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Martin said: "These gangs are held together often just by loyalty, so as soon as the main ones who hold that together are out the picture, that is a time for those on the to get the breathing space something with their lives."
At the centre of the film is the Maclean family - widowed mother with sons Bobby (none too bright), Alan (budding artist in spite of being brought up in the tough end of Govan) and narrator Lex, only 13 and still not sure what life is all about. Iain Robertson's performance as Lex is so good that it is barely credible that he has not reappeared in anything more worthy of his acting talent. BASS, n.. 4 Usu. in phr. ya bass, term of abuse, often used in gang slogans. Gsw. 1972 George Friel Mr Alfred M. A. (1999) 528: But the old territorialism was also still rife and new battle lines were soon drawn in the new estates. THEN she asked if she could paint my toe-nails as apparantly I have "nice big nails" - and I again obliged... The Glasgow gangster hard man stereotype has become as synonymous with Scotland as the deep fried Mars bar and holds as much mythical status as the Loch Ness monster.The youngster's plan doesn't go well however when he accidentally shoots the leader of the gang, (played by Kevin Kidd) he wants to join and when into the bargain the artist brother also starts romancing the guy's girl-friend too, clearly there will be recriminations for the brothers down the line.
There is a well-executed, pardon the pun, killing at an ice-rink, but I was otherwise unconvinced by the dialogue and thought there was an over-dilution of the way things really were (for instance, I didn't see one razor-slashing) and I can guarantee that the language and actual violence of the times was much stronger than we see here, although I can understand this may have been done for certification purposes. The spectre of the Tongs still lingers. Their name still pops up in The Calton and surrounding areas. But that war cry is now a relic and its echo diminishing as the area and local people move on from a painful and look to the future. The world is also a different, far smaller place and the rise of the internet and social media has changed attitudes. Most youngsters today view being associated with their local young team as 'a complete cringe.' Read More Related Articles
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So, a while later, after the "hilarity" was over I went to the bathroom and washed it all off as our food would be arriving soon and I didn't fancy answering the door to the Dominos man in drag. Small Faces doesn't insult your intelligence, and it doesn't have any affectations. Its setting in the 60s is almost incidental; as someone else mentioned, there's no attempt here to glorify or overstate the setting for stylistic reasons. The film sets up a series of oppositions - gangs (Glens versus Tongs); romantic family life vs tough and unromantic street life; loyalty vs betrayal. Far from resulting in simplification, this actually makes the life of young Lex even more complex as he is, sequentially, drawn to each aspect of these opposing ideas.
The film is a quasi-remake of Hammer's 1959 film The Stranglers of Bombay. The setting is changed to Hong Kong in 1910 from India in the 19th century but the basic plot of a middle-aged, yet youthful hero attempting to uncover the crimes of a secret sect in a British colony, being captured by the sect, and later released, having a personal stake in the outcome, finding that there is an inside villain, and losing friends or family are all there. But tensions were starting to rise. A few shouts rang out, food was thrown and then, at the end of the film, the Calton gang leader McCabe, who would go on to become known as Terror McCabe, stood up and shouted the immortal lines “TONGS YA BASS” at the top his lungs before leading a charge towards the outnumbered Spurs. Read More Related Articles By now there had been a cultural shift in the city, it was a lot less harsh and conservative as it was in the 30’s young people were no longer as confined to their own community.
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If you see this in the TV listings, local videoshop, wherever, Get It! You will not find a more accurate movie that conveys the state of Glaswegian upbringing as it was and still is today. The violence, the course language and the way the young 'gangs' live and breathe on machismo and fights. The film shows an artist boy who is somewhat out of place in the world he finds himself living in. With his rather maniacal brother Bobby who just loves to go and fight the 'TONGS'. There is a younger brother in this family who becomes more of a central character as the film progresses. I don't want to give the story away so I will just say, if you want a true drama with no frills, fluff or effects, violence shown as it is, brutal and frightening (although I dont mean to put you off as it is highly watchable and not TOO brutal) -the utter desperation that some people live in and not only when this film is set in but today too. I know, I have lived in a similiar world. Nothing has really changed. If you want to find out just what this is like..GET THIS MOVIE! If you are from Glasgow or most places in central scotland - GET THIS MOVIE! Thats all :) I caught this film late night on the Sundance channel. It is extraordinarily well done. It's good to see more and more cinema from the UK showing on cable here in the US. SMALL FACES is a Scottish film set in Glasgow during the late 1960s and follows the lives of three brothers from the Maclean family : Bobby a member of the Glen Gang , Alan who has ambitions of going to art school and Lex a thirteen year old boy and like the character of Taylor in PLATOON where the main character finds himself being split between the violent pragmatism of Barnes and the humanity of Elias young Lex is split between what brother makes the better role model ya bass' Belligerent phrase affixed to gang names in graffiti or slogans: 'Tongs ya bass!' Presumably this derives from 'you bastard' rather than from calling someone a fish. Gsw. 1989:
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