Gangsters (film)

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Movie
German title Gangsters
Original title Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster
Country of production Canada
original language English
Publishing year 2011
length 105 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Nathan Morlando
script Nathan Morlando
production Daniel Bekerman
music Max Richter
camera Steve Cosens
cut Richard Comeau
occupation

Gangsters (Original title: Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster ) is a Canadian drama film directed by Nathan Morlando from 2011 , in which Scott Speedman plays the role of the Canadian gangster and folk hero Edwin Alonzo Boyd .

action

Toronto , late 1940s. The excellent war veteran Edwin "Eddie" Boyd has returned from WWII disaffected.

He actually wanted to become a Hollywood actor, but can't afford the money for the training after quitting his job as a bus driver. But now he has to take care of his young family. Boyd turns down the help of his father, Glover, a retired cop who thinks he is a lazy dreamer. When he can no longer bear to watch his beloved wife Doreen try to get the family through as a laundress for the wealthier neighbors, a thought occurs to him: He was not bad as a singer and amateur actor before the war. Boyd simply connects his dream with the needs of his loved ones and begins to rob banks in a gentlemanly Hollywood style. But the path he is embarking on is by no means exclusively glorious, on the contrary: it is full of dangers and tragedies. His raids bring him and his family not only money for food and a new car, but also on the front pages of the newspapers and in people's conversations, but one day also in jail. But he doesn't let that get him down and plans, together with the other prisoners Lenny Jackson (also a World War II veteran) and Willie "The Clown" Jackson, the breakout (in which Val Kozak supports the escape with the car from outside) and the subsequent big ones Coups.

Boyd lives out his narcissistic tendencies in bank robberies, but more and more loses sight of the original reason for these crimes: his family. Meanwhile, Canadian Sherlock Holmes Detective David Rhys's hunt for the Boyd gang is getting more intense. Rhys seeks help from Boyd's father, but he admits that he no longer understands his son. After he leaves Mary, Val Kozak's girlfriend, she takes revenge by betraying the Boyd gang to Detective Rhys. Her plan of revenge also includes self-mutilation with a burning cigarette. She then explains to Lenny and Val that the policeman tortured her in order to extort the whereabouts of the gang from her. Full of anger, Lenny and Val drive to the detective's house and shoot him in front of his garage. Subsequently, through Mary's betrayal, first Willie, then Lenny and Val are arrested.

After Boyd is arrested in his new home, he meets the rest of his gang in prison. Again the four can break out, which is commented on in the new medium of television by Lorne Greene . More than 2,000 police officers were called in to start the gang, the borders were closed, and some guards from the Toronto prison were suspended on suspicion of helping people escape. To track down the gang, the police now also use Doreen, who has to make a dictated call on a radio special. When the four of them are tracked down by the police on the run, they can no longer flee because the foot amputee Lenny and the injured Val can no longer hold out. Instead of leaving them behind, Willie and Eddie give up and are arrested again. Lenny and Val are tried and sentenced to death and hanged. Eddie and Willie are sentenced to long prison terms. After fourteen years, Eddie is released. He visits his ex-wife Doreen in her new husband's house, is kicked out by him and leaves town.

In the credits it is stated that Boyd was relocated to the West Coast, where he lived as a bus driver and carer for the disabled until he died in 2002.

reception

The film received numerous nominations for the Genie Award 2012, including for Speedman for Best Actor , Duran for Best Supporting Actor and Sullivan for Best Supporting Actress .

production

The film originally premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2011 under the title Edwin Boyd , but was renamed Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster prior to general release . Director Nathan Morlando's script was based on the biography of Edwin Alonzo Boyd. The director Morlando had previously only made short films.

In Germany, the film was released on August 30, 2013 as a direct-to-DVD production under the title Gangsters .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-908215-01-7 , accessed April 11, 2012
  2. ↑ "'Café de Flore', 'A Dangerous Method' lead Genie Awards race" ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Toronto Star , January 17, 2011., accessed August 7, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.toronto.com
  3. ↑ IMDb Release Info

Web links