the most insufferable gang of dickheads

the most insufferable gang of dickheads

Don’t care what people say this is Gary Oldman at his best.

Don’t care what people say this is Gary Oldman at his best.

In 70 minutes, Alan Clarke manages to say more about the roots of violence in men than any other film to tackle football hooliganism ever has. Rather than sensationalising the camaraderie like other films, this brilliantly dissects how these men are products of insecurity and the performance of toxic masculinity, using hooliganism as a tool to create an identity in their otherwise quite mundane lives. Gary Oldman and Lesley Manville are fucking superb.

In 70 minutes, Alan Clarke manages to say more about the roots of violence in men than any other film to tackle football hooliganism ever has. Rather than sensationalising the camaraderie like other films, this brilliantly dissects how these men are products of insecurity and the performance of toxic masculinity, using hooliganism as a tool to create an identity in their otherwise quite mundane lives. Gary Oldman and Lesley Manville are fucking superb.

This wasn’t the original plan I had for tonight, when I work overnight I try to watch a film on my watchlist and sometimes I get it done and sometimes by the time I get some free time I just want to go to bed, when I finally got some free time tonight it was 10:20pm, I was just going to hit the hay but with this only being 70 minutes and in the mood for something hooligan after the events of the Old Firm Derby yesterday I decided to put this one on,

The Firm is a made for TV production by the BBC in 1988 so I’m not going to be too harsh on the quality of it, sure there’s some bad acting here and there and some of the fights look a bit naff compared to nowadays but what for what was probably produced on a shoe string budget it comes off across better than most made for tv movies I’ve seen in mine time, and that’s probably helped by a young Gary Oldman as Bex who starts off as a charming and charismatic hooligan and devolves into a egotistical eccentric prick,

Considering the movie is only 70 minutes long it started off quite slowly, it uses a lot of cockney & hooligan slang and even though I had a cockney great nan I can hardly remember her so if your not familiar with them it can be quite hard to get into, and i actually began to think this is a really slow build up considering the run time, i hope they don’t rush to the end, but halfway through this movie gets on course after a little bit of a disappointing first 20 minutes and takes a really dark turn, what follows is a short but sweet character study of how the mundane drag of adult life and society can bring out that primal instinct because you “need that buzz”,

I did read that the events of this film are loosely based on the events of West Ham Hooligans Known As “The Inter City Firm” I don’t know how true that is but I look at this as quite a accurate depiction of hooliganism here in the U.K, while for my entertainment I’d probably look to rewatch something more over the top and funny like The Football Factory, I walked away from The Firm thinking I’ve just seen one the most raw and authentic depictions of football hooliganism

This wasn’t the original plan I had for tonight, when I work overnight I try to watch a film on my watchlist and sometimes I get it done and sometimes by the time I get some free time I just want to go to bed, when I finally got some free time tonight it was 10:20pm, I was just going to hit the hay but with this only being 70 minutes and in the mood for something hooligan after the events of the Old Firm Derby yesterday I decided to put this one on,

The Firm is a made for TV production by the BBC in 1988 so I’m not going to be too harsh on the quality of it, sure there’s some bad acting here and there and some of the fights look a bit naff compared to nowadays but what for what was probably produced on a shoe string budget it comes off across better than most made for tv movies I’ve seen in mine time, and that’s probably helped by a young Gary Oldman as Bex who starts off as a charming and charismatic hooligan and devolves into a egotistical eccentric prick,

Considering the movie is only 70 minutes long it started off quite slowly, it uses a lot of cockney & hooligan slang and even though I had a cockney great nan I can hardly remember her so if your not familiar with them it can be quite hard to get into, and i actually began to think this is a really slow build up considering the run time, i hope they don’t rush to the end, but halfway through this movie gets on course after a little bit of a disappointing first 20 minutes and takes a really dark turn, what follows is a short but sweet character study of how the mundane drag of adult life and society can bring out that primal instinct because you “need that buzz”,

I did read that the events of this film are loosely based on the events of West Ham Hooligans Known As “The Inter City Firm” I don’t know how true that is but I look at this as quite a accurate depiction of hooliganism here in the U.K, while for my entertainment I’d probably look to rewatch something more over the top and funny like The Football Factory, I walked away from The Firm thinking I’ve just seen one the most raw and authentic depictions of football hooliganism

I love how they managed to portray a variation of every single bellend I've ever met in this film.

I love how they managed to portray a variation of every single bellend I've ever met in this film.