When former gangland boss Alec Spindoe (Ray McAnally) is released from prison after doing a 5-year stretch he soon finds out that his business partner Eddie Edwards (Anthony Bate) has stolen not only his former empire, but also his money and his wife. Spindoe (1968) is written by Robin Chapman and features the eponymous villain from an earlier Chapman drama The Fellows (1967), and reminded me a bit of the work of gritty Northern writer Ted Lewis, whose novel Jack Returns Home (1970) was adapted by Lewis into the classic British gangster movie Get Carter (1971).
Recently released on DVD as a double bill with the infamously violent "Big Breadwinner Hog", its predecessor "Spindoe" is quite a tough gangster drama as well, and a convincing example of Robin Chapman's writing talents.Spindoe is actually a spin off from the academic crime buster drama "The Fellows", starring one of its top villains.
