| Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire | |
|---|---|
 Network DVD (2006) |
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| Directed by | Alan Clarke |
| Produced by | Simon Mallin |
| Written by | Trevor Preston |
| Starring | Phil Daniels Bruce Payne Alun Armstrong Don Henderson Louise Gold |
| Music by | George Fenton |
| Cinematography | Clive Tickner |
| Editing by | Stephen Singleton |
| Distributed by | Network |
| Release date(s) | Original Movie 1985 Network DVD 2006 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire is a 1985 musical film starring Phil Daniels and Alun Armstrong. The film was directed by Alan Clarke and written by Trevor Preston.
Contents |
Plot
Billy the Kid is a young, up-and-coming snooker player. His manager, T.O. (The One), a compulsive gambler, falls into debt with psychopathic loanshark the Wednesday Man, who offers to cancel T.O's debt if he can arrange a 17-frame grudge snooker match between Billy, and the reigning world champion Maxwell Randall (popularly known as the Green Baize Vampire). To ensure that both players will agree to the match, T.O hires a journalist, Miss Sullivan, to stir up trouble between them. She interviews Billy and the Vampire separately, asks them leading questions intended to illicit angry responses and provoke enmity, then prints the results. The match is set. Unknown to T.O., the Wednesday Man has hidden motives regarding the match. The sinister loanshark has engineered a clause in the game's legal documentation to the effect that the loser will agree to never play professional snooker again. Though the Vampire is close to retirement, Billy is young, and such a clause - if he loses - would greatly disadvantage him. T.O. only agrees when the Wednesday Man suggests that the Vampire will "not be at his best"; a clear insinuation that he will be bribed, or threatened. It is only later that T.O. discovers that this is a lie, and that the Wednesday Man is plotting with the Vampire, hates both him and Billy, and wishes to see them suffer. The match goes very badly for Billy, but when T.O. finally confesses, during a break, of his underhand dealings with the Wednesday Man (and the Vampire himself) he manages to pull himself together and eventually win the match.
Cinematography and "Feel"
The film is set in a series of claustrophobic, bare and/or garishly-coloured rooms and corridors, most of which possess a predominantly green hue, referencing the green baize of a snooker table. Lighting is stark.
Cast
- Phil Daniels - Billy the Kid (snooker player)
- Bruce Payne - T.O. ('The One', Billy's manager)
- Richard Ridings - Egypt (Billy's minder)
- Alun Armstrong - Maxwell Randall (the Vampire)
- Don Henderson - The Wednesday Man (loanshark)
- Louise Gold - Miss Sullivan (reporter)
- Zoot Money - Supersonic Sam (cafe owner)
- Eve Ferret - Mrs Randall (the Vampire's wife)
- Neil McCaul - Big Jack Jay (Snooker compere)
- Johnny Dennis - Referee
Songs
- Green Stamps - Billy
- Poker Song - T.O.
- Supersonic Sam's Cosmic Cafe - Billy & the Cafe denizens
- I Bite Back - The Vampire
- I'm The One - T.O.
- BtKatGBV (Practice Practice Practice) - Miss Sullivan
- Snooker (So Much More Than Just A Game) - Big Jack Jay
- Kid To Break - Billy & the cast
- Quack Quack - the match crowd
- It's The Fame Game - Billy & the cast
- White Lines Black Cadillac - T.O.
Trivia
The Vampire and the Kid are clearly based on Ray Reardon (whose real-life nickname was 'Dracula') and young pretender Jimmy White, whose showdown in the early 1980s inspired Preston's script in the first place (source - ScreenOnline review, below).
External links
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