Product Details

• Actors: Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Paul Bettany, Saffron Burrows, Kenneth Cranham
• Directors: Paul McGuigan
• Writers: Johnny Ferguson
• Producers: Jonathan Cavendish, Karsten Brünig, Nicky Kentish Barnes, Norma Heyman, Peter Bowles
• Format: PAL
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005224S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,262 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This glinting, scalding gangland phantasmagoria offers a sort of funhouse-mirror refraction of the life and career of a British hooligan so elemental in his right villainy that he's merely identified as "Gangster." The action begins in 1999, with Malcolm McDowell brutishly savoring his eminence as a crime lord; but more of the film is taken up with an extended flashback to 1968, when his youthful self--played by Paul Bettany (but voiced by McDowell during private reveries)--got his start. Bettany's patron is Freddie Mays, "the Butcher of Mayfair" (David Thewlis), a comparatively suave rotter whom "Young Gangster" more or less simultaneously worships, emulates, and craves to see destroyed. Director Paul McGuigan layers the eras and personalities in a kaleidoscope of jagged stylization (occasionally the image shatters like glass, then hellishly reconstitutes itself). The effect is less to tell a proper story than to suspend us in a state of mind--and a homage to McDowell's landmark role in A Clockwork Orange. But it does exert an unclean fascination. --Richard T. Jameson

From The New Yorker

This is an unexpected treat-a gangster-as-sociopath movie that doesn't try to coddle its antihero. The movie is set, for the most part, in sixties London, and it's built around a magnificent, ice-cold performance by Paul Bettany as a thug who covets his boss's power. (The boss is played by David Thewlis, in a performance inspired by Pete Townshend and Cliff Richard.) There's an unspoken erotic charge to Bettany and Thewlis's scenes together; they're wound so tightly that when the movie erupts into violence it has the visceral impact of some of Scorsese's best work. The bulk of the story is told via flashback (Malcolm McDowell, as the aged version of Bettany's gangster, bookends the film), and the director Paul McGuigan gets the details right. His London underworld is filled with nattily dressed teddy boys, sunken living rooms, and beautiful women with their hair piled high. It's the gangster flick as over-the-top Greek tragedy. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A british crime drama, with a kick!, May 12, 2002

By 

steve o (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

The first time I heard of "Gangster No. 1" was in the Globe And Mail. The one thing that intrigued me to find it upon it's DVD release, was the front quote.

"It's not who you know. It's who you kill."

Thus, my trip to Future Shop was to be a grand day on taking chances on films! Let me tell you, THIS MOVIE IS SUPERB. It does for gangster films in the same way Akira Kurosawa does for humanistic films, with a kick of style! For the first time, you don't get constant gore & language, unlike Scorsese's mafia flicks.

The year: 1968.

It brings forth a man known by the name of Gangster, who is extremely arrogant in his own way, to have a meeting with "The Butcher Of Mayfair," Freddie Mays. Mays has just won a case against the city, in a matter of him killing a cop. An extremely well known man with the mafia who has just reached the top for whacking this crooked copper. But Mays is still having problems it seems. The problem? Lennie Taylor, another rival gang boss who plans to take out Freddie and capture his territory. But when Gangster hears of this (being as arrogant as he is), he pulls together a plan to take both of them out, leaving the rest for himself at the top. With an ending that'll make you watch the movie over and over again, "Gangster No. 1" is quite effectively THE crime drama of 2001, no doubt about it!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars B4 the Swan Dive, March 1, 2005

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gangster No. 1 (DVD)

Director Paul McGuigan directed Paul Bettany in "The Reckoning" which was a stylish medieval thriller. He also directed "Wicker Park" whose soundtrack CD far exceeded the merits of the confusingly edited film. "Gangster No. 1" is a decent crime drama that paints an unsympathetic look at Gangster 55 played by Paul Bettany in younger years and Malcolm McDowell in older years. Bettany, whose recent romantic comedy "Wimbledon" was delightful and shows great range, is pretty scary here as a guy who has a great talent for hurting people. He gets picked up in Freddie Mays' mob and apparently becomes jealous when Mays falls in love with the gorgeous Saffron Burrows. David Thewlis who played Paul Verlaine to Leonardo DiCaprio's Rimbaud in "Total Eclipse" and also starred with Brad Pitt in "7 Years in Tibet" and most recently in "Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban" does a nice job of being the randy high roller in youth and then the older and reformed ex-con 25 years later. Saffron Burrows who narrated the most recent Peter Pan movie and also played in "Troy" does a nice job as Karen who falls in love and then gets the ultimate sore throat. Malcolm McDowell whose career was launched with "A Clockwork Orange" and most recently was the billionaire tycoon in "In Good Company" brings a great intensity to the role before his final swan dive. Although this film is a bit bloody, it still was an interesting and entertaining crime genre film. The pacing is a tightly controlled rampage. I particularly enjoyed the lad running through the parking structure before Bettany's careening car. The film is more visceral than thoughtful, but still interesting cinema. Enjoy!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GANGSTER #1 A HOME RUN!, June 22, 2002

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

GANGSTER #1 joins the elite group of the great mob films from the UK: THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY, SEXY BEAST, the original GET CARTER & even from the U.S.: THE LIMEY. malcolm mcdowell gives the best performance of his career since TIME AFTER TIME and that was 1979! it is a shame that this great brit actor had to make [bad] movies over the years (CALIGULA being 1 of them!). mcdowell is the title character who is shocked to find out his old friend/enemy, the original #1 (david thewliss)is being released from prison. he flashes back to 1968 in which he was "gangster #55" devilishly played by paul bettany & it focuses on how he met #1 and wound up being #1 himself. the violence is brutal especially 1 horrific scene where a mob boss thru his point of view is tortured & killed by bettany w/ his gun, his ax, his machete, his hands, his evil looks, etc. bettany strongly resembles mcdowell giving that CLOCKWORK ORANGE stare. it is strange and wacky that bettany grows up to be mcdowell while david thewliss matures to be-----david thewliss in his 60s under good makeup! still, this is a fantastic feature by paul mcguigan, very colorful with a wonderful late 60s soundtrack! it is in my top 10 best films list of 2002. a small great treasure!