Bellman And True

Cast: Bernard Hill, Kieran O’Brien, and Frances Tomelty

Director: Richard Loncraine

122 minutes (15) 1987

Powerhouse (Indicator)
Blu-ray region B

Rating: 9/10

Review by J.C. Hartley

I first saw Bernard Hill playing the part of John Lennon in a televised showing of Willy Russell’s John, Paul, George, Ringo... And Bert (1974), but to be honest, the first time he made an impact for me, along with everyone else I suspect, was as the doyen of the head-butt Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale’s Boys From The Blackstuff (1982). He is also responsible for two of my favourite moments in Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings (2001-3) trilogy, in his role as King Théoden. The speech to the Riders of Rohan before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, ‘To Death!’ is suitably inspiring, and the look of weary acceptance at the end of that battle, when he realises he must face the Witch King is equally moving. Jackson, who often lays things on with a shovel (how much longer can the world wait for his ‘Tom Bombadil Goes To The Shops’ trilogy), rather diluted the power of Théoden’s speech by giving Aragorn a similar moment in front of the Gates of Mordor, but no matter. Bellman And True came between film supporting roles for Hill, as club bouncer Bernard in Bleasdale’s sectarian conflict comedy No Surrender (1985), as coroner Madgett in Peter Greenaway’s Drowning By Numbers (1988), and as the egg-and-chips hurling husband to Pauline Collins’ Shirley Valentine (1989). 

Originally intended as a three-part TV serial for Thames, Bellman And True was filmed for this format, and as a stand-alone movie, in a link-up between Thames’ film-making division Euston Films, and George Harrison’s HandMade Films. The Blu-ray disc offers the film in two versions, the pre-release cut that went to the 1987 London Film Festival, and the slightly shorter theatrical version. The longer cut has the missing minutes compiled from ‘standard definition materials’, so the restored scenes aren’t Blu-ray quality, and to be honest don’t add much to the story. Director Richard Loncraine, speaking in an interview, suggests that he now wished he had produced two separate scripts, one for TV and one for the cinema, as editing and cutting proved quite problematic. To be fair to Loncraine, it sounds like the production process didn’t leave him a lot of room to manoeuvre. 

Hiller (Hill), arrives in London with the Boy (Kieran O’Brien) and books into a cheap hotel.  The pair are observed at the railway station and followed. Leaving the hotel the next day, Hiller sees Gort (Ken Bones) and attempts to flee with the boy, but he is apprehended in the Tube, Gort later mutilates him with a Stanley knife. Hiller is taken to a derelict casino to meet Salto (Richard Hope). Hiller is a computer expert as well as being adept at electronics and engineering, previously he stole computer tape for Salto for a payment of a thousand pounds, but rather than decode it for him and earn another payment, he decamped with the boy. The money having run out, Hiller has now returned. Quite why Hiller has returned, and how Salto was prepared for him, is one of a few plot-holes that in no way detract from enjoyment of the story. By using Gort to threaten the boy, Salto is able to coerce Hiller into decoding the tape, which provides information on the holdings at a bank near to Heathrow. Once they have the information, Gort uses his criminal contacts to engage the Guv’nor (Derek Newark) who assembles a team to break into the bank. The Guv’nor’s team comprises a Bellman (Peter Howell) who is an alarm expert, as well as a safe-cracking Peterman, some muscle, and a getaway driver.

The bank has a sophisticated alarm system which detects movement. Hiller suggests that by repeatedly triggering the alarm they can convince security guards that the system has malfunctioned, and use the window of opportunity to break into the lower levels housing the vault, having switched to an earlier recording of a video feed to mask their movements. The Bellman (a striking cameo by Howell) suggests that having solved the problem Hiller may as well take his place on the raid as there is no need for his presence. In a visit to the bank, Hiller somehow creates a ‘track’ by which he can remotely direct an ashtray on a plinth in order to trigger the motion-sensor alarms, and no, I didn’t understand this bit and at first thought he’d made a mobile device disguised as the ashtray, but then how did they smuggle it in? The alarm is triggered multiple times and the gang break into the lower levels.

While the security firm responding to the call-outs are forced to occupy the building, the gang are already in situ robbing the vault. The following morning, using tear-gas, the gang escape. Unfortunately a policeman dies from gas-inhalation, and the gang’s plans to abscond are thrown into disarray. Relocating to a cabin at Dungeness, the gang wait for a plane to get them out of the country, but the Guv’nor decides Hiller must be killed even though Salto is opposed to the plan, and Hiller must use all his ingenuity to extricate himself and the boy.

This is a grittily effective thriller, nicely understated, and with excellent performances.  Bernard Hill is totally convincing, and his scenes with Kieran O’Brien highlight the close relationship the latter reveals they enjoyed on set. Hiller is a functional alcoholic, and O’Brien’s character isn’t his biological son, but the son of Hiller’s wife who has abandoned them. Hiller makes up outlandish, verbally inventive, stories for the boy, reshaping their shared history with his ex-wife ‘The Princess’. Towards the end of the film, having discovered that his mother never cared for him, the boy realises that Hiller is responsible for all the affection and parenting he ever received, ‘It was always you’. 

Women fare poorly in the film, Anna (Frances Tomelty), brought in to look after the boy, tells her girlfriend that Hiller is the sort of man who will always be kicked around by women. After sleeping with Hiller, the night before the raid, to calm his nerves, Anna is offered half of Hiller’s share if she will take care of the boy, and all of it if he doesn’t come back. Anna tells her girlfriend she will take the money and abandon the boy. When the boy overhears, Anna tries to persuade him not to tell by encouraging him to touch her breast, to forge a bond of secrecy between them.

As part of the extras package on the disc there are four interviews. Loncraine talks about how the production came about, and notes the differences in filming practice in the 1980s compared to the present day. It’s quite amusing how he appends anecdotes about the non-observance of Health and Safety, and other standards now in current force, with: ‘And of course you couldn’t do that now, and quite rightly so’. Loncraine’s interview is subtitled ‘Running In Traffic’ which gives you some of the drift. He was a sculptor in a previous life, and apparently is responsible for the first chrome version of that fixture on executive desks the Newton’s Cradle (thanks Wikipedia). Desmond Lowden who wrote the original novel and cooperated on the script talks about his own career in film, in editing, in ‘Cracking The System’. 

Kieran O’Brien in ‘Just An Adventure’ remembers his eleven-year-old self making the film, and his happy relations with everyone on set, particularly Hill. When his father had to take him out of school for the four-month production, his headmaster said he would learn more on a film-set than he would in education. O’Brien is a little bit amazed at the scene where he touches Tomelty’s breast given that it literally involves the sexualisation of a minor, but feels that he was protected by Tomelty and all involved. O’Brien is still an actor, and experienced a certain notoriety when he starred in Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs (2005). Composer Colin Towns in ‘Trust’, has good memories of working with Loncraine and producer Michael Wearing, and enjoyed writing music to convey both drama and pathos in the relationship between Hiller and the Boy. Other extras include the theatrical trailer and an image gallery.