Richard Burton stars in this great British gangster film – it failed at the box office, killed off Richard Burton’s star power but despite some short comings it is fantastic. The cast are first rate as is the script. This was the director Michael Tuchner first feature film – a very impressive debut. He has directed 45 films mostly TV but he has had a long career none the less.
Richard Burton’s best and most controversial scene is a sex scene with Ian McShane – Burton tells him not to make any noise- hits McShane in the gut a few times then undresses for sex telling him very matter of fact as he does so that tomorrow they will go shopping for some good suits for him.
The scene was cut from the theatrical release but was included in the VHS release in the 80’s. Without that scene Richard Burton’s character makes no sense- what a shame cinema audiences didn’t get the impact of the full film especially since by 1971 with the American New Wave in full swing all bets were off in terms of censorship. Once again thank God for the VHS era- so many great films that would never have seen the light of day had it not been for VHS. The VHS of Villain itself is quite rare but luckily Warners Archive have it on DVD (I haven’t seen it but I am sure it is as the director intended) so it wont go extinct as so may films will do as the VHS cassettes fall apart with age.
Ian McShane reported that Richard Burton said that he was glad he was doing the sex scene with him as he reminded Richard Burton of Elizabeth Taylor. Interesting motivation!