Villain is a 1971 British crime movie, in which Richard Burton plays Vic Dakin, a Ronnie Kray-like character: homosexual, Oedipal, and vicious. The plot centres around a payroll robbery, and employs some entertaining supporting characters (the script was an early offering by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais).
If I say that it is not bad of its kind, and then move on, that allows me to concentrate on Burton. A good (but very Welsh) actor, Burton's undeniable talent was damaged by his alcoholism and suffered the distraction of his high profile on-again, off-again relationship with Elizabeth Taylor.
Which is why the total disappearance of Villain - never on telly, no DVD - is a great shame. There have been those who have observed that the cockernee accent Burton employs is sometimes less Bow Bells, more Merthyr Tydfil, but that misses the point. Vic Dakin is terrifying. Every time he is on screen, there is an overpowering sense of impending danger, not because he is angry, but because he is an inadequate vessel to contain the malice which seethes within him. Dakin looks like Burton, but he is his own monster.
Villain is Burton at his best.
If I say that it is not bad of its kind, and then move on, that allows me to concentrate on Burton. A good (but very Welsh) actor, Burton's undeniable talent was damaged by his alcoholism and suffered the distraction of his high profile on-again, off-again relationship with Elizabeth Taylor.
Which is why the total disappearance of Villain - never on telly, no DVD - is a great shame. There have been those who have observed that the cockernee accent Burton employs is sometimes less Bow Bells, more Merthyr Tydfil, but that misses the point. Vic Dakin is terrifying. Every time he is on screen, there is an overpowering sense of impending danger, not because he is angry, but because he is an inadequate vessel to contain the malice which seethes within him. Dakin looks like Burton, but he is his own monster.
Villain is Burton at his best.