Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

the audience applauded

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

This is when they made movies . Saw this movie 47 years ago. Yes it has dated a bit.But still enjoyable. Richard Burton has real Star quality. Thought provoking movie. Don't make them like this anymore.

Villain is written by Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais best known for comedies. This is a hard boiled gangster film loosely based on Ronnie Kray. Richard Burton (Vic Dakin) plays the cockney accented, mother loving, razor wielding gangster with a fondness for rough sex with on and off boyfriend Ian McShane (Wolfie Lissner.)Lissner is a ladies man who will do whatever to survive but cannot escape Dakin or his goons. He is a womaniser, a pimp, sells poppers in clubs and tries to avoids Dakin's sexual urges.Dakin becomes a wanted man after a violently staged wage snatch job as Nigel Davenport's (Bob Matthews) wry detective doggedly pursues him and his gang. Matthews even stands up to the bent politician who does Dakin's bidding.This is a rough, seedy film with plenty of 1970s location shooting in and around London. It stays just on the right side of ham. Burton looks lean and mean, he certainly has not turned up for a payday.McShane shows he had lots of early talent in his role as Lissner. Davenport and Colin Welland almost steal the film as the smart coppers who just want to catch villains but engage in a lot of dry wit as well. It is also a roll call of 1970s British/Irish actors who played heavies in movies.

Richard Burton inhabits the character of Vic Dakin very well in this competent but slightly one- dimensional gangster film. Swinging from psycho one minute to loving son the next, there's no doubt that Burton would have enjoyed the variety of the role. I love the way he literally snarls some of his lines out. Throw in a politician with a roving eye (played very well indeed by Donald Sinden) and a gay wide boy whom Dakin dotes on (Ian McShane), and that's pretty much the premise of the storyline. For me, the only issue is that there's not an awful lot to it. Yes - Burton is outstanding, even though he doesn't quite nail the cockney accent, with his bright blue eyes flashing menacingly, and he is ably supported by a great cast. It's very much in the same vein as the likes of 'Get Carter' but doesn't move as fast, which probably doesn't help. Am I glad I took the time out on a Saturday afternoon to watch this? You betcha!

Richard Burton at times seems ill at ease and at other times is pitch perfect in director Michael Tuchner's rift on the Krays (or at least the kinkier half of those infamous twins of evil). Not a great movie, but still VILLAIN has much to recommend. Spurts of extreme violence, dynamite cinematography and excellent editing. There's also a pretty riveting music by Jonathan Hodge. Ian McShane plays Burton's main squeeze, a degenerate pimp who specializes in blackmailing shifty PMs. In a role likely more suited for Michael Caine or even Oliver Reed, Burton dons jet black hair, an odd tan (too much sunning with E Taylor?) and an occasional cockney accent. Considering Burton's track record with his choices of roles in the 1970s, this is nevertheless one his best.