Beyond the Multiplex: A Very British Gangster
“A Very British Gangster” Investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre’s film is fairly standard British TV product, closer to a glorified “60 Minutes” segment then to cinematic art. But never mind — its subject is, as he might say, feckin’ amazing. Manchester gangland legend Dominic Noonan is a plump, bespectacled, bald fellow, appealing in an unfocused way, who wouldn’t look out of place behind a bank manager’s desk. But consider Noonan’s newly legal last name — Lattlay Fottfoy, which stands for “Look after those that look after you, fuck off those who fuck off you” — and you begin to get the measure of the man.
“A Very British Gangster” will translate oddly to American viewers. Wisely, the distributors have subtitled much of the dense Mancunian dialect, and let’s just say that as crime lords’ lifestyles go, Noonan is several rungs below Tony Soprano. He appears to live in a dismal little English suburban slum house, half-furnished and appallingly carpeted, surrounded by a pasty-faced crew of teenage underlings. But he’s believed to be one of Britain’s greatest heist-men, and (along with his wisecracking and since-deceased brother Desmond) may be responsible for upwards of 20 gangland murders. And just wait — just you wait — for the response when MacIntyre asks him: “I detect a hint of lavender about you, Dominic. Are you gay?” (Now playing at Cinema Village in New York and the Culver Plaza in Los Angeles, with more cities to follow.)
― Andrew O’Hehir
Dominic Noonan: A VERY BRITISH GANGSTER
by Andre Soares
At the Irish Voice/IrishAbroad.com, Cahir O’Doherty talks with Irish investigative journalist-turned-film director Donal MacIntyre about his documentary A Very British Gangster:
“Watching A Very British Gangster, the award winning documentary film which opens here on July 18, you have to wonder if director Donal MacIntyre has a bit of a death wish. After all he’s been consorting with men who make Al Pacino and Robert DiNiro’s [sic] famous screen characters look like sweethearts.
“’I first met Dominic Noonan, the head of the crime family, in Britain’s high security Belmarsh Crown Court,’ MacIntyre told the Irish Voice. ‘He told me, “Everybody I know wants to kill you. My brother was asked to whack you — I can see the job isn’t done.” It’s a chat-up line you’ll remember. It led me on an unforgettable path.’”
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As per O’Doherty’s article, Noonan — who is actually Irish, not British (but the film is set in Manchester) — legally changed his name to “the aristocratic sounding” Lattlay Fottfoy, “an acronym for the family motto: ‘Look after those that look after you, fuck off those that fuck off you.’”
Ah, lest I forget…
O’Doherty’s article is called “The Gay Gangster.” And here’s why:
“Halfway through the new film we learn that the mysterious, heavyset father of two is in fact gay, and surprisingly enough this unexpected information only serves to make him more intimidating. There are still some people who think gay men can never be tough guys, after all; here in America the Mafia usually whacks any leader who’s discovered to be gay.
“But across the sea in Britain the hardest nut in the Manchester criminal underworld is an openly gay Irish man. So clearly someone needs to upgrade their idea of what a gay person looks like.”
Those who would like to learn more about that much talked about “queer sensibility” should probably take a look at A Very British Gangster, which opens on July 18 at Cinema Village Theater, 22 East 12th Street, in New York City, and at the Culver Plaza in Los Angeles.
A Very British Gangster
By Jessica Koslow
Did you think America (or New Jersey, for that matter) had a lock on creating gangsters? Nope, it’s an international phenom.
A Very British Gangster follows the (actual) trials and tribulations of Dominic Noonan, England’s own version of Tony Soprano and an “out-of-the-closet gay thug.” Director Donal MacIntyre, an investigative reporter, went on the DL Donnie Brasco-style for 10 years and presents three of them in his documentary.
Learn from Noonan, a man who legally changed his last name to Lattlay Fottfoy, an acronym for his family’s motto: “Look after those that look after you, fuck off those that fuck off you,” and who, while in solitary confinement, orchestrated an April Fool’s Day ‘glue down,’ a super-glue assault on the prison locks.
Grade: A
A Very British Gangster releases in select theaters July 18.