The cover art describes the film as ‘The Krays meets Reservoir Dogs”. I can see why that comparison is made and why Entertainment in Video decided to place that tag line on the cover of this 1996 film. Originally I thought this was a bad tagline, but as the film went on I thought ‘fair enough, I can see where they are coming from.

The film is ‘Hard Men’, the year was 1997 and my first viewing of this film was during my years working in a video store. The format was VHS and I remember enjoying the film at the time and watching the single VHS rent quiet well.

Casting your mind back to 1996 (1997 when the VHS was released). This was at least a year before we were all blinded by the Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels spotlight and the films that came after that.  The chances are, the genesis of Lock Stock actually came from Writer/Director JK Amalous debut feature. Looking at Lock Stock there are many things about that film that can be found in this film.  But thats not a critique of anything Guy Ritchie has done, The beauty of film making (and any creative project) is that we take what we see, what we like, and morph it into and add it to other ingredients and let things grow.

‘Hard Men’ focuses on the story of three gangsters. Bear (played by Ross Boatman), tone (played by Vincent Regan) and Speed (played by Lee Ross) who are all trying to come to terms with the fact that Tone is giving up his criminal ways to be a full time father to his newly discovered child.

The story unfolds over a 24 hour period as the three friends and co workers go from event to event  (and from cafe to cafe) talking about the past, present and possible futures.

As happens with most small budgeted independent features, the film sits mostly on two things. The dialogue and the actors and these two elements work very well indeed. Shining slightly above the others is the performance by Lee Ross as the crazy, coked up gun wielding crook. This wonderful performance might outshine the others mainly due t the fact the character of ‘Speed’ has far more to play with than the other roles, but that shouldnt take anything away from anyone else in the film.

It was a pleasure to watch this film in 1997 and until today in 2013, I havent seen the film. Has it dated?

Not really. the only thing that does slightly date the film are a couple of music tracks from the 90s. It might have been ‘Elastica’ but I wasnt sure. Other than that I love the look of the film. The black suits and white shirts of the Reservoir Dog era and the London gangster setting of the world of The Krays. Mixed with 90s film making and wonderfully written dialogue and scenes.

I know that JK Amalou has not seen this film for many years and I understand that a great many film makers never rewatch their films (for whatever reason) But JK should be very proud of this film. It was wonderful in ’97 and its still wonderful in 2013.

What happened to the principle cast and crew.

Actor Lee Ross has gone on to maintain a wonderful career starring in TVs The Bill,Life On Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Neil Marshells Centurion and a great many other projects.

Actor Vincent Regan still works in the acting world with over 77 credits to his name including the Danny Dyer starring Vendetta which has just wrapped shooting recently, and also Lockout, Snow White and The Hunstmen and the Gerard Butler action film 300)

Actor Ross Boatman has starred in TVs The Bill & Londons Burning and as well as still acting, he is a professional poker play with a very good success rate.

Writer/Director JK Amalou made his directing debut with ‘Hard Men’ and last year completed and released one of my favourite British films. The Danny Dyer starring ‘Deviation’ which shows a new Danny Dyer role and one that I highly recommend for fans of thriller films and great pieces of work.

I really enjoyed watching the film ‘Hard Men’ again and I promise to myself I wont wait sixteen years before I watch it again.