The gang(ster)'s all here
Not for the faint-hearted, but great stories all
I think it’s the combination of it being January, so we are all wrapped up on the sofa in pursuit of good stories, and perhaps the looming transition of power taking place “across the pond” on Monday, but this week I have gangsters & bad guys on my mind. There are SO. VERY. MANY gangster TV shows and movies that we all know & love (or loathe I’m sure) but there are a few lesser known, but utterly brilliant, tales that I must highly recommend for the month of short days, long nights & plenty of time to binge - most of which are a good few years old at this stage.
TL;DR
Watch the movies Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Oldboy; read Gangster; & watch Love/Hate and No Offence.
WATCH
First up is Mesrine: Killer Instinct. This is actually the first of two films about a real life gangster / bad guy: Jacques Mesrine (the second is Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One). This is a bona fide brilliant movie with Vincent Cassel in the leading role.
In case you don’t remember: Cassel was in that other epic French film La Haine about racism, violence & police brutality in the banlieues of Paris in the ‘90s - which we all watched and all felt incredibly arty & alternative as a result. He also starred in a couple of the Ocean’s Eleven films & is one of those faces you know you’ve seen before though perhaps don’t remember in what… The first instalment tells the story of Mesrine’s life from 1959 to 1972 as he transitions from soldier in the French Army to a bank robber & serial prison escape artist. Cassel won the Cesar for Best Actor (France’s answer to the Oscars) for this part and you can see why. The second part tells the story of Mesrine’s life from ‘72 until his death in 1979. Both are well worth a watch: sexy 60s costumes, hilarious hairstyles and good old fashioned criminality.
Another foreign language classic next, this time from South Korea. Oldboy is considered one of the greatest films of all time & so is hardly a hidden gem, but definitely one worth revisiting if it’s been a while. and definitely get stuck in if you’ve never watched it.
It was released in 2003 and has been remade twice now. But both pale in comparison to the original & best. This story is less gangster but is chock full of bad guys: Dae-su is held captive for 15 years before being released and then trying to figure out who did this to him. The cinematography throughout is spellbinding but it’s the single-shot fight sequence along a hallway that everyone raves about with this film. It’s not an easy watch but it’s absolutely worth it.
READ
Lorenzo Carcaterra was huge in the ‘90s: he wrote a little book called Sleepers (supposedly about his own life) which was adapted for the big screen starring a few lesser known actors such as Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro.
Despite doubt around just how autobiographical the story was, the movie was huge. Being some weird kind of sucker for dark stories, I read the book, loved it & did what I always do: set about reading the author’s entire back catalogue. And thus I read Gangster: the story of the fictional character Angelo Vestieri. It’s along the same lines as The Godfather in that Vestieri emigrates from Italy to New York as a poor peasant and rises to become a mob boss. It’s a compelling read that rips along nicely & engrosses you in the world of early 20th century organised crime.
WATCH
Now before a huge proportion of you kick off, not everyone who subscribes to this newsletter is Irish and a depressing dearth of the Brits have heard of Love/Hate.
Given that lately anything written or produced by or starring someone Irish is usually a success (Bad Sisters, Derry Girls, Kin etc.), it’s astonishing this didn’t gain more traction back when it first came out. For those of you not in the know: it’s about a bunch of complete hoods in Dublin, beating absolute lumps out of each other, doing drugs, selling drugs, shooting guns - you get the picture. It’s wildly addictive and, though the later series aren’t as strong, the first few series will have you hooked.
The final one this week is a little different: a police procedural, of which there there are many already but this one stands out on its own for all the best reasons: the writing, the cast & the humour.
No Offence was written by the great Paul Abbott with plenty of bad guys in it and season two is all about a female gangster. And I’m nothing if not up for gender equality. It’s funny, it’s bingeworthy, it’s brilliantly written and, most importantly, it’s led by Joanna Scanlon. All three seasons are utterly compelling and highly entertaining. In fact, the more I remember it, the more I think I need to start it all over again to be quite honest.
Apologies: no Listen To recommendation this week. Despite the existence of many mafia podcasts, I’ve yet to find one I love which I would rate as highly as everything I’ve listed above. Those four titles really are four of my favourites ever.