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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Gangster No. 1 (2000)

Gangster No. 1 (2000)

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Released 1-Aug-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Mob Dolby Digital Trailer-City
Featurette
TV Spots-2
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Snatch; Circus
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2000
Running Time 95:58
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4,5 Directed By Paul McGuigan
Studio
Distributor

Sony Pictures Home Entertain
Starring Malcolm McDowell
David Thewlis
Paul Bettany
Saffron Burrows
Jamie Foreman
Case Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI $36.95 Music John Dankworth


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
Spanish
Dutch
Arabic
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Finnish
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Swedish
Smoking Yes, frequently
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Gangster No. 1 is a very violent film that follows the rise and fall over 30 years of a psychopathic gangster in London's Soho district. Paul Bettany plays the lead character ('Gangster') in the first two acts of the film (1960s-1970s) as we follow his career from being a ruthless bagman to the head of his organisation.

    Gangster is hired as a young man by Freddy Mays, the Butcher of Mayfair (David Thewlis) - a powerful gang boss - and quickly becomes the most dangerous muscle in Freddy's organisation. As a deadly feud erupts between Freddy and rival gang boss Lennie Taylor (Jamie Foreman), Gangster sees a way to finally become 'Gangster No. 1'.

    Malcolm McDowall plays the character of Gangster in the 1990s and bookends the film whilst narrating throughout; this serves to drive the story well over the long period of time covered by the plot.

    Most of the performances in this film are solid with the highlight being Paul Bettany's turn in the role of 'Gangster'. In my opinion, Bettany is one of the most exciting actors going around - after being very impressed with his role as Geoffrey Chaucer in 'A Knight's Tale' and another impressive effort this year in 'A Beautiful Mind', this debut performance blew me away and is something altogether different. This role is a great departure from those previously-mentioned comical roles, as Bettany shows fantastic skill as a complete psychopath, brooding with desire and ambition as he covets all that his boss Freddy Mays has. All he wants is total control and power - he'll do anything to get it and Bettany plays it perfectly.

    David Thewlis' Freddy Mays is also fairly impressive. At first, I felt he was miscast in the role of the suave and classy 'Butcher of Mayfair', but his pretty boy looks and style work well in the end. Maybe he lacks a menacing undertone to his performance, but you quickly realise that there is more than enough of that from Bettany.

    These two performances, along with Saffron Burrows as Freddy's love interest, are very strong. Unfortunately, the other main performances let the film down. Maybe I am being a bit harsh in saying that it is the performances that are the issue, as it is more the casting of these performances that is the real problem. Jamie Foreman is cast as rival gang boss Lennie Taylor. Apart from looking like a cross between Ray Martin and Rocky and Bullwinkle's Boris, he plays his character jumpily and consistently seems to be outraged and uppity. He reminded me more of Harold Bishop from Neighbours than a gang boss. I would almost have found it sad if I wasn't laughing so much! If you do not believe me, then please watch his infuriating sequence from 24:00-25:39.

    Whilst Lennie Taylor's character is a main one, the story is ultimately about 'Gangster'. For some reason, as the film progresses through time from the 70s to the 90s, every actor is aged with make-up to keep continuity with the exception of our main character. Malcolm McDowall takes over from Bettany once we hit the 90s, and this is where the film tragically falls down. Hopelessly miscast, it feels as if McDowall is playing a completely different character to the one we have been watching for the last 60 minutes. Scenes where he interacts with other existing characters do not have the same feel, momentum or tension because McDowall's version of 'Gangster' is so far removed from Bettany's. This is a sad turn for this film, as it was really powering along at the point where McDowall took over. Now, before all you fans of A Clockwork Orange get on my back, I do not think that McDowall played the role badly, he just was not as good as Bettany, and Director Paul McGuigan should have let him play the film out.

    Gangster No. 1 is a very violent film with an amazing amount of foul language (which feels incredibly forced), but ultimately which has a good storyline. Bettany's performance is scintillating and other good performances along with some stylish direction and a funky soundtrack tend to overshadow some silly casting decisions in pre-production.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video transfer of this film is lacklustre at best. It shows some signs of overcompression and it is taken from a poor quality source in the first place.

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness of this transfer is one of the main problems with this disc, as it has a massive amount of grain throughout. Rarely is there a shot where grain cannot be found all over the image - particular examples can be found at 9:37, 10:40, 23:39, 24:04, and 71:54. Horrible examples of chunky grain can be found every time the camera is on Eddie's face during the scene between 39:03 and 44:20.

    Shadow detail is also lacking in this transfer with many scenes becoming a blurry mess when light is not abundant. Specific examples can be found at 15:55 and 32:15 - if you compare this to a scene that is clear and crisp (79:04) you will see what I mean. Some edge enhancement can be seen in scenes with exceptionally bright backgrounds as thick black lines around various objects. There is no low level noise.

    For the most part, the colours in this film are fairly drab, this being a deliberate ploy by the director to add a sort of bleak feel to the piece. The only time when colours become abundant is during a scene when (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) Gangster hacks Lennie Taylor to death. The colours in this scene are very bright with the walls and the lighting being a very deep and beautiful red.

    When I first watched this disc, I thought the main reason for the unclear picture was the large amount of grain. In some parts, however, if the image is taken through step-by-step, some fine macro-blocking or pixelization may be found. The best example of this artefact is on Paul Bettany's face at 15:55 and 15:56 - there is another good example at 32:15. There is some minor aliasing at 19:56, 36:50, and 51:02 and some telecine wobble on the opening titles at 00:14.

    There are a massive number of film artefacts spread throughout this film with plenty of specks of dust and dirt appearing as both positive and negative artefacts (18:50, 19:42). As film is prone to picking up dust and dirt very easily, there will rarely be a film transfer without these artefacts. However, there are plenty of instances in Gangster No. 1 where pieces of hair, scratches and other marks on the film's negative can be seen on-screen. The worst examples of this are at 32:26, 50:39, 50:40, 59:15 and 80:18. While these references are to objects that have come in contact with the print, there are also some marks on the print that have come from ink or some such substance in the lab while processing - 15:55 (a blue mark on Bettany's face) and 18:45 (on McDowall's shirt collar). I would have hoped that great care would have been taken in selecting a source product to produce this DVD from - the print is very dirty and ultimately detracts from the viewing experience.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer of Gangster No. 1 is pretty good. It is not a sparkling example of what DVD can do, but the film's style meant it was never going to be.

    There are three audio tracks recorded on this disc, with the default track being the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track recorded at 448kb/s. This track is very solid and gives the large amount of narration a nice bottom end to it - it is a strong and full sound. 5.1 tracks in Russian and Spanish are also present.

    The dialogue and audio sync are both good with no major problems noticed. While the dialogue is not as full and rounded as the narration due to the way in which it was recorded, it still gives a strong signal through the centre channel.

    For me, the music is the highlight of this audio transfer. When music kicks in during a chase scene or during a narration montage, the sound is rich and beautiful. Composer John Dankworth has done a great job with his use of music for this film; he has come up with some fantastic 70s style instrumentals that never slip into sounding like a bad 70s cop show. This style, as well as some more creepy theatrical sounds, complement each other perfectly when needed. Add to this the odd 'crooner style' song and you have got a beautifully diverse and effective soundtrack.

    The surround channels are used to accentuate situations and are not used for much else. The style of the film, being a very dialogue-based work, means that there is little opportunity for the surround channels to come into play. When they are used, however, they are used tastefully and effectively. Like the surround channels, the subwoofer does not come in for much use - it is used from time-to-time and is effective in beefing up the bottom end where needed.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Dolby Digital Trailer

    The City trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 Enhanced.

Featurette

    Running for 5:09, this quick featurette is in the style of your typical 'Behind the Scenes' featurette. Featuring interviews with Director Paul McGuigan, Malcolm McDowall, Paul Bettany and David Thewlis, it is a nice package that holds slightly more information than the usual 'it was so fantastic working with (insert famous person here), I really grew as an actor...' drivel. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with clips from the film at 1.80:1.

Theatrical Trailer

    Great Trailer! Playing for 1:29, it is presented in a ratio of 1.80:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. The trailer is set to some cool music with narration by Paul Bettany - it takes us through the main outline of the plot and plays very nicely. Would it make me go and see the film theatrically? Yes.

TV Spots

    There are two TV spots here that are edited from video and audio taken from the Theatrical Trailer. There is no additional footage or narration from the film - both play fairly nicely. They are 0:30 and 0:10 seconds in length and are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Trailer - Snatch

    Presented at 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 5.1 448kb/s soundtrack, this trailer for Guy Ritchie's 'Snatch' is included to appeal to the same audience as Gangster No. 1. This is the same trailer that appears on the R4 DVD of Snatch.

Trailer - Circus

    The trailer for 'Circus' is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.80:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. Also carrying a Dolby Digital 5.1 448kb/s soundtrack, this trailer plays similarly to the Snatch trailer. Starring John Hannah, Peter Stormare, Famke Janssen and Eddie Izzard.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Gangster No. 1 is not available in Region 1.

Summary

    Gangster No. 1 is a slick piece of work by director Paul McGuigan. Its use of graphic violence and language means that it will be too much for some. Paul Bettany's performance is outstanding, and the film is well put together. The video transfer is flawed and very disappointing, but the audio transfer is pretty good. The extras are not great, but I would not expect much more from this film.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Hugh Fotheringham (what the hell is going on in bio??)
Sunday, June 02, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDSony DVP-S525, using Component output
DisplayLoewe Xelos (81cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS797- THX Select
SpeakersJamo X550 Left and Right, Jamo X5CEN Centre, Jamo X510 Surround

Other Reviews NONE