Customer Reviews

Cracker: To Be a Somebody [VHS]

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Although produced for the English television studio Granada, Cracker features the talents of some of the best Celtic talent currently gracing the screen. Much of the success of the Cracker series is squarely attributable to the screen presence of the extraordinary Robbie Coltrane. Since his debut to international audiences in the Bob Hoskins vehicle MONA LISA, Coltrane has evolved from a serio-comic actor to one of Britain's most charismatic leading men. In general the success of the series is due to his consummate abilities as an actor. In TO BE A SOMEBODY he is partnered with a fellow Scottish compatriot, Robert Carlyle who is most familiar to audiences as the demented BEGSBY in the smash hit TRAINSPOTTING. For once Coltrane has to take a back seat. This is without a doubt Robert Carlyle's show. There are few better examples of the craft of acting as Mr. Carlyle exhibits here, a veritable clinic. Christopher Eccleston who made his feature screen debut in LET HIM HAVE IT is also a stand out. But the real unsung star is the screenwriter Jimmy McGovern whose capacity for wit is amazing. In the short span of this series he manages to create scenarios and diologue which are intelligent, thought provoking and more than just a little amusing. Even characters who are merely bit players are fleshed out and instilled with real character. One never gets the impression that a character is merely a walk on and that is the true sign of a great craftsman. It must be said that I have always been bothered by one scene in this film. It is the murder of the Asian shopkeeper. Having seen the American film FALLING DOWN (about a white collar worker who goes on a killing spree) I noticed a very great similarity between the two. Each character begins his murderous rampage by getting into an altercation with an asian shopkeeper over the exorbitant prices charged in his shop. Both sceens play the same and curiously both films were released in the same year. Check it out for yourself.

The "Cracker" series is the best series ever on tv or screen. I was riveted by every one of the videos. I have both boxed sets and the single "To be a Somebody". I was and am a big Prime Suspect fan and have every one of those videos but Cracker has taken over. The American series is not worth watching to me. Robbie Coltrane is the Cracker and all the supporting cast and underlying relationships and stories are absolutely brilliant. I couldn't recommend it any higher.

If there ever was a show that combined drama, wit, off-color humor, and powerful performances, "Cracker" would have to be it. This is (after "Blackadder II") easily my second favorite television program, and "To Be A Somebody" is without question the best episode of it.

The plot? Albie Kinsella (Robert Carlyle) is upset over the death of his father. He shaves his head and begins a homicidal rampage, in which he intends to avenge the victims of the very real Hillsborough soccer disaster of '89 (of which series creator McGovern was a witness). He kills a Pakistani store clerk (Badi Uzzaman), the criminologist (Glyn Grain) in charge of the investigation of the former murder, and D.C.I. David Billborough (Christopher Eccleston). At the end he is captured, and goes one on one with Fitz.

Robbie Coltrane's Fitz is arguably the best TV character ever dreamed up; a drinker, smoker, womanizer, and compulsive gambler, he is nonetheless a brilliant psychologist who is frequently called by the police to help in investigations. As if he weren't having enough personal problems of his own; his wife, Judith (the superb Barbara Flynn), is embittered and angered by Fitz's actions and continually threatens to leave him. Coltrane combines cool wit, a superb voice-acting talent, and simple genius to deal with the criminals. Coltrane - easily my favorite actor - handles the role impossibly well.

Carlyle, as Albie, creates a killer that is somewhat sympathetic - he is attempting to avenge the deaths of his friends and follow football fans, and provide some sort of income for his wife (Tracy Gillman) and child. He is quite obviously a deranged maniac, a football hooligan (he continues to chant "L-I-V-E-R-P-Double-O L Liverpool MC" throughout the episode), and he gains an increasing confidence in himself as he goes (he is snivelling and crying after he kills the shop keeper, but he doesn't blink an eye concerning his other two killings), until the final climactic episode - he is attempting to kill a freelance journalist for some reason, and makes a bomb - but he is apprehended at soccer match by the seemingly deranged DS Beck (Lorcan Cranitch), who is even more over the edge after the murder of Billboroug, and beaten to the edge of the death. Carlyle's performance is near-perfect - and his final confrontation with Fitz is one of the best scenes of television ever filmed.

The ending I won't give away, but let me just say this much: You won't expect it, and it's certainly not a happy one.

I want to echo other reviewers and say that "Cracker" is arguably the best mystery series ever produced. It is a crime that the entire series is not available on DVD (and yet "Father Ted" is? The mind BOGGLES!!).