Scum (film)

Scum
Directed by	Alan Clarke
Produced by	Clive Parsons Don Boyd (executive producer)
Written by	Roy Minton
Starring	Ray Winstone Mick Ford Julian Firth John Blundell Phil Daniels Alan Igbon Ray Burdis
Distributed by	Blue Underground
Release date(s)	12 September 1979 (1979-09-12)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Scum is a 1979 British crime drama film directed by Alan Clarke, portraying the brutality of life inside a British borstal. The story was originally made for the BBC's Play for Today strand in 1977, however due to the violence depicted in the film, it was withdrawn from broadcast. Two years later, director Alan Clarke and scriptwriter Roy Minton remade it as a film, first shown on Channel 4 in 1983. By this time the borstal system had been reformatted and eventually allowed the original TV version to be aired.

The film tells the story of a young offender named Carlin as he arrives at the institution, and his rise through violence and self-protection to the top of the inmates' pecking order, purely as a tool to survive. Beyond Carlin's individual storyline, it is also cast as an indictment of the borstal system's flaws with no attempt at rehabilitation. The warders and convicts alike are brutalised by the system. The film's controversy was derived from its graphic depiction of racism, extreme violence, rape, suicide, many fights and very strong language.

Scum would be one of the most controversial British films of the early 1980s, but has since become regarded as a popular classic.

Plot

The film begins with three young, handcuffed men in a police vehicle, being driven to a borstal; namely Angel, Davis, and the main character Carlin.

Carlin is incarcerated after taking the blame for his brother (who had numerous convictions) who had stolen scrap metal. Angel is in the Borstal for stealing a car, and Davis has been sent to the higher security institute after escaping from an open institution. All three are allocated to their rooms; Angel and Davis sent to private rooms, and Carlin sent to a dormitory.

Carlin arrives at the borstal intent on keeping a low profile, having been transferred from another institution for assaulting a warder (claimed by Carlin as self-defence). He meets and befriends Archer, an eccentric and intellectual inmate who is intent on being as problematic as possible without receiving punishment, who informs Carlin that his reputation is already known; and that Banks, the current "Daddy" (the inmate who “runs“ the Borstal), would be seeking Carlin out.

Carlin struggles to settle into the dormitory, and after having watched the timid and bullied Davis be attacked by Banks, is eventually beaten up by Banks and his friends in an unprovoked attack.

A significant section of the film is the racial abuse directed at black inmate Angel, whom Carlin had been transported to the Borstal with. Following a beating by Banks, he refuses to confess to warden Mr. Sands in fear of being a “grass,” and receives yet more racial abuse from Mr Sands. He is put on report for both fighting and damaging government property.

Carlin eventually settles down, choosing not to react to the provocation of Banks and his gang until he can find the right moment. In a graphically violent sequence, he makes a makeshift temporary cosh from a long sock with two snooker balls inside, and strikes Richards (one of Banks‘ sidekicks) across the face with it. Carlin then proceeds to confront Banks in the bathroom and beats him into submission, replacing Banks as the “Daddy” of the ward. Mr Sands tries to get Banks to confess that it was Carlin who beat him due to in-house favouritism, but Banks refuses to. Carlin later acquires power over the adjacent wing of the borstal by administering a vicious beating to the adjacent wing's Daddy, known as Baldy, with a metal bar (Baldy having challenged Carlin to the conflict). Carlin leaves the wing in charge of Baldy, but affirms that he is the Daddy of the entire borstal, rendering Baldy under Carlin’s command. Life improves for the inmates under Carlin, with the victimisation of younger, weaker prisoners being prevented, along with racially-motivated violence. Carlin also gains status with the warders. He persuades Mr. Goodyear to move him from the dormitory to a single cell in return for an agreement to be responsible in his status as a "natural leader". Goodyear offers Carlin a position of leadership in the borstal to help him develop his leadership skills.

Carlin does, however, reduce the amount of money prisoners can keep from the notes brought in from outside, to establish his credentials.

During a group discussion session with the matron (the only female character in the film and perhaps a mother figure), Toyne, a black inmate, receives a letter telling him that his wife has died. He becomes very withdrawn and depressed, reaching a climax when a fellow inmate is allowed to temporarily leave the Borstal to get married. Toyne eventually suffers a mental breakdown and, in a graphic scene, cuts his wrist. It is later discovered that his suicide attempt failed, but after being transferred to Wormwood Scrubs, he attempted suicide again and succeeded in killing himself.

