Made in Britain (1982)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The extremely talented Tim Roth made his acting debut with this powerful little drama. Roth plays Trevor, a teen aged skinhead with no regard for the rules of society. As the story opens, he's being sent to a detention centre while authorities try to decide what to do about him. He doesn't have any real interest in changing his ways, and would prefer to spend his time stealing things, spouting racial hatred, and being a public nuisance in general.One can tell that 'Made in Britain' was originally made for television. It doesn't attempt to be overtly cinematic, but then it doesn't need to. David Leland wrote the intelligent script, making this an "angry young man" story with a memorable central character. One watches this unfold, doubtful that Trevor will be redeemable at some point, and only vaguely hopeful. When officials try to show him the error of his ways, he shows no interest. His compulsive need to defy authority overrides everything, and he simply refuses to stay out of trouble.Directed by Alan Clarke ("Scum"), and scored by anarchist musicians The Exploited, this gets a lot of juice from the magnetic performance by Roth. I'm sure people who watched 'Made in Britain' when it was new could sense a brilliant career in the making. Roth is also very nicely supported by Terry Richards, as the impressionable Errol, Bill Stewart, as Peter, Geoffrey Hutchings, as the superintendent, and Sean Chapman ("Hellraiser" 1 and 2) as Barry.Highly recommended viewing.Eight out of 10.

I can't add much more to the reviews already here. Tim Roth's performance is extraordinary, as are all those of the supporting cast. Perhaps a bit more could have been done with the Eric Richards character - the motivation for his tolerance are unclear. But I most want to say something about the 'similar' films recommended by IMDb. Love Actually, Gandhi, and Harry Potter?! Whoever thinks that if you like Made In Britain then you'll like those must be mentally retarded. Instead, check out 'Meantime', made at a similar time, with Roth as a lonely outcast and Gary Oldman as a skinhead almost as scary as Trevor in this. Also try 'Bloody Kids', directed by Stephen Frears, about alienated youth, but even younger than in this. Those 3 films together form an extraordinary portrait of youth in early 80s Britain.

Well done BBC, back in the days when the Beeb did gritty dramas, they released made in Britain, directed by Alan Clark. Again he brought us another shocking drama, in the same niche of Roy Mintons 1977 drama Scum, again directed by Clark. A very memorable film, if you was a punk during the 70's or a chav during the 00's you can still represent with Trevors anti-authority figure. With a few recognisable characters from ITV's Crossroads and The Bill, and an excellent role played by Tim Roth, who most people seem to think started acting a week before Reservoir Dogs was cast. A timeless piece of TV history... I found it left me begging at the end of the drama, for more....classic lines from the film are too many to mention, see Skinnymans album Council Estate of Mind for some good samples from the show...I would give it a 9 out of 10 but on a Dazmondo scale, Being a violent thug as a youth, its a classic....

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits Trevor (Tim Roth) is a skinhead with a Nazi symbol tattooed on his forehead roaming the streets of London with no respect and no regard for authority. He's about one step away from prison but first the powers that be are going to try an 'assessment centre', where his behaviour will be monitered and analysed. But will even the threat of prison and this decision be enough to turn him on the straight and narrow? Alan Clarke died in 1990, so his work was just about before my time, but it seems the bloke sure knew how to make a shocking film, with his most well known feature Scum and a few years down the line this very short but undeniably hard-hitting piece (which copies the aforementioned film's effective strategy of not having a soundtrack.) In his debut role, Tim Roth takes the lead and, despite his more calm, composed presence off screen, here he somehow manages to convincingly portray a dangerous and violent rebel completely off the rails and with little hope of redemption. The supporting cast pretty much shimmy in his foot steps.It's nowhere near as graphic or shocking as Scum, but it still manages to hit hard and makes me hope that one day I'll be able to see that other acclaimed film of Clarke's, the football violence drama The Firm. ***