Review of Gangster No. 1 (2000) by Ross B — 19 Nov 2009

Paul Bettany is a terrifying man.

If there is one thing you take away after seeing this movie, it is an iron-clad conviction that Paul Bettany would enjoy murdering you in cold-blood, just because you exist. His entire performance is one of psychopathic rage just barely being held back by the dictates of 1960s London mob society.

Well...let's move on to the movie at large.

It's about the rise of Paul Bettany's unnamed gangster in the London underworld, in the employ of Freddie Mays (Thewlis). The movie is told mostly in flashbacks, with McDowell playing the present-day version of Bettany's 1960s character. Conflict arises when the Mays gang clashes with their crosstown rivals, led by Lenny Taylor (played by James Foreman).

The plot itself is fairly pedestrian: traditional gangster hijinks ensue, with people getting murdered, clubs being burned, traitors being discovered and love being found.

But Bettany's portrayal of an unrepentant, preternaturally obsessed psychopath is chillingly effective. His hero-worship of Mays is matched only by his ambition to BE Mays: a bizarre love-hate relationship emerges, with homoerotic overtones made explicit in a revealing club scene, in which Mays begins to fall in love with a woman. Wonderful, wonderful acting by Bettany is matched by Thewlis' oddly menacing dandy of a gangster who undergoes a remarkable transformation.

McDowell is effective, and feels right for the role of the older gangster: he and Bettany have a vague resemblance, and McDowell's most famous role of Alex DeLarge (in Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange) was an obvious influence on Bettany's role, so there's a sense of a sly wink in his casting.

There is one specific scene of brutal, horrific violence, that works very, very well in establishing the inner character of Bettany, as well as an extremely violent montage sequence that hearkens back to some Scorsese films.

The first time I watched this movie, I found the ending to be a bit weak...upon rewatching it, I enjoyed most of the closing standoff, but still found the very last sequence to be needlessly...off-kilter, let us say.

For nothing else, watch this film for Bettany and Thewlis, especially Bettany: he will haunt your dreams for days afterward.