Green Street Hooligans (2005)

A wrongfully expelled Harvard undergrad moves to London, where he is introduced to the violent underworld of football hooliganism.

Director:

Lexi Alexander

Writers:

Lexi Alexander (story), Dougie Brimson (story)

Stars:

Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani

4 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elijah Wood	...	Matt Buckner
Charlie Hunnam	...	Pete Dunham
Claire Forlani	...	Shannon Dunham
Marc Warren	...	Steve Dunham
Leo Gregory	...	Bovver
Geoff Bell	...	Tommy Hatcher
Kieran Bew	...	Ike
Henry Goodman	...	Carl Buckner
Christopher Hehir	...	Keith
Terence Jay	...	Jeremy Van Holden
Ross McCall	...	Dave
Francis Pope	...	Ned
Rafe Spall	...	Swill
David Alexander	...	Nigel
Oliver Allison	...	Ben Dunham

Storyline

Unjustly expelled from Harvard when a stash of cocaine is found in his possession, Matt moves to London to live with his sister and her husband Steve. He is quickly introduced to Steve's chirpy, cock-sure younger brother Pete. Initially, Pete is reluctant to get acquainted with Matt and allow him to tread around the capital city with him because he may be seen by others as an 'outsider', but after a heavy drinking session with him and his mates he quickly changes his opinion of him. On the way back from a football match, Matt is viciously accosted by a gang of Birmingham City thugs, until Pete and his friends step in and save him. It is from here that Matt learns the truth about Pete and his friends- they are football hooligans, operating the GSE (Green Street Elite) 'firm.' Initially afraid of the violence, Matt soon ends up becoming as desensitized to it as his new found friends - but as events roll on, suspicion, shocking revelations and unsettled scores combine to a devastating ...

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Plot Keywords:

hooliganism | hooligan | bar fight | london england | male camaraderie | 

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Taglines:

Stand Your Ground And Fight.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Sport | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brutal violence, pervasive language and some drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actors playing the Green Street Hooligans had to work out with the production's trainer for four or five hours every day. The trainer, Pat E. Johnson, had most of the actors throwing up, he was working them so hard. A typical day would involve basic strength and fitness training for about two hours, followed by choreographing of the fight sequences. Rehearsals would take place in the afternoon, and then in the evening they would all go out drinking (which is probably why most of them were throwing up the next day). Elijah Wood was absented from most of this rigorous schedule to emphasize his outsider status.

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Goofs

The fight scene with the Manchester fans clearly was filmed outside London Fenchurch Street station, not in Manchester.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Pete Dunham: Fuck me. If I knew we was going to a bar mitzvah, I would have brought me fuckin' skull cap. Mate, Tottenham's due north. Are you lost? Or just fucking stupid?

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojoUK: Top 10 Good British Movies with a Bad Rotten Tomatoes Score (2019)

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Soundtracks

Morning Song
Written and Produced by Junkie XL

User Reviews

HOOLIGANS is the best of this genre so far

First of all there hasn't been a good film about English Football Hooliganism. Both ID in 1995 and last years FOOTBALL FACTORY either failed to convince or just went down the familiar exploitative road of glamorising the buzz and thrill of violence.

HOOLIGANS as the title suggests depicts what these aforementioned films centre upon with the added value of having a story and characters you care about. There's no avoiding the cliché's as the ranks of these organised gang members are portrayed as gangsters.

Similar to BBC's Gary Oldman drama THE FIRM broadcast in 1986 it also show the characters as normal members of society, family men with respectable jobs. FOOTBALL FACTORY took the extreme and unconvincing scenario that these weekend animals are florist's during the week which might be amusing but the subject matter of organised territorial football hooliganism needs to be given a serious look at.

Fortunately HOOLIGANS portrays this more realistically, sure there's the stereo types in designer clothes (The Chavs) as we call them now where loyalty, respect, revenge, dignity and pride are what they live for, not the enjoyment of the actual sport. This simply acts as the excuse to fight in a traditional gang warfare environment. The prospect of West Ham's cup tie with Millwall brings joy to the faces of both sets of fans.

Casting Elijah Wood is a bold move, he looks like a Choirboy but this adds to the films main storyline of innocence corrupted. The acting is better than average, despite letting his cockney accent slip on occasions, Gang leader Charlie Hunnam shows a genuine mix of anger, aggression and compassion which holds the film together.

This won't win awards but it's refreshing to see a film finally tackling the subject matter that unfortunately has been a shameful factor of Britain's attitude towards football as we are constantly under threat of being disqualified from International tournaments due to the bad behaviour of soccer hooligans.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Italian German

Release Date:

9 September 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Yank

Filming Locations:

Royal Exchange, Cornhill, City of London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$48,760, 11 September 2005

Gross USA:

$346,830

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,814,717

Company Credits

Production Co:

Baker Street, MWM Studios, Yank Film Finance

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1