Davis is framed for theft by Eckersley and placed on report. Carlin advises Davis to lie low and try to avoid them; but ultimately cannot save the youngster, who is subsequently gang-raped in a highly violent, and perhaps the film’s most well-known, scene; overlooked by Mr. Sands who merely smiles at the rape. This sends Davis into an unstable mindset and, after his pleas of despair are ignored by warden Mr. Greaves, he kills himself by slashing his wrists in his cell at night.

Davis’ suicide causes mass hysteria within the prison, with all inmates from all wards refusing to eat their food at dinner. Carlin, after being picked on by Mr. Sands during the food strike, initiates a full-scale riot in the dinner hall, causing mass destruction of the hall perpetrated by all the prisoners. Carlin, Archer and Meakin (one of Toyne’s closest friends, Toyne having committed suicide earlier) are shown being dragged unconscious into solitary confinement after being savagely beaten to within inches of their life by the wardens. An assembly of the inmates is then conducted, with the governor of the Borstal informing them that the damage to the dinner hall will be repaid through lost earnings. The film ends with The Governor declaring a minute's silent prayer for Davis and Toyne.

Cast

• Ray Winstone - Carlin
• Mick Ford - Archer
• Julian Firth - Davis
• John Blundell - Banks
• Phil Daniels - Richards
• John Judd - Sands
• Philip Jackson - Greaves
• Peter Howell - Governor
• John Grillo - Goodyear
• Ray Burdis - Eckersley
• Alan Igbon - Meakin
• John Fowler - Woods
• Bill Dean - Duke
• P.H. Moriarty - Hunt
• Nigel Humphreys - Taylor
• Jo Kendall - Matron
• Patrick Murray - Dougan
• Herbert Norville - Toyne
• George Winter - Rhodes
• Alrick Riley - Angel
• Philip DaCosta - Jackson
• Peter Francis - Baldy
• Andrew Paul - Betts
• Sean Chapman - James
• Ozzie Stevens - Smith
• Ricky Wales - Chambers
• James Donnelly - Whittle
• Joe Fordham - Reg
• Ray Jewers - Gym Instructor
• Ian Liston - White
• James Lombard - Jameson
• Charles Rayford - Philpott
• John Rogan - Escort
• Perry Benson - Formby

Deviations from original BBC production

The film differs from the original BBC production in many respects. The film contains strong language as opposed to the milder BBC version. The violent scenes were far more graphic in the 1979 remake. Support cast members David Threlfall and Martin Philips from the original are replaced with Mick Ford and Julian Firth in the film. The story was also changed. The BBC version features a homosexual relationship between Carlin and another inmate, which was dropped from the film. Minton later said that this was a pity as it would have expanded Carlin's character and made him vulnerable in an area where he could not afford to be vulnerable.

The television play version of the film also features less graphic rape and suicide scenes. An additional scene shows Davis trying to talk to Carlin about the incident. Carlin dismisses him when he refuses to talk in front of his 'missus' (partner). He then commits suicide. In the remake, the relationship between Carlin and his 'missus' doesn't feature. Instead, during the mess, Davis looks up at Carlin from the dining table as if about to confide in him, but Carlin unwittingly chooses that moment to get up and leave.

Also in the television play, it's made clear Banks is in hospital - resulting from the beating administered by Carlin when ousting him as the "daddy" - at the end of the film; in the theatrical version he is present at the end moment of silence.

Response

British morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse initially won her private prosecution in the High Court case against Channel 4 for showing the film, the Independent Broadcasting Authority had approved its transmission, but Channel 4 later won on appeal.

In 2010 an American film which was heavily based on the film Scum was made called Dog Pound.

Home media releases

The film was first released on VHS video in the UK in 1983, where it was immediately caught up in the UK Video nasty controversy of the early 1980s.

It was later released on DVD in the UK by Odyssey and Prism Leisure. It was the digitally remastered uncut version but in fullscreen, with only a trailer and an interview as bonus features. In the US an Alan Clarke boxset was issued that included several films, among them both the BBC original and cinema version of the film plus audio commentaries. Prism Leisure released a limited edition 2-disc set in the UK in 2005. Disc One featured the BBC version with an audio commentary and two interviews. Disc Two instead featured the theatrical remake with an audio commentary, several interviews and featurettes and two trailers. It was digitally remastered from a widescreen print. This special edition DVD was sold in amaray slipcase packaging and also in a limited edition tin case. A Region 0 DVD - very similar to that in the Alan Clarke boxset, but this time available separately from other Clarke films - followed in the US, released by Blue Underground.

External links

• Scum (TV drama) at the BFI's Screenonline
• Scum at the Internet Movie Database