Ceticultsot
Beautiful, moving film.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Brucey D
This was originally meant to be a 'B' movie but once Burton agreed to the title role it was given a higher budget and a higher billing. A tale of east end gang violence, with Burton's character Vic Dakin (loosely based on Ronnie Kray, being psychopathic, mother obsessed and homosexual) being the central figure.
This was made at about the same time as Get Carter and one or two other films. Arguably without films of this sort we would never have had such things as 'The Sweeney' TV series, so we owe it a debt for that. The film is littered with fine actors and they have some interesting roles.Reviews of the time (and many since) dwell on the impression that Burton was miscast in this film. I think they are right. In his other roles, his precise diction, piercing blue-eyed gaze and steely patrician authority are used to good effect. In this role they are qualities that don't help, but perhaps hinder instead. Having said that, if you had never seen Burton in anything before, you would think he'd made a pretty good fist of it.
On of the other things that seems a bit at odds with the nature of the film is the fairly flat direction and editing; this is well-made but not what you might call 'a stylishly made movie'; cutaways. close-ups, reaction shots and mood music are notably absent for much of the film. Whether this is a deliberate style or something else (like getting it edited in a rush) is open to speculation.Burton's accent remains something of a key problem for many; I suspect that he could -with effort- have made it more authentically cockney, but that this could have rendered it completely unintelligible to the (intended) US audience. As it is, he growls, grunts and mumbles his way through the dialogue, in a way that was unlikely to make anyone completely happy. Some have commented that this ended his run as a bankable star, and they might be right.A good film for sure, but could have been a really great one.
JLRVancouver
"Villain" is often cited as the beginning of the end of Richard Burton's, who plays a homosexual cockney career-criminal, dominance as a box office draw. The film itself is a reasonably good crime drama, with some interesting characters and a good script, and Burton is fine although it is odd to hear him speaking in other than in his usual impeccable English. Ian McShane is very good as Burton's bi-sexual pimp boyfriend, by far the most complex and ambiguous character in the film. The central heist is interesting from modern perspectives as there are no elaborate security-systems to defeat with clever techno-gimmicks, and not a lot of guns: the job is mostly a brawl between Burton's goons and company goons. The movie is a bit bloody (by early '70s standards) but neither as violent as "Clockwork Orange", nor as cold-blooded as "Get Carter", two films to which I have seen "Villain" compared (as indicators of a trend towards violent realism). Overall, a good but not great movie that will appeal to fans of gangster film and of Richard Burton (who should be credited for taking a gamble to play against type).
Martin Bradley
Richard Burton as a mother-obsessed gay gangster modeled on Ronnie Kray. It wasn't the worst part he ever had and to be fair he does what he can with it but as British gangster pictures go, "Villain" has very little to recommend it. The director was Michael Tuchner who doesn't appear to have much interest in the material, though he does handle the film's heist scene with more brio than it or the film probably deserves.The script was by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais who were better suited to comedy, (there aren't many laughs in this one). On the plus side, Burton was always worth watching, even when he was bad, while Ian McShane is fine as the pretty boy Burton likes to have rough sex with, discreetly off-screen, and Donald Sinden is excellent in much too small a part as a corrupt Member of Parliament. Watchable then, but certainly not memorable.
Neil Welch
Villain is a 1971 British crime movie, in which Richard Burton plays Vic Dakin, a Ronnie Kray-like character: homosexual, Oedipal, and vicious. The plot centres around a payroll robbery, and employs some entertaining supporting characters (the script was an early offering by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais).If I say that it is not bad of its kind, and then move on, that allows me to concentrate on Burton. A good (but very Welsh) actor, Burton's undeniable talent was damaged by his alcoholism and suffered the distraction of his high profile on-again, off-again relationship with Elizabeth Taylor.Which is why the total disappearance of Villain - never on telly, no DVD - is a great shame. There have been those who have observed that the cockernee accent Burton employs is sometimes less Bow Bells, more Merthyr Tydfil, but that misses the point. Vic Dakin is terrifying. Every time he is on screen, there is an overpowering sense of impending danger, not because he is angry, but because he is an inadequate vessel to contain the malice which seethes within him. Dakin looks like Burton, but he is his own monster.Villain is Burton at his best.
