User Reviews

"Villain" is one of the funniest films of the 1970s.The fact that it was written by the gentlemen who brought us "The Likely Lads" and "Porridge" ought to have let us in on the joke. Short of casting Les Dawson as a cockney,the choice of Richard Burton - Mr "Have voice - will travel" himself - could not have been more side- splitting.He gives a performance of Grand Guignol proportions,surely a Wicked Queen in every sense of the word.Scenery is consumed at an exhil- erating rate every minute he is on screen.If I'd been Mr Kray I'd have sued anybody who suggested the character was based on me.I wanted to boo and hiss every time he appeared.Oh yes I did. Stereotypical London geezers,sharp - suited and beetle - browed,whizz around in their jam jars looking well hard and a blag goes down before they all get their collars felt by that nice Nigel Davenport. Mr Burton's main squeeze is a bloke and his mother is an important part of his life.He clearly has anger management issues too.Nowadays he would qualify for a grant from the council and free housing to boot. Back in 1971 people simply thought he was potty and tried to keep out of his way. He gets his in the end of course (metaphorically speaking). But not before some enjoyable gangster movie clichés get yet another airing,the comic henchman,the smart sophisticated detective - where are they now that we need them ? - and the inevitable car chase. The novel - "Payment deferred" by James Barlow - was,like "The Patriots" a serious study of crime and criminals.The movie Clement and Le Frenais turned out from it was decidedly not.It was however,very funny,and I wholeheartedly recommend that you watch it if you get the chance.

Following hot on the heels of Mike Hodges' "Get Carter" (1971), this movie is another example of the new type of grit and realism that became de rigueur in British crime movies made in the years that immediately followed the demise of the Production Code. "Villain" was most notable, at the time, for its graphic violence, nudity and scenes of gay encounters which were presented with far greater frankness than audiences would have been used to at that time. This new realism also extended to its depiction of gangsters as being far nastier, more brutal and less sympathetic than had been typical in earlier years.

Based on James Barlow's novel "The Burden of Proof" this movie focuses on the events surrounding a payroll heist and the nature of the gangster who takes charge of the job. His propensity for extreme violence is depicted in an early scene in which, after a couple of his thugs beat up an informer, he carries on punching the guy before going to work on him with an open razor and strapping him to a chair on which he's left to dangle horizontally from the outside of a window that's five storeys above street level. When the gangster and his henchmen then leave the building where the assault took place and see splashes of blood on the pavement, in a remark that's typical of the movie's cynical humour, the gangster utters "bleeding pigeons".

When cockney gangster Vic Dakin (Richard Burton) is approached by club owner Danny (Anthony Sagar) about an opportunity to carry out a payroll heist at a plastics company, he's initially reluctant to get involved because his speciality is racketeering and he thinks that the job carries too many risks. He reconsiders, however, after realising that Danny knows a disgruntled employee who's willing to supply any assistance or information that the gang might need and furthermore, as the money is routinely delivered in an ordinary saloon car, it could be a soft target.

As the location of the plastics company falls within another crime boss' territory, Dakin follows protocol and meets with Frank Fletcher (T.P. McKenna) to discuss what he has in mind. Fletcher is agreeable for the plan to go ahead subject to him and his brother-in-law, Edgar Lowis (Joss Ackland) being brought into the action. Despite his misgivings about Lowis' involvement, Dakin agrees to this proviso and the robbery goes ahead but also goes badly wrong in a number of ways. After making their getaway, the criminals split up and Lowis is instructed to take the money and meet Dakin later at his boyfriend's flat. Dakin's boyfriend is Wolfe Lissner (Ian McShane), a bisexual pimp who specialises in procuring female company for rich clients.

Police Inspector Bob Matthews (Nigel Davenport) is a Scotland Yard detective who, for years, has been obsessed with bringing Dakin to justice and when he's able to arrest Lowis after the ulcer-sufferer's fingerprints are found in the getaway car, he feels that he can get the information he needs to catch and convict Dakin. He hits a problem, however, when Wolfe uses some compromising photographs to blackmail one of his clients (a Member of Parliament) into providing Dakin with a cast-iron alibi. Matthews then decides that devising a plan to trap his man would probably provide him with his only chance of winning his personal duel with Dakin and bringing his criminal activities to a permanent conclusion.

The unconventional decisions to employ comedy writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to supply the screenplay and a well-respected Shakespearean actor to fill the lead role, certainly paid off as the dialogue is often witty and Richard Burton's strong baritone delivery adds considerable authority and credibility to his depiction of the sadistic, mother-fixated crime boss. Wolfe is probably the only character who shows any semblance of charm and Ian McShane does a great job as the amoral Wolfe who's always ready to do whatever's needed to survive. The quality of the acting is good throughout with Nigel Davenport excelling as the exceptionally determined honest cop who's also an atrocious whistler! "Victim" is by no means a classic but is certainly worth watching.

Villain is a 1971 British crime movie, in which Richard Burton plays Vic Dakin, a Ronnie Kray-like character: homosexual, Oedipal, and vicious. The plot centres around a payroll robbery, and employs some entertaining supporting characters (the script was an early offering by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais).

If I say that it is not bad of its kind, and then move on, that allows me to concentrate on Burton. A good (but very Welsh) actor, Burton's undeniable talent was damaged by his alcoholism and suffered the distraction of his high profile on-again, off-again relationship with Elizabeth Taylor.

Which is why the total disappearance of Villain - never on telly, no DVD - is a great shame. There have been those who have observed that the cockernee accent Burton employs is sometimes less Bow Bells, more Merthyr Tydfil, but that misses the point. Vic Dakin is terrifying. Every time he is on screen, there is an overpowering sense of impending danger, not because he is angry, but because he is an inadequate vessel to contain the malice which seethes within him. Dakin looks like Burton, but he is his own monster.

Villain is Burton at his best.

Richard Burton plays a sadistic, notorious, homosexual, British crime boss in Michael Tuchner's directorial debut "Villain" with Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Jose Ackland, and Donald Sinden. Loosely based on the life of Ronnie Kray, this grim, sometimes violent, but often dreary thriller is ostensibly based on James Barlow's novel "The Burden of Proof." The highlight of this atmospheric gangster saga is a robbery bid in broad daylight as Vic Dakin (Richard Burton) and his cronies grab sixty to seventy thousand pounds from an armored car. What makes everything the dastardly Dakin does here so ironic is our criminal genius steps out of his comfort zone to commit this crime. Previously, he earned his loot from terrorizing storekeepers as well as blackmailing those who help he needed. Dakin is a devoted son to his elderly mother (Cathleen Nesbitt) and lavishes attention on her when he isn't beating up his adversaries. Inspector Bob Matthews (Nigel Davenport of "Play Dirty") struggles to find enough evidence to arrest this elusive killer. Altogether unsavory but moments of violence that capture the era, "Villain" qualifies as a letdown and is nowhere as vastly entertaining as Michael Caine's "Get Carter." Tuchner and his scenarists have done a splendid job keeping everybody palatable. Burton is as cold-blooded as ever while Nigel Davenport looks like the Big Bad Wolf. Colin Welland plays Davenport's second-in-command and he attacks his role with relish. If you're a Burton afficionado, you'll crave this hard-knuckled, tightly knit gangland movie. Burton's villainous villain seethes with rage and indignation throughout the colorful but atmospheric 98-minute melodrama.