Rent Man of Violence (1970)

Cool - Man of Violence review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Pete Walker is best known for his wonderfully demented ‘70’s horror movies but began his career making soft porn movies then moved into the pastiche gangster genre of which this is a fine example. Latimer plays Moon a suave man about town who is a troubleshooter come crook. He is employed to dig some dirt on one faction and in turn is hired to undergo the reverse so it plays in a kinda Yojimbo fashion. Soon he up to ears in sadistic hoodlums, gun smuggling, international intrigue , rent boys , dolly birds, fake coppers and a huge shipment of gold. The entire plot has a making it up as they go all along feel to it with an eye to the dark underbelly of Swinging London. It’s does flag a bit in the final act in North Africa and the ending doesn’t make a lot of sense but Latimer is very likeable with good support from Peters and Alywood and for the most part it zips along nicely - 4/5

Flipside - Man of Violence review by JJ

BFI Flipside is generally speaking a very good thing, bringing life back to long-neglected British films and in this case there are two films on the disc - Man of Violence (a.k.a. Moon), and The Big Switch, and I'd say the latter is worth a look, Man of Violence not really having the dramatic force to transcend its very silly plot and weak script. Big Switch certainly can't be called a neglected classic, either, but its watchable in the same sense that a decent episode of The Sweeney is watchable.

Still, I'm glad that they're taking the time and trouble to dig out this stuff and above all get it remastered into HD. The film stock has come up sparklingly.

Most of the headline images above are from the latter film, by the way, not the headline attraction.