Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster (2012)

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

"Citizen Gangster" from 2011 is an interesting film directed by a first-timer, Nathan Morlando, who also wrote the script. He does an excellent job telling this story.Set in Canada, Eddie Boyd (Scott Speedman) is a good-looking war hero with a wife (Kelly Reilly) and two children. He's a bus driver, and his wife works as well. One day, after helping a veteran in a wheelchair onto his bus, Eddie walks away from his job. He heads to Lorne Greene's (yes - the star of Bonanza) acting school seeking film work. Not having the money for the classes, unable to support his family, and about to lose his home, Eddie decides to become a bank robber. He disguises himself with makeup and successfully robs a number of banks, all the time telling his wife he has acting jobs. He becomes a folk hero and revels in his publicity.Finally, he is caught and sent to prison. There he meets other inmates Lenny Jackson (Kevin Durand), Willie 'The Clown' Jackson (Brendan Fletcher), and Val Kozak (Joseph Cross) who have a plan to escape, which they do, becoming The Boyd Gang.Fascinating story, all the more fascinating because it's true. There is actual footage of Loren Greene on the Canadian network's first broadcast talking about the search for Eddie. Scott Speedman does an excellent job of portraying Eddie - in the beginning, he looks like the '40s-50s actor Guy Madison, very handsome. He definitely captures Eddie's desire for fame and his lack of interest in the consequences on his family, though he claims he's doing it all for them. Well, not really. Reilly as his long- suffering wife Doreen who can't help but love him is wonderful, as is Brian Cox as Eddie's ex-police officer father, who warned Doreen about his son.What happens to Eddie later on is amazing - the film covers some of it but by no means all. I suggest the Wikipedia article for some really surprising facts.A dark film about a post-war dark world. Morlando's first time effort should be applauded.

For once a Canadian film set in Canada, without an American "name" star and done in a distinctively Canadian style. There's non Hollywood glitz. Indeed most of it is shot in the winter with typical Canadian winter scenes. (Hollywood never does that unless it's a movie about skiing.) Nor are the bad guys glamourized. The Boyd Gang may have been the closest thing we have to Bonnie and Clyde. But they aren't wrapped in tinsel the way B&C were. Nor is there any of the excess gunplay that Hollywood so loves. The entire film is shot in a low saturated colour --- almost black and white --- which, with the many winter scenes, gives it a gritty feel that is altogether appropriate. They also have done a superb job of recreating the late forties and early fifties. The cars, the furniture, the clothing, the interiors are truly representative of the era. I know. We once had a bedroom set and a kitchen table identical to ones in the film. All the more surprising that there are two major goofs...a widescreen movie theatre and a home telephone which looks nothing like the standard black Bell Canada handset that was universal in those days. But those are small points. This is a gripping, graphic, genuine piece of work.

"Citizen Gangster" is a low budget movie about a WWII Canadian soldier who felt so alienated in the humdrum of peace-time Toronto, that he started robbing banks for a living, around the year 1949. It's a story in the vein of "Public Enemies", Goddard's "Breathless", "Bonnie and Clyde", you name it, as you've seen it countless times: the "loveable" gangster, who fights not only society's rules, but also the conformity of being a square jawed bully with a gun.This one, Eddie Alonzo Boyd (Scott Speedman, "Milk"), married with two children, secretly leaves his bus driving day job, and takes his war-time Luger to a personal war against poverty (and... boredom?). He disguises himself with sinister make-up reminding us of The Joker, which thus becomes his signature look; he jumps graciously over bank counters right into the lap of young female tellers, asking them politely, and at gun point, to "fill the bag".His family life is destroyed after his secret is revealed, and a nondescript police detective manages to botch one of his downtown hits and cuff him. But Boyd breaks out of jail with a couple of acolytes (among which another WWII veteran, with a wooden leg), and gets back to being the "dazzling" bank robber young Canadian women have come to be fond of.The film tries to give some meaning to the conflicted love between Boyd and his all-too devoted wife (Kelly Reilly, "Sherlock Holmes"), then it attempts to sprinkle glitz over the "wild" lifestyle of the outlaws (where everybody parties in a sordid building), and finally strikes a tragic chord with the re-capturing of Eddie Boyd and his men in the middle of a snowy field outside Toronto.This movie is also the story of a young Canadian director (Nathan Morlando) who struggles with poor resources, fails to be inventive enough in his use of clichés (nods to predecessors are OK, as long as they're a means to an end), and reaches the finish line of his first feature film exhausted, and with a feeling of emptiness. The characters are choppy, the love story a bit drab, and the only thing that seems accomplished is the film's overall sense of pace.When the only things you have are a few interiors and a bunch of moderately good actors, I guess the way to go around a story like that is to build characters accurately, develop relationships meaningfully, and weave creative dialogue in the framework of a conventional plot: none of which happened in "Citizen Gangster".

Edwin Boyd is a fast-paced roller coaster film that proves fact can indeed be stranger than fiction. It is filled with poignant, heartbreaking moments. Boyd longed to be a Hollywood star and he would no doubt have a joyous tear in his eye to see this beautiful portrait of his life on the big screen. First-time filmmakers can certainly take notes and learn a thing or two from Nathan Morlando here. Morlando (also the screenwriter) executes this ambitious true story period piece on a low budget with such excellence you'd think he's been making films for years. The flow and tone of the film don't scream "period piece" -- which is a great thing and a conscious decision. It feels modern and slick, for instance, with the hand-held camera, particularly during the bank robbery scenes, which really place you right in the middle of the action. The soundtrack is also genius. Morlando mixes up the old tunes of that era with the jolting sounds of modern bands that feel like they could be from another time and place in history (i.e. The Black Keys). It's totally unexpected and completely exciting while watching. Brilliant work. The overall aesthetic look to the film is stunning. Shot on film, giving it warmth and life, it still has this cool grey almost newsreel type of look to it, only using flashy, vibrant colours where necessary; making them all the more gorgeous.Scott Speedman plays the title role and he truly shines in the tricky part. He shows off tremendous range as an actor. From the inner frustration and sadness simmering just below the surface, to the eventual angry blow ups, to the fun-loving gentleman-thief dancing around the banks and flirting with tellers; Speedman shows us he is capable of great things. The supporting cast is outstanding as well and they all play their parts just perfectly in showing off the different faces of Eddie Boyd (big praise to Morlando as well for fleshing out each character so well in the script in order to get deeper into the psyche of our lead character). The interactions with the fellas in the Boyd gang are so exciting and fun to watch, especially during their prison breaks and bank robberies -- you're placed right in the middle of the action, feeling like the fifth member of their gang. The scenes with Eddie and his wife Doreen, played by Kelly Reilly are beautiful and poignant. Completely in love at first, their relationship becomes strained over the years due to Eddie's lifestyle decisions, despite the love for each other always being there. Brian Cox does a great job playing Eddie's father (a retired police officer), adding a sad tension and insight in their tattered father-son relationship. Overall, Edwin Boyd is an extremely well-crafted film. Not just for a first-time director, but for any filmmaker; it's solid all the way around. Morlando handles the tricky, ambitious material of a real-life figure with total poise and precision. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll be on the edge of your seat. Definitely consider checking out this film. I can't wait to see it again.