VILLAIN (1971)

Grubby crime drama an odd choice for Richard Burton at the time.  Prestige period pieces & WWII actioners his go-to projects as his commercial status ebbed along with his marriage to La Liz.  He certainly gives it the old college try, but he’s out of his fach as a London mob boss lording it over a crew of toughs in his limited area.  Tipped off on a factory cash run ripe for picking, he needs to work with a neighboring mob as the grab will be outside his territory.  Then, suddenly it’s a rush job with a strike called for the next day.  And while they do get the cash, the job’s a bloody botch and now the bag man isn’t coming thru.  A good setup for Brit Mike Hodges* or Don Siegel in ‘71, but director Michael Tuchner, in his feature debut, proves as odd a choice as Burton, concentrating on his actors but missing the action chops needed for the set pieces.  Still, the film holds real interest as a period marker for the early ‘70s fashions & grooming and for setting up Burton’s cold-blooded thug as a literal ‘Mama’s Boy,’ with an invalid Mom he pampers while getting emotional support from Ian McShane, the bi-sexual boyfriend he beats the crap out of before bedding down.  Yikes!*  (McShane the one cast member able to pull off that ghastly ‘70s style.)  Cinematographer Christopher Challis, just off peak work in Billy Wilder’s THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES/’70, gives gritty, clear-eyed exteriors, but can’t do much with the Play-of-the-Week studio set interiors.  Even the post-synch sound is lousy.  But credit Burton with trying something different, maybe too different.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *Another gay role for Burton after his poorly received turn with Rex Harrison in the D.O.A. filmed play STAIRCASE/’69.  (He’s got an invalid mother in that one, too.)  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/10/staircase-1969.html   OR:  *From the same year, Mike Hodges’ just as nasty/far superior GET CARTER, with Michael Caine.