This was broadcast on BBC2 one Sunday night circa 1997 . Its original scheduling was opposite RESERVIOR DOGS on Channel 4 and perhaps mindful of this BBC2 changed its broadcast at he last minute . As far as I recall this was the only time it was ever shown on British network television but its impact was enough to make me believe that this was by far the best film featuring the sub-genre of the football hooligan movie . After seeing it again after over 15 years I'm afraid my memory has been cheating on me
The story is set in 1988 and sets up the plot of the police trying to infiltrate and smash a gang of casuals attached to Shadwell FC who call themselves the dogs and right away we're shown how nasty the Dogs are via rival supporters being smashed up by crowbars and slashed with stanly knives via CCTV footage with the Inspector saying it wouldn't be worth the while of arresting them because " They'd only get a few months be out by the start of the season " . Let me get this right - you almost batter someone to death or slash them to ribbons and it's all caught on CCTV and you're only looking at a sentence of a few months along the lines of disturbing the peace ? Is a charge of attempted murder not a possibility ? It also points out these guys have previous convictions for football related violence so surely if found guilty the judge would be able to throw the book at them ? You might have to suspend disbelief to overlook this as a plot turn in order to set up the story but the screenplay by Vincent O Connell fails to follow its own logic and later on someone finds himself arrested and charged from stealing a jar of pickles from work
Like all hooligan films the casuals are a cosmopolitan mixed bunch , one of them has to be black and one of them has learning difficulties . Nice to know that football firms are equal opportunity employers . You can claim that the EDL does indeed have the occasional non white member and the EDL does make a big thing that one of its most prominent members is a Muslim from Glasgow who supports Glagow Rangers but still there's something not entirely convincing about the composition of the Dogs . Sean Pertwee as Martin and Reece Dinsdale as John are relatively well cast but Richard Graham as Trevor one of the undercover cops fails to convince as someone who'd be taken on in to a firm . That's the problem with the entire film - a lack of conviction to nearly everything
The one thing ID does well is to portray the appeal of football violence - of belonging to a working class gang bent on violence . This is captured in by far the best sequence of the movie where a section of traveling Shaswell FC fans stand in the home end of their opponents and start singing leading to a brawl . John breaks free of the police and runs in to the away enclosure as he's hailed as a hero while stirring music ( Composed by Will Gregory later of chill out techno band Goldfrapp ) plays over the soundtrack and it's this scene that will remain in the memory
Perhaps that's why ID disappointed me . It's a film that contains a few very good sequences but these sequences are far and few between . IIt's also a film that suffers like so many British films from the period in that it doesn't have a cinematic feel to it and looks more like an overpriced television play . It does serve as a reminder that in the 1980s you could stand on the terraces and shout and swear and sing rude songs to your opposite number fans standing a few yards away . ID is also helped by the fact that it was released a few years before the football hooligan film was done to death but with hindsight Nick Love's THE FOOTBALL FACTORY is probably the best in its field
The story is set in 1988 and sets up the plot of the police trying to infiltrate and smash a gang of casuals attached to Shadwell FC who call themselves the dogs and right away we're shown how nasty the Dogs are via rival supporters being smashed up by crowbars and slashed with stanly knives via CCTV footage with the Inspector saying it wouldn't be worth the while of arresting them because " They'd only get a few months be out by the start of the season " . Let me get this right - you almost batter someone to death or slash them to ribbons and it's all caught on CCTV and you're only looking at a sentence of a few months along the lines of disturbing the peace ? Is a charge of attempted murder not a possibility ? It also points out these guys have previous convictions for football related violence so surely if found guilty the judge would be able to throw the book at them ? You might have to suspend disbelief to overlook this as a plot turn in order to set up the story but the screenplay by Vincent O Connell fails to follow its own logic and later on someone finds himself arrested and charged from stealing a jar of pickles from work
Like all hooligan films the casuals are a cosmopolitan mixed bunch , one of them has to be black and one of them has learning difficulties . Nice to know that football firms are equal opportunity employers . You can claim that the EDL does indeed have the occasional non white member and the EDL does make a big thing that one of its most prominent members is a Muslim from Glasgow who supports Glagow Rangers but still there's something not entirely convincing about the composition of the Dogs . Sean Pertwee as Martin and Reece Dinsdale as John are relatively well cast but Richard Graham as Trevor one of the undercover cops fails to convince as someone who'd be taken on in to a firm . That's the problem with the entire film - a lack of conviction to nearly everything
The one thing ID does well is to portray the appeal of football violence - of belonging to a working class gang bent on violence . This is captured in by far the best sequence of the movie where a section of traveling Shaswell FC fans stand in the home end of their opponents and start singing leading to a brawl . John breaks free of the police and runs in to the away enclosure as he's hailed as a hero while stirring music ( Composed by Will Gregory later of chill out techno band Goldfrapp ) plays over the soundtrack and it's this scene that will remain in the memory
Perhaps that's why ID disappointed me . It's a film that contains a few very good sequences but these sequences are far and few between . IIt's also a film that suffers like so many British films from the period in that it doesn't have a cinematic feel to it and looks more like an overpriced television play . It does serve as a reminder that in the 1980s you could stand on the terraces and shout and swear and sing rude songs to your opposite number fans standing a few yards away . ID is also helped by the fact that it was released a few years before the football hooligan film was done to death but with hindsight Nick Love's THE FOOTBALL FACTORY is probably the best in its field