Dom Robinson reviews
Scum
Distributed by
Columbia TriStar
- Cat.no: ODX 20004
- Cert: 18
- Running time: 89 minutes
- Year: 1979
- Pressing: 1999
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 15 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 1.0 (Mono)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-Enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Interviews, Booklet
Director:
(The Firm, Made in Britain, Rita Sue and Bob Too, TV: To Encourage The Others, The Last Train Through Hardcastle Tunnel)
Producers:
Clive Parsons and Davina Belling
Screenplay:
Cast:
Carlin: Ray Winstone (Face, Ladybird Ladybird, Nil By Mouth, Quadrophenia, TV: Births Marriages and Deaths)
Archer: Mick Ford (The Knowledge, TV: Silent Witness)
Davis: Julian Firth (TV: Cadfael)
Banks: John Blundell
Richards: Phil Daniels (Meantime, Quadrophenia, TV: Holding On, Sex Chips And Rock N Roll, Sunnyside Farm)
Scum
is a hard-hitting study of life for the inmates at a Borstal from the day three new inmates,
Carlin (Ray Winstone), sent there from another one for attacking a member of staff,
the weak-willed and fragile Davis (Martin Philips), who ran away from an open Borstal
and will soon be wishing he was back there and a young black lad called Angel (Alrick
Riley), who soon learns that the inmates and the 'screws' are not the most
politically-correct people about and if anyone has bruises arising about their person, they
just "fell" and get put on Governor's Report for "fighting". Carlin's only friend in the place
is Archer (Mick Ford), an apparent vegetarian and religious man, who just follows these
routes to wind up those who must be obeyed.
Every wing of the prison has their "Daddy" and in A-wing it's Banks (John Blundell),
ably assisted by Richards (Phil Daniels) and Eckersly (Ray Burdis), running
protection rackets and generally making a serious nuisance of themselves, to put it politely.
The question remains: how long can they rule the roost for before Carlin finds a way of
taking over?
Bad language, scores of blood and violence and a spell or two in solitary confinement are on
the cards here along with scenes that pack more than a punch, featuring a graphic assault
with billiard balls wrapped in a sock, a horrific rape and a gruesome suicide.
Scum was first made as a television drama in 1977 before being remade as a film with
many of the same principal leads two years later. Not many TV stations were willing to
broadcast it, but a year after their conception, Channel 4 put it on the small screen,
albeit with a few cuts.
In addition to the main roles, there are cameos for Brookside's Harry Cross,
Bill Dean as Mr Duke,
Lock Stock
's
Hatchet Harry,
The transfer is a fullscreen one and doesn't have the best picture on view but is fairly
artifact-free and certainly watchable, only really suffering a few scratches on the print
that you'd associate with a film that's over 20 years old. The average bitrate is 4.90Mb/s,
often hovering around 6Mb/s.
The sound is in mono only, just as recorded but comes across perfectly adequately.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
