CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

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.

steveandkaren-77517 A bad act off between Richard Burton Joss Ackand and the Hammeister himself Donald Sinden -some of the dialogue is a treat and Dick Clement /Ian Le Frenais script is almost their most unintentional best comedy!-one redeeming feature is the well staged heist scene but otherwise it's a miscast extraordinare -by the way Joss Ackland clearly hadn't learned his lesson not to play a villain when returning as one in an episode of The Sweeney 7 years later

Prismark10 Villain is written by Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais best known for comedies. This is a hard boiled gangster film loosely based on Ronnie Kray. Richard Burton (Vic Dakin) plays the cockney accented, mother loving, razor wielding gangster with a fondness for rough sex with on and off boyfriend Ian McShane (Wolfie Lissner.)Lissner is a ladies man who will do whatever to survive but cannot escape Dakin or his goons. He is a womaniser, a pimp, sells poppers in clubs and tries to avoids Dakin's sexual urges.Dakin becomes a wanted man after a violently staged wage snatch job as Nigel Davenport's (Bob Matthews) wry detective doggedly pursues him and his gang. Matthews even stands up to the bent politician who does Dakin's bidding.This is a rough, seedy film with plenty of 1970s location shooting in and around London. It stays just on the right side of ham. Burton looks lean and mean, he certainly has not turned up for a payday.McShane shows he had lots of early talent in his role as Lissner. Davenport and Colin Welland almost steal the film as the smart coppers who just want to catch villains but engage in a lot of dry wit as well. It is also a roll call of 1970s British/Irish actors who played heavies in movies.

Martin Bradley Richard Burton as a mother-obsessed gay gangster modeled on Ronnie Kray. It wasn't the worst part he ever had and to be fair he does what he can with it but as British gangster pictures go, "Villain" has very little to recommend it. The director was Michael Tuchner who doesn't appear to have much interest in the material, though he does handle the film's heist scene with more brio than it or the film probably deserves.The script was by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais who were better suited to comedy, (there aren't many laughs in this one). On the plus side, Burton was always worth watching, even when he was bad, while Ian McShane is fine as the pretty boy Burton likes to have rough sex with, discreetly off-screen, and Donald Sinden is excellent in much too small a part as a corrupt Member of Parliament. Watchable then, but certainly not memorable.