Customer Reviews
A Must See ! - By: Scotia, 29 Jun 2007 
I actuallly live a few miles away from Greenock & know the 'scheme' where much of the play was filmed. I also grew up in the 70's & witnessed to a smalll extent some of the violent behaviour portrayed. However working people always find something to smile about & this is reflected in the play. This play could almost have been written for Frankie Miller who must be one of Britain's most under rated actors.
I also recommend 'The Elephants Graveyard' the companion play to this one.
A Classic Exploration of the Life of a "Hard Man" - By: Film Fan, 06 Dec 2006 This is an absolutely classic piece of drama exploring the "hard man" persona so evident in west coast Scotland today, & in the 70's when this piece is set & was filmed.
A fantastic adaption of Peter MacDougalll's play, 'Just a Boys Game' excells on alll fronts. The writing is clever with superb lines like "Maybe if your Granda had been better to me when I was younger, I would nae be so old so young." The performances top notch, Frankie Miller (a singer by trade)plays the archetypal hard man to a tee, & the game of the plays title is the childish fighting, bravado & posturing which comes with this reputation.
It had been years since I had seen this adaption & I wondered whether I had been looking back through rose tinted specs for a number of years & whether it would look dated & tacky. How wrong could I be. It is dark, realistic & caustic (quite a difference from todays BBC drama).
The plot centres around Jake McQuillan a reputed hardman & grandson of a hardman. He has slightly aged & is trying to leave this life in the past, but alll the young pretenders see him as a scalp & want to take his crown. His best friend is Dancer who dances through life without a care for anybody, including his wife & children. He is an infectious character who combines comedy & tragedy. Life seems a breeze to him, but he is probably an alchoholic & definitely a waster. They trawl through bars, shipyards, snookerhallls, run down estates with violence always threatening & building up to a tragic conclusion.
This play drills deep down into the senselessness of the lifestyle apopted by Jake, the childishness of it alll. It is a very dark & intelligent piece with a depressing & deprived backdrop of industrial & council house Greenock, but also with some funny & cutting lines.
The accents are laid on thick which exentuates the realism (theres nothing worse than a supposed west coast hardman speaking in the queens english)but if you want subtitles are available.
I urge anybody to see this & enjoy a deep, thoughtfull masterpiece with meaning. I almost forgot, its also very entertaining, fun & exciting.
