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:

Skinhead | Date | West Ham | Blood | Jealousy

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

David Alexander	...	Nigel
Oliver Allison	...	Ben Dunham
James Allison	...	Ben Dunham
Joel Beckett	...	Terry
Geoff Bell	...	Tommy Hatcher
Kieran Bew	...	Ike
Andrew Blair	...	Announcer
David Carr	...	Clive
Brendan Charleson	...	John Morris
Scott Christie	...	Millwall Lad / Ricky
Alec Dalman	...	Security Guard
Claire Forlani	...	Shannon Dunham
Jacob Gaffney	...	Todd
Henry Goodman	...	Carl Buckner
Leo Gregory	...	Bovver

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Bank Underground Station, London, England, UK

Company:

Baker Street

Trivia:

The film's working title was "The Yank".

Goofs:

Factual errors: At Matt's first match, the away fans team are named as being Birmingham City (who play in all blue shirts and white shorts), and their supporters are referred to as "northerners". However, the team shown playing West Ham United is actually Gillingham (blue and black stripes with black shorts), who ironically are one of the few teams in England south of West Ham. The match shown was played on Saturday 27th March 2004, and finished 2-1 in favour of the Hammers.

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:

References The Karate Kid (1984)

Soundtrack:

Seasick

Very powerful and close to the mark.

As an English ex-pat and a football fan, I went along to the Alamo Draft House hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I got the best. This film is simply brilliant and finally provides us with an accurate portrayal of life amongst the hooligans in a way The Football Factory or ID never did.

Central to this are the amazing fight scenes and the performances of the primary actors with Hunnam in particular doing an outstanding job. And if anyone believed that all Elijah Wood movies would forever be tainted with the image of Frodo Baggins, think again. Within about 10 seconds of screen time, any lingering thoughts of LOTR are gone.

Yet whilst the direction, actors and the stunts will attract all the plaudits, for me, the main reason why this film works so well is the very clever story and the amazing script. Yes, in many respects the subject has been 'Americanised' but it has been done in a way which is very subtle. I suspect that much of the credit for this goes to the writer Dougie Brimson because it is obvious very early on that there was a strong English influence on both the plot and the dialogue.

Given the level of violence, not to mention the subject matter, I'm not that sure mainstream America will respond that well to it but for me, the big test will come when it's shown in England but I suspect like me, the English audiences are going to love it.