The Krays

source: The Krays

Moviecut—The Krays

The Krays

I preferred Hale and Pace as "The Management". This film is episodic, and slow. Some scenes are like tableaux in which nothing much happens. It was made in the 80s, so tribute had to be paid to feminism with plonking speeches about the war being much harder on women, and Violet's part being padded. Her dialogue is embarrassingly poetic and grammatical - she talks nothing like an East Ender. Also she and her mates/family never have ordinary conversations. Much more could have been made of the way she served tea and biscuits to violent gangsters. Kate Hardie is very good as Reggie's wife Frances - but in reality the marriage only lasted a few weeks. The clothes and settings, though, are brilliant, getting the look of the 50s/60s absolutely right. I rather fancy Violet's "trees" wallpaper and multicoloured teacosy. Many episodes of the Krays' life are left out, and where are their famous friends? Surely they could have got someone to play Diana Dors?

I remember watching this on VHS a long time ago, and it has not aged well at all. The fight scenes are sub 60s Batman and the acting is pretty terrible even for the 90s. Poor

The bloodshed commences straight away with Billie Whitelaw going into labour, and you've got to hand it to the boys for not letting being christened Ronald and Reginald cramp their style. Despite the casting of two rock stars as the terrible twins, the film is actually far more evocative of postwar austerity than sixties glamour (even down to the appearance of Michael Balfour among the impressive lineup of familiar faces). The women actually manage to be more even intimidating than the men, although Ronnie (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) permanently forfeited any sympathy I might possibly have felt for him after the business with the sword.

This was an impressive movie: stylish, well played and atmospheric. The greatest revelation was the talent of the Kemp Brothers (ex-Spandau Ballet) who were absolutely marvelous as the notorious Kray Twins. They portrayed the mixture of glamour, ruthlessness and family loyalty of these two brothers with much conviction. The storyline seemed a little vague at times, and glossed over one or two episodes, but this was probably due to the compression of facts and didn't mar the feel of the movie as a whole. Quite frankly, it probably would have taken a mini-series to document all the things the real Twins were up to. Billie Whitelaw was a standout as Violet Kray. Steven Berkoff over-acted as usual. Tom Bell was wonderful as always. Not to be taken as absolute fact but is interestingly done and certainly gives an idea of the story behind these two well known villains.

This looked like a promising film: a portrait of Britain's most feared gangsters with great performances and some stylish,but graphic violence. How wrong I was. True, the violence was graphic etc but the film was let down by a script which ignores facts and skims over certain characters eg Teddy Smith, Inspector ''Nipper'' Reid. Also, most of the film was focused on the family. True, the Kray brothers were mummy's boys, but we got the point in the first ten minutes. The film sticks with this and does not paint a portrait of the terror they created and an authentic picture of British gangland. Plus,the acting wasn't the best, except for Gary Kemp as Ronnie. Watch Gangster No.1 . That was how this film should have been.

I happened to be present at the end of one of the Krays Old Bailey trials.this was one where the case collapsed due to witness intimidation.Finally,thankfully,the law caught up with them.Pity this film didn't make clear why instead of glamourising the Krays and violence.No mention was made of the main way they made their money,the protection racket.Far too much time was spent on the twins with their mum.Also we saw snippets of their early life but it didn't add up to very much.Some much of what was shown regarding the 2 crucial murders was confused and confusing.The reasons for the murders were far more complex than shown in this film.All in all a pretty poor effort.