CHARLIE

UK, 2003, 95 minutes, Colour.
Luke Goss, Steven Berkoff, Lesley Grantham, Marius Weyers, Anita Dobson.
Directed by Malcolm Needs.

Another London gangster movie after so many of them from the late 90s. This is the story of real life East end gangster, Charlie Richardson - who has since allegedly reformed and has a guest appearance in the film.

The framework is an Old Bailey court case where Charlie and a number of his associates are on trial. As they give testimony, there are flashbacks to their days as petty criminals, setting up smuggling and dealing cons, paying off the police, widening their network while keeping a control on it by brutality and the use of torture more familiar from right wing Latin American regimes. It certainly reinforces the impression that many of these crooks, even though their mothers might love them, are sadistic thugs.

Richardson also ventured further afield and became involved in mining schemes for diamonds in South Africa. He has an affair with a journalist's wife, but she is the niece of a government official and he does some spying on the ANC in London for them.

Charlie (and the film) suggest that the 25 year sentence he received was too harsh and the judge was biased against him - and that the charges, if they were entered today, would be dismissed. After serving 13 years, Charlie escapes to Spain but his father, in the form of Steven Berkoff, persuades him to complete his sentence. Hence the respectable businessman and the film.

Whatever the truth about Charlie Richardson himself, the film gives an alarming view of the London gangs, the Krays included, and the vicious amoral lives they led.

1. The quality of the film as a gangster film? Real-life gangsters? London in the 60s and 70s? The perspective of 2000?

2. The London settings, the East End, homes, warehouses? Heathrow Airport? The court scenes? The landscapes in South Africa, the cities? The background of Charlie Richardson's career? Musical score?

3. The title, the focus on Charlie Richardson? His life as a gangster, life in prison, his escape, being persuaded to go back to jail, finishing his sentence? A respectable businessman with a cameo in the film as a man in the pub?

4. The structure of the film: the introduction to Charlie Richardson, the introduction to the other members of the gang, through the framework of their appearances in court, the information given as regards their being witnesses against Charlie or for him? The filling in of the background in London, in South Africa? The sentence in the court? The transition to prison, to Spain?

5. Charlie and his contacts in South Africa, the businessmen, their shady dealings, the buying of land? His surveying the land, accompanying them on their journey? The complication of his affair with the wife of the journalist? The pressure brought to bear by her uncle, the official meetings, the unofficial request for him to spy on the ANC? The murder of the businessman? The difficulties of the deals? Richardson and his liking for South Africa, the details of the apartheid life, the life of the wealthy, the black servants? His return to South Africa after his finishing his sentence?

6. The picture of the gangs of the 1950s, the Krays and Charlie Richardson's gang? Wanting to be lords in their own area of London, the details of setting up deals, the swindles, the smuggling, Heathrow Airport, the police?
7. The brutality of the gangs, the witnesses in the court case, their reminiscences? True or false? The vivid picture of torture? The electric torture, the beatings? The effect on those who experienced it?

8. The witnesses, their jail sentences, likes and dislikes for one another? Their collaboration with Charlie, the particular jobs, their need for leadership?

9. Charlie Richardson, his father, the influence? His coming to Spain, persuading him to return to London and finish his sentence?

10. The picture of Richardson's brother, the fruit machines, the payment of the police, the brother's arrest, the death of Charlie's brother?

11. The film-maker's sympathy for Charlie Richardson, interest in the gangs? The criticisms of the film as supporting gangsters? Presenting them sympathetically? How realistic a picture of crime in London in the 50s and 60s?