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Small Faces (1996)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
Glaswegian nasty-boy saga trips lightly through beatings, love and art but ultimately reaches too far in the struggle to be of significance. In 1968, Lex MacLean (Ian Robertson) lives with his two elder brothers, Alan (Joseph McFadden) and Bobby (J.S.Duffy), and widowed mother Lorna (Clare Higgins). Alan's a pretty good student artist with hopes of making his way to art college; their shared bedroom is papered with sketches, portraits and oil works. In contrast, Bobby has severely limited prospects -- he's slow, uncultured and vicious enough to hang around with Charlie Sloan's (Garry Sweeney) local gang. Lacking a guiding father figure Lex is faced with the fairly stark choice of which sibling to emulate, since this is easier than forging a new path. He's reasonably adept with a pencil but the ruffian streak lies close in his soul. One day, while walking with Alan, he decides to shoot at some football players with his air-gun; unfortunately he hits Malky Johnson (Kevin McKidd), a feared and psychopathic gang leader.

This act of gross stupidity is pretty bad but, even worse, Malky knows just who they are. Protection is what they need and luckily Sloan decides to take them under his wing. He's rather partial to Alan's work and seems most unlike the sadistic hood that popular gossip would have you believe. Alan's skills come in for a stern test when Sloan's proteges break into a nearby art gallery. His subtle alterations to an extant piece of work are so fine you'd believe that the original artist intended to include Sloan within his work. An audacious stunt and worlds away from the mindless violence which results when Sloan's and Malky's regiments cruise into battle. Brandishing flick-knives, lengths of pipe and broken bottles the skirmishes are brief and bloody. In one telling encounter Bobby downs Malky with a half-brick, breaking his nose.

The danger of associating with such hooligans is that you're liable to get your fingers burnt, especially if you can't match their streak of insanity. Alan flirts with this sort of trouble by starting a relationship with Joanne Macgowan (Laura Fraser), a young lass who happens to be the favourite of both Malky and Sloan. She can walk this fine line between sworn enemies, but watch out anyone by her side! An artistic friend of Alan's, Fabio (David Walker), meets up with the sort of random violence which characterises these people when Sloan's followers hospitalise him for no reason. When Lex realises the identity of the guilty party he reacts badly, tracking over to Malky's home turf and offering his services. It's a risky move but Lex is determined to try anything in his quest for revenge against Sloan.

Within the Glasgow of Small Faces, adults are either absent or portrayed as laughable, ignorable objects. That they play little part in the proceedings is understandable since the gang warfare presented is purposely separate from elder control, a proving ground for young "stallions". Within this sphere Malky and Sloan exert deadly control, although for all their fire and lightning the greatest injuries tend to be cuts and bruises. If Small Faces had stuck to these core themes, with Lex playing the innocent abroad, then the result could have been stark and shocking brutality. Unfortunately the script is overloaded with peripheral themes (artistry, girlfriends and American uncles) and characters which are caricatures. Bobby is perhaps the prime example, being stunningly dumb and uncomprehending, but no one escapes looking like they've stumbled from a textbook. Further disappointment looms with uninspiring acting and flat dialogue, which only briefly fizzes into life to show what might have been.

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