The gangster movie Guy Ritchie hates with a passion: “I thought it was terrible”
For every type of gangster movie, there is a director who excels at it. Martin Scorsese has nailed the formula for the classic Italian-American mobster flick, having made some of the best examples in the subgenre not named ‘The Godfather’. Raoul Walsh directed Regeneration, widely considered to be the first proper gangster flick, before going on to make more strides in the niche. However, when it comes to the British side of things, nobody has done more for the genre than Guy Ritchie.
The former Mr. Madonna made an immediate impact with his 1998 debut Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, before going on to impress with more comedy-slanted Cockney-fests like RocknRolla and Snatch. His distinct brand of sharply-scripted, character-driven crime stories has defined his career, and even after finding success with the likes of Sherlock Holmes and the live-action Aladdin, he has returned to the style that made him famous multiple times over the past few years.
Ritchie has also become known for voicing his opinion on movies he doesn’t like. This can include his own films, as he once described his 2002 film Swept Away as ‘shit’. As for other people’s attempts at his line of work, the director saved some of his harshest words for a film about two of Britain’s most notorious criminals – Peter Medak’s 1990 piece, The Krays.
“I thought [it] was terrible,” he told Unclean Arts. “I always felt if I made The Krays, I would have made a fucking good film. And I would loved to have done something serious like that, you know, a serious gangster fucking thing. And I would have made it so fucking horrible. And I wouldn’t have had those guys playing it, as much as they’re nice fellows and everything, but fucking they play the banjo, or whatever, or they sing or something. Gangsters are fucking gangsters, man! It’s a whole different fucking ballgame. “
The ‘guys’ Ritchie is referring to here are Gary and Martin Kemp, who play twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, respectively. The Kemps are best known for their musical ventures, having been the core of the 1980s New Romantic band Spandau Ballet. Neither brother had a reputation for being particularly rotten while at the height of their fame, something that Ritchie took umbrage with. “When everyone’s had gangsters playing gangsters… then I’ll get bored of it, and I’ll probably want fucking Mary Poppins to play the Krays, or something,” he explained. “But at the moment it just hasn’t been exhausted; you know, proper villains playing proper villains.”
This would explain why Ritchie has worked so closely with Vinnie Jones. A hardman professional footballer before giving acting a go, Jones played key roles in some of Ritchie’s earliest hits. However, it should be noted that the man himself is hardly a genuine wrong’un. He was born in Hertfordshire, the son of a former army Captain-turned-advertising executive. Following their divorce, his mother married a Baron, while his father married a woman who would become a life peer in the House of Lords.
Critics failed to agree with Ritchie’s assessment of The Krays, which got decent reviews across the board. Still, while he might not be a gangster himself, he’s certainly made enough movies about them to have a qualifying opinion.
