A brief look at some of the more successful gangsters

1. Joel Griffiths

2. A botched card game in London triggers
four friends, thugs, weed-growers, hard
gangsters, loan sharks and debt collectors
to collide with each other in a series of
unexpected events, all for the sake of
weed, cash and two antique shotguns.
Director:
Guy Ritchie
Writer:
Guy Ritchie
Stars:
Jason Flemyng, Dexter
Fletcher, Nick Moran

3. "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is like Tarantino crossed
with the Marx Brothers, if Groucho had been into chopping off
fingers. It's a bewilderingly complex caper film, set among the
low-lifes of London's East End, and we don't need to be told that
the director used to make TV commercials; we figure that out
when a cook throws some veggies into water, and the camera
shoots up from the bottom of the pot.”
“The actors seem a little young for this milieu; they seem to be
playing grown-up. Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs'' had characters
with mileage on them, played by veterans like Harvey Keitel,
Lawrence Tierneyand Michael Madsen.”
“I sometimes feel, I confess, as if there's a Tarantino reference in
every third movie made these days. "Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels'' is the kind of movie where you naturally play
Spot the Influence: Tarantino, of course, and a dash of Hong
Kong action pictures, and the old British crime comedies like
"The Lavender Hill Mob.''
“I also liked the movie's sense of fun. The soundtrack uses a lot of rock
music and narration to flaunt its attitude, it keeps most of the violence off-screen,
and it's not above throwaway gags. While Eddy plays poker, for
example, his three friends go next door to a pub. A man on fire comes
staggering out of the door. They look at him curiously, shrug, and go in.
The pub is named Samoa Joe's, which seems like a sideways nod to "Pulp
Fiction'' (Big Kahuna burgers crossed with Jack Rabbit Slim's restaurant).
The guys sip drinks with umbrellas in them.”
Whole Film Review:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lo
ck-stock-and-two-smoking-barrels-
1999

4. A vicious London gangster, Jack Carter, travels to Newcastle for
his brother's funeral. He begins to suspect that his brother's
death was not an accident and sets out to follow a complex trail
of lies, deceit, cover-ups and backhanders through Newcastle's
underworld, leading, he hopes, to the man who ordered his
brother killed. Because of his ruthlessness Carter exhibits all the
unstopability of the android in Terminator, or Walker in Point
Blank, and he and the other characters in the film are prone to
sudden, brutal acts of violence.
Director:
Mike Hodges
Writers:
Mike Hodges (screenplay), Ted Lewis (novel)
Stars:
Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland

5. "Get Carter" is a tense, hard-boiled crime movie that
uses Michael Caine, for once, as the sure possessor of
all his unconscious authority.”
For one thing, "Get Carter" has the sure feel for the
underbelly of society, like the good American detective
novelists have always had.”
“Carter moves through a world of working-class pubs,
boardinghouses managed by sad-eyed and warm-voiced
widows and off-track betting parlors. This sort
of proletarian detail is unusual in a British detective
movie. Usually we get all flash and no humanity, lots
of fancy camera tricks but no feel for the criminal
strata of society.”
“The movie has a sure touch. Very early, during the
titles, we see Caine taking the train to Newcastle and
reading a paperback of Raymond Chandler's 'Farewell
My Lovely.' This seems audacious at the time, as if
director Mike Hodges were deliberately inviting
comparison with the American masters. ”
More Detailed Review:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-carter-
1971

6. Colin is in agony, shattered by his wife's infidelity. However,
he has friends who do more than stand by -- they kidnap
the wife's French lover and hold him prisoner so that Colin
can restore his manhood with revenge. A kangaroo court
takes place and as the situation escalates Loverboy's life
hangs in the balance as Colin wrestles with revenge,
remorse, grief and self pity, all the while egged on by his
motley crew of friends who just want him to get on with it so
they can get down the pub.
Director: Paul McGuigan
Stars: Malcolm McDowell

7. In their script for Sexy Beast, screenwriters Louis Mellis
and David Scinto gave us a Brit-crime classic, and
created career-gold parts for Ray Winstone as a
reluctant robber, Ben Kingsley a psychopathic bully and
Ian McShane a charismatic kingpin.
Tourette-yelping of the C-word - and it's sometimes very
funny: a crunchy mix of Pinter, Mamet and Tarantino.
More Detailed Review:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/1
4/44-inch-chest-film-review