Quite a few big stars tried their hands at these gritty, criminal underworld, style stories in the early 1970s and this rather procedural effort was Richard Burton's. Doubtless he was well paid, but his performance here is nowhere near his best. He is "Dakin" - a sort of Kray-esque character who runs an organised crime network extorting protection money from small businesses. A violent man, he takes his anger out on foe and friend alike but must learn to co-operate when the chance to hijack a lucrative factory payroll presents itself to him and his rival "Fletcher" (TP McKenna). Meantime his favourite "Wolfe" (Ian McShane) also suffers from his fury - and shares his bed - and he dotes after his ailing and aged mother (Catherine Nesbit). As crime thrillers go, this is all rather dreary. It's really predictable with a very stilted and unimaginative script, little character development and a star who just didn't impose himself on the story or the screen as I had expected. A decent supporting cast of well known faces tries hard to beef it up, but somehow the sense of menace is just lacking. Perhaps it resonated more then with tales of political corruption in the 1960s still fresh in the public conscience and also with the recent repealing of the anti-homosexual legislation in the UK, but now - 50 years later - is completely forgettable fayre.
