I'm a big fan of prison dramas and for some reason the ones made around this era seem to be the best in terms of quality: they're usually the most down-to-earth and realistic, and often hard-hitting with it. MCVICAR is a film with a lot of baggage attending – not only is it a true story, it stars one of Britain's biggest music stars, Roger Daltrey, in the titular role. Could it live up to expectations?
I think so. In essence, this is the British answer to Eastwood's ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ – a story of one man's journey to escape the mundane nature of prison life. Yes, there are the expected clichés and yes, the last act of the film is far less interesting and suspenseful than what's come before, but for the most part MCVICAR is a film that does the business. Director Tom Clegg, later a mainstay of television with the SHARPE movies, does an excellent job and I think this is the highlight of his resume. It's a taut, compelling and funny crime film.
Great cast, too: Daltrey is decent as McVicar, playing up the hard-man persona with plenty of guts; Adam Faith is solid as the good-guy prisoner with plans of freedom. I also enjoyed Billy Murray as McVicar's buddy on the outside, the brief cameo from an incredibly haggard-looking Ian Hendry, and Steven Berkoff as another inherently sinister type. Okay, it doesn't really offer anything you haven't seen before, but that doesn't stop MCVICAR from being a highly entertaining movie.
