The Films of PETE WALKER

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Man of Violence (1970)

Before embarking on his more famous horror films beginning with 1972's The Flesh and Blood Show, British director Pete Walker seemed to be attempting to find a niche for himself with sex comedies and also gangster films of which Man of Violence is a prime example.

Even though it's low budget Walker makes Man of Violence an interesting film. Starring tv actor Michael Latimer and soon to be Hammer girl Luan Peters, the film is an exercise in style over substance as Walker packs the film with the sights and sounds of a London bursting out of the sixties and into a far grimmer period. As with Michael Armstrong's 1969 film The Haunted House of Horror and Alan Gibson's Goodbye Gemini (1970) the film feels like a world lost forever with it's style and musical score.

The film like so much of Walkