The Guv’nor, 2016.
Directed by Paul Van Carter.
Starring Jamie McLean, Guy Ritchie, Jason Flemyng, Vas Blackwood, Martin Askew and John Huntley.
SYNOPSIS:
Documentary covering the life of bare knuckle boxer and all-round hard man Lenny McLean, as seen through the eyes of his son.
Trying to encapsulate the life of a character like Lenny McLean in an 85-minute documentary is something of a challenge and part of the way through The Guv’nor, Lenny’s son Jamie acknowledges that the film has become less of a documentary about his father’s antics and more of a celebration of the big man’s life and how he was perceived by the people that knew him (and given his reputation, you can bet there weren’t many people in the East End of London that didn’t at least know the name). Of course, when you’re the son of a notorious unlicensed boxer, bare-knuckle fighter, debt collector and bouncer then you’re going to come across some things that don’t quite fit with your perception of your father but McLean the younger is honest about Lenny’s lifestyle, if not going into too much detail on a lot of things.
If you don’t know who Lenny McLean was then you could do worse than pick up his biography (also titled The Guv’nor) to give you an insight into the culture of violence that McLean was involved with. But reading about it is one thing and actually seeing this big bear of a man in action is another, and the film isn’t shy about showing an in-his-prime Lenny going to town on his rival Roy ‘Pretty Boy’ Shaw. The pair fought three times, with Shaw winning the first fight, McLean the second and then the third, enabling him to take the title of ‘The Guv’nor’ from infamous loose cannon Shaw (whose own book Pretty Boy makes a great companion piece to Lenny’s) and securing his place as the man to beat, which nobody else ever did. During these scenes it becomes obvious that Lenny represented a bygone era, when men were men and beating another man to a pulp on the cobbles was the best way to show your worth, a fact made all the more amusing and even poignant when Lenny’s nephew Martin Askew comments that when you walk into a gym today you find boxers applying hand cream instead of roughing it in the old spit-n’-sawdust tradition. Lenny’s best friend John Huntley and his Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels co-star Jason Flemyng also provide similar insights into the McLean legend with obvious affection for their friend and colleague, with Flemyng telling the story of how he was the unlucky actor who had to share a trailer with McLean on the film set.
Tellingly, it is the voices you don’t hear in The Guv’nor that provide the most intrigue. None of Lenny’s siblings agreed to appear on camera despite Jamie’s obvious desperation for them to do so and maybe provide a little insight into why Lenny was so prone to violence throughout his life. However, during one scene Jamie meets up with Lenny’s sister Boo off-camera and she reveals to him that perhaps Lenny had deeper issues throughout his childhood other than the beatings he took from their stepfather. The tone of the film changes at this point as Jamie speaks into the camera and tells us that apparently Lenny suffered from severe OCD – severe to the point where he had to count the number of steps he took to get home from school and if they were a different number from the previous day then he had to go back and do it again until he got it right – which, during that time, would not have been picked up on. It’s an emotional jolt as Jamie contemplates how that condition would have played a big part in Lenny’s behaviour and the frustration that must have plagued him as he battled with his internal and external demons, but the tell-tale signs about sons bearing the sins of the father raise their head as Jamie gets into a fight soon after, simply because he felt somebody was looking at him in a strange way. It’s an odd moment, full of rivalling emotions as Jamie comes across as a decent guy who just happened to lose his temper at the wrong moment, but after some of the stories he has just been told is it simply in his nature to be like that?
Overall, The Guv’nor is a fascinating watch and full of brilliant archive footage of Lenny McLean doing his thing, the highlight being when he knocks Roy Shaw through the middle ropes with a brutal right hook during their second fight. It would be interesting to see what footage was left on the cutting room floor as the downside to the film is that is does skim over a lot of details in order to cram in the key points – such as Lenny’s involvement with the Krays, which could have been given more time than it had – and you get the feeling that maybe Jamie is making light of some things that probably should be viewed a little more seriously. But he is Lenny’s son and no son wants to think badly of his father, and if nothing else The Guv’nor does portray Lenny McLean as a loving father and husband who did the best he could with what he had and took life’s hard knocks so his family wouldn’t have to. Hopefully next year’s My Name is Lenny biopic – produced by Jamie McLean – will offer a similarly moving perspective and go into a bit more detail with some of those stories. Until then, go read the book and then watch The Guv’nor, as Lenny himself would probably tell you to.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
