Hooligans (2005)

Director:

Lexi Alexander

Writers:

Lexi Alexander (story) &
Dougie Brimson (story) ...

Release Date:

9 September 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Stand Your Ground And Fight.

Plot:

A wrongfully expelled Harvard undergrad moves to London, where he is introduced to the violent underworld of football hooliganism.

Plot Keywords:

West Ham | Fight | Hooliganism | Hooligan | Reputation

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Elijah Wood	...	Matt Buckner
Charlie Hunnam	...	Pete Dunham
David Alexander	...	Nigel
Oliver Allison	...	Ben Dunham
James Allison	...	Ben Dunham
Geoff Bell	...	Tommy Hatcher
Joel Beckett	...	Terry
Kieran Bew	...	Ike
David Carr	...	Clive
Andrew Blair	...	Announcer
Brendan Charleson	...	John Morris
Scott Christie	...	Millwall Lad / Ricky
Alec Dalman	...	Security Guard
Claire Forlani	...	Shannon Dunham
Jacob Gaffney	...	Todd

Also Known As:

Football Hooligans (Singapore: English title)
Green Street (UK)
Green Street Hooligans (USA) (new title)
The Yank (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brutal violence, pervasive language and some drug use.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Singapore:M18 | Germany:16 | Mexico:C | Czech Republic:15 | Finland:K-15 | Brazil:16 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Australia:MA | Hungary:18 | USA:R (certificate #41109) | Portugal:M/16 | France:-16 | UK:18 | Ireland:18

Filming Locations:

Bank Underground Station, London, England, UK

Company:

Baker Street

Trivia:

When hopping off the train at Macclesfield, as they are expected at Manchester and being waited for by the rival firm, it is not actually Macclesfield Station, but Westbury train station, in Wiltshire, a couple hundred miles away.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The fight scene with Manchester United fans clearly was filmed outside London Fenchurch Street station, not in Manchester.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Pete Dunham: Fuck me. If I knew we was going to a bar mitzvah, I would have brought me fuckin' skull cap. Mate, Tottenham's due north. Are you lost? Or just fucking stupid?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Lie to Me: Grievous Bodily Harm (#2.5)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Moving On

HOOLIGANS is the best of this genre so far

First of all there hasn't been a good film about English Football Hooliganism. Both ID in 1995 and last years FOOTBALL FACTORY either failed to convince or just went down the familiar exploitative road of glamorising the buzz and thrill of violence.

HOOLIGANS as the title suggests depicts what these aforementioned films centre upon with the added value of having a story and characters you care about. There's no avoiding the cliché's as the ranks of these organised gang members are portrayed as gangsters.

Similar to BBC's Gary Oldman drama THE FIRM broadcast in 1986 it also show the characters as normal members of society, family men with respectable jobs. FOOTBALL FACTORY took the extreme and unconvincing scenario that these weekend animals are florist's during the week which might be amusing but the subject matter of organised territorial football hooliganism needs to be given a serious look at.

Fortunately HOOLIGANS portrays this more realistically, sure there's the stereo types in designer clothes (The Chavs) as we call them now where loyalty, respect, revenge, dignity and pride are what they live for, not the enjoyment of the actual sport. This simply acts as the excuse to fight in a traditional gang warfare environment. The prospect of West Ham's cup tie with Millwall brings joy to the faces of both sets of fans.

Casting Elijah Wood is a bold move, he looks like a Choirboy but this adds to the films main storyline of innocence corrupted. The acting is better than average, despite letting his cockney accent slip on occasions, Gang leader Charlie Hunnam shows a genuine mix of anger, aggression and compassion which holds the film together.

This won't win awards but it's refreshing to see a film finally tackling the subject matter that unfortunately has been a shameful factor of Britain's attitude towards football as we are constantly under threat of being disqualified from International tournaments due to the bad behaviour of soccer hooligans.