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Cast: Denis Lawson, John Hannah, Martin Compston, Patrick Bergen
Based on the life of notorious gangster Paul Ferris. Martin Compston stars as Ferris, who was brought up on the roughest streets in the most vicious neighborhood in 1960's Scotland. After taking revenge, one by one on a gang of bullying street-thugs, Ferris starts out working for two rival gang bosses, The Godfather and The Snake. After a brutal betrayal leading to a bloody massacre on the streets of Glasgow, Ferris decides to go it alone. Carving out a dangerous and savage career defined by violence, corruption and murder, Paul 'The Wee Man' Ferris ends up becoming one of the most feared gangsters in history.
"Gangster" Aka "The Wee Man" tells the story of Paul Ferris. We get to see Ferris as a young boy who does not have it easy because he is constantly picked on all the way to his rise to one of the most feared gangster to ever live. Set in Glasgow the film is a solid crime story that not only has brutal violence but it also has a nice mixture of drama as well.
I cannot say if the film stayed true to the book or not but some of the stuff in the film I found to be a bit unbelievable. Either way I found it to be entertaining and I liked that it included his whole life spanning several decades. Most people in the U.S. probably never heard of Ferris so any parts the got wrong will not even be detected, instead most will find this to be an engaging crime story.
One thing I had a bit of a problem with were the accents but again that was to be expected considering where the story takes place. The acting was very good for the most part, Martin Compston in particular did a fine job playing Ferris. "Gangster' does not match up to classics such as "The Godfather" or "Goodfellows" but it is still a solid Indie crime film that all fans of the genre should enjoy.
Available on DVD, you can order it HERE.
Released by Inception Media
*** 1/2 Out Of *****