence that ultimately has to get out of control for all concerned.
So is it any good? Well it depends on the knowledge of the viewer; as a film it is ruddy good but as a piece of fact based historical drama then there are many who say it about as accurate as that American film that found the enigma machine on a U Boat. The accents go from brilliant Glaswegian to a bit Edinburghish, which I am fine with and at least they are all Scottish. Portraying Ferris as a loving family man who was pushed into a life of crime is also a bit of a stretch, but that is following his book so it was always going to be a bit along the lines of 'I'm not a complete monster' as with the Krays brothers people always said 'they weren't all bad, they loved their mum'., well not much in the outstanding good will department, but it is a start. However I judged this as a film and I thought it was extremely good but not a keeper hence my rating but I wish Ray Burdis all the best in his next venture and it is good to see a film that
The film takes us back to Ferris' early days and the Glasgow of the 1970's when he was picked on by the Welshes for supporting the wrong team and as a result he claimed he developed debilitating psoriasis (in his book). His father tells him to be a lion and never a lamb and after being pushed too far he becomes just like them. Only a lot more violent. Thus begins his life of crime and violence.
He gets sent to a detention centre and after a few more run ins at the age of just nineteen the local heavy Arthur Thompson ( locally called 'The Godfather') takes him on as an 'enforcer' and he takes to it like a duck to water, quite a lot of 'water' to be honest. Thompson is played by Patrick Bergin who always does great character roles and never really gets the recognition he deserves, still I digress. This then takes us on a spiral of violence that ultimately has to get out of control for all concerned.
So is it any good? Well it depends on the knowledge of the viewer; as a film it is ruddy good but as a piece of fact based historical drama then there are many who say it about as accurate as that American film that found the enigma machine on a U Boat. The accents go from brilliant Glaswegian to a bit Edinburghish, which I am fine with and at least they are all Scottish. Portraying Ferris as a loving family man who was pushed into a life of crime is also a bit of a stretch, but that is following his book so it was always going to be a bit along the lines of 'I'm not a complete monster' as with the Krays brothers people always said 'they weren't all bad, they loved their mum'., well not much in the outstanding good will department, but it is a start. However I judged this as a film and I thought it was extremely good but not a keeper hence my rating but I wish Ray Burdis all the best in his next venture and it is good to see a film that