The British Gangster Genre
This week we have THE LIABILITY, a new British gangster film starring Tim Roth. The actor is no stranger to the gangster genre, having started in 1994’s LITTLE ODESSA and, most famously, RESERVOIR DOGS, which is a kind-of honorary British gangster film.
THE LIABILITY got us thinking about the history of the British gangster film, a genre that starts with BRIGHTON ROCK in 1947 and runs right up to the present.
As far as the old school goes, a ride through Mike Hodges' 1971 film, GET CARTER, will tell you all you need to know. Rife with misogyny, unchecked anger, and, of course, “ultraviolence” (to quote a rather different British gangster film, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE), it offers Michael Caine as a very pissed-off bad guy avenging the death of his brother, who’s been killed by other bad guys. (Caine’s been in his share of British gangster films, including THE ITALIAN JOB and MONA LISA. You might also want to check out 2009’s HARRY BROWN, in which a pissed-off NOT bad guy Caine avenges the death of his best friend, killed by other bad guys.)
New school British gangster films include THE KRAYS (1990), LAYER CAKE (2004, with a terrific performance by Daniel Craig), THE BANK JOB (2008), and, of course, the films of Guy Ritchie, who’s made a career of this genre, with LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS (1998), SNATCH (2000), REVOLVER (2005) and ROCKNROLLA (2008).
The genre is a rich one, and worth exploring.
