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Not to be confused with Nick Love's 2009 remake or the 1993 legal thriller starring pretty-boy Tom Cruise, The Firm is a made-for-TV movie depicting the rise of football violence in the 1980s from well-respected British film director Alan Clarke.

Gary Oldman heads the cast as "Bex", a seemingly well-paid estate agent, whose true passion lies in the violent confrontations he has with rival hooligans on match days. Together with his crew of thugs, the Inter-City Crew from West Ham (based on the real-life Inter-City Firm) prefer to get a "buzz" by scraping with others on the streets, rather than watching the ninety minutes of football being played on the pitch by their favourite team.

Scriptwriter Al Hunter, commendingly, views the common football hooligan as a simple-minded lout outside of his "normal" working lifestyle. The Firm is blunt in its portrayal of violence: "Why don't they just tell 'em we like hittin' people?" says one of the yobs in response to a psychoanalytic account of the violent sub-culture on T.V. From there on, we witness various altercations involving fists, stanley knives and baseball bats, which will result in many praising, as well as condemning, the film for its realistic depiction of football violence.

Rather ironically, though, The Firm is one of the most intelligent dramas in a now hefty list of movies in the same genre. Despite the ending arriving too quickly and being slightly overblown, the film is still a cut above most as it interestingly explores the effecs that the hooligan lifestyle has upon the family at home (a scene involving a small child and a stanley knife is particularly eye-opening).

Oldman is masterful as the sadistic psychopath struggling to separate his nine-to-five working routine from his weekend rucks; while Lesley Manville is the wife that condemns the pointlessness of his violent lifestyle, which, it seems, is the man's primary method of attaining a sense of self-worth.

The evolution of the hooligan is also particularly evident here: No longer is he a working-class skinhead, as commonly portrayed in the media in the 1970s; rather, he is part of a racially-mixed casual subculture, attempting to rebel against the Thatcher-inflicted injustices in society by venting his frustrations in fights at football matches.

Don't let the "Made-for-TV" subtitle put you off: The Firm is relentless and compelling from the off. It is also notable for being the last film from Alan Clarke, who directed other British TV Film classics, including Scum and Made In Britain.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2010.