Adam P
A brilliant film. A quintessential piece highlighting the pointless macro xenophobia that organised football violence produced at the time,
Quite a few well known names in it. It has a million memories of the period thrown in. I could go on and ramble but watch it. You might like it.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
12/17/22
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Shioka O
The film itself is like a reality TV drama, but young Oldman professionally delivered over the top performance as always. Full energy. This is not a sports drama, just features Hooligans, a unique British culture.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
11/19/22
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Audience Member
Clive "Bex" Bissell (Gary Oldman) is a married man with a baby son. He is the leader of a hooligan firm known as the ICC (Inter City Crew). His wife no longer approves of his activities as a football hooligan, which contrast to his respectable job as an estate agent. Even when his baby son injures himself with a craft knife Bexy has carelessly left lying around, he is unwilling to give up violence as he admits it gives him a "buzz". Conversely, Bexy's father shows acceptance of his son's lifestyle, happily taking a group photograph of the 'tooled up' gang and boasting of similar activities in his own era. However, he feels that Bex and his friends have gone soft because they now use weapons and worry too much about strategy, instead of just getting on with fighting rival mobs. A rival gang called "The Buccaneers" vandalising Bexy's Ford Sierra XR4x4 and spraying graffiti in a football dressing room while Bexy and his mates are playing football. Bexy's nemesis and leader of the Buccaneers, Yeti (Phil Davis), then drives a white Volkswagen Golf GTi cabriolet across the football pitch. With an imminent international football tournament in Holland, Bexy wants to form a 'National Firm' - comprising several rival gangs - big enough to take on the well organised and large international hooligan groups. Bexy meets leaders from other firms in the Tower Hotel in London, including the Buccaneers. The other gangs like the idea but do not like the idea of Bexy being top boy. The rival firms then agree to fight each other in order to determine who will lead the new, amalgamated firm into Europe...
The Firm proved controversial, and has been both celebrated and condemned for its violent content. Tom Dawson in The List reported that it "is widely considered to be the toughest and most insightful screen depiction of football hooligans". Vice critic Harry Sword wrote that "The Firm remains the definitive celluloid document on football hooliganism: a panoramic masterpiece that captured a world of vicious violence and material aspiration". Philip French in The Observer described the film as "by some way the best movie on the subject of football hooliganism and a key text on the subject of Thatcher's Britain." Film4 hailed The Firm as a "brilliant and compelling drama" that features Oldman "at his visceral, intense best". Josh Winning of Total Film observed its "unflinching depictions of violence" along with Clarke's "layered, fearless approach", and named Oldman's "stunning" performance as the best of his career. Matthew Thrift of the British Film Institute in 2018 wrote that Bissell "remains probably Gary Oldman's greatest screen performance". The Firm has been described as a cult classic. (via Wikipedia)
Alan Clarke´s BBC tv-movie about football hooligans is raw, violent and strong. The film is based on the activities of the Inter City Firm (billed as the "Inter City Crew") football firm of West Ham United during the 1970s and 1980s. The production has flaws, but also great performances specifically from Gary Oldman as Bex. I would agree to the fact Oldman's performance has been hailed as one of the greatest of his career. The film, which courted controversy on release, has come to be regarded among the finest films on the subject of football hooliganism. It is notable for having almost no musical score or diegetic music, save for Dean Martin's rendition of "That's Amore" over the opening titles. Been wanting to see this tv-movie for a long time and it was worth the wait. I did like Nike Love´s remake from 2009 which pointed me in the direction of wanting to see the original.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
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Audience Member
DIRECTORS CUT
Clarke's film is unflinching, uncompromising and the essence of brutality in mindless, horrifying violence. Performances are truly stunning with Oldman giving his most bipolar and schizophrenia performance to date, one minute a likeable and funny character, then turning into a monster the next.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
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Audience Member
There are loads of great things I can say about Alan Clarke's "The Firm." Number (1) It has a great example about "Football Hooliganism." that delivers a lot of aggression and hatred to certain faces. For example: Bex (Gary Oldman) who you can tell from the start of the movie that he is a loose cannon, and if anything gets out of hand with him or his crew, you know you are going to pay the price. Bex carries a Stanley Blade around with him. Mainly for some of his brutal attacks. There is a scene where we see Bex slicing someone's face. The person did the same thing to one of Bex's gang members. There is another person in the movie who goes by the name of Yeti(Phil Davis) and seems like another Bex in a way. But in one scene in the movie we really get the hatred and anger Bex feels about Yeti. There is a scene where bex goes back to his mum's house to pick up some essentials. He flips a Police baton, and starts hitting his pillow very aggressively, shouting "Yeti!" over and over. There is another person that I liked in the movie, and that was Bex's wife, Sue(Lesley Manville) who loves Bex, but doesn't like the style he lives. Especially in a scene where we see their only son root threw Bex's pockets and finds Bex's Stanley Knife, and starts brushing his teeth with it. It's obvious when the audience see that, they are going to go "No! Not the baby." Well I know I did. After that incident, we see an argument between Bex and Sue about their baby's safety. Bex doesn't really show much sadness or guilt about it because the only thing on his mind is Yeti. But you will have to watch the movie to find out if Bex finally "Had Yeti."
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
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Audience Member
An outstanding performance by Gary Oldman for this fine TV movie by Alan Clarke, with Oldman as a successful family man who still has a nasty streak and is a soccer hooligan. As the story goes, the violence rips his family apart and ultimately destroys him. Required viewing for fans of either Oldman or great British realism in cinema.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
Full Review
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