bamlin52 This is when they made movies . Saw this movie 47 years ago. Yes it has dated a bit.But still enjoyable. Richard Burton has real Star quality. Thought provoking movie. Don't make them like this anymore.

zardoz-13 Richard Burton plays a sadistic, notorious, homosexual, British crime boss in Michael Tuchner directorial debut "Villain" with Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Jose Ackland, and Donald Sinden. Loosely based on the life of Ronnie Kray, this grim, sometimes violent, but often dreary thriller is ostensibly based on James Barlow's novel "The Burden of Proof." The highlight of this atmospheric gangster saga is a robbery bid in broad daylight as Vic Dakin (Richard Burton) and his cronies grab sixty to seventy thousand pounds from an armored car. Dakin is a devoted son to his elderly mother (Cathleen Nesbitt) and lavishes attention on her when he isn't beating up his adversaries. Inspector Bob Matthews (Nigel Davenport of "Play Dirty") struggles to find enough evidence to arrest this elusive killer. Altogether unsavory but moments of violence that capture the era, "Villain" qualifies as a letdown and is nowhere as entertaining as Michael Caine's "Get Carter."

calvinnme This is a gritty, urban, British gangster film. The Long Good Friday can trace itself to this film. Much akin to the Michael Caine film, "Get Carter", which was released around the same time. It was a forerunner to the current crop of British gangster films, such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Layer Cake. Burton is the Villain of the title. He's the 'gov'ner of a group of west end thugs. Burton transforms himself in this film. He is pure evil and malice and as compelling to watch as a snake.The action in the film is propelled by a factory payroll robbery - its planning and its aftermath. There is big money at stake, but this type of crime is a bit out of Vic Daykin's (Burton's) league. His gang is usually into protection/extortion rackets. Plus he is relying on the discretion of a mousy and resentful middle aged low ranking clerical worker at the factory who feels unappreciated by his wife and employer and doesn't have a problem helping Daykin with insider information.Burton is fantastic in this role. There is extreme tension and especially violence here, so it might not be for everybody. Daykin is paranoid of everybody, enjoys beating people up with his bare hands just for the fun of it, and seems to hate/mistrust women to the extreme with the exception of his elderly mother to whom he is very gentle.Only one gaping plot hole that I could find, and that was Daykin bringing the two outside mobsters in on the payroll job. If, he in fact "doesn't know anything about their boys", and he trusts his own guys as much as this guy is going to trust anybody, why would somebody as paranoid as he bring outsiders in on the biggest job of his life? I'd recommend it. Just remember if you are accustomed to lots of introspective angst and dialogue from Burton, you don't really get that here. It is not that kind of film.

George Nixon I have just watched this film on TCM, and I was very disappointed to find that most of the dialogue had been dubbed! Does anybody know why? Did they lose the original soundtrack, or was it re-dubbed for North American audiences? I think that Richard Burtons dialogue is authentic, but most of the supporting characters are obviously dubbed. Nigel Davenport, Colin Welland, Tony Selby, TP McKenna, Josh Ackland, Donald Sinden etc had very distinctive accents which do not "ring true" on this soundtrack! Most disappointing for a Brit fan like myself!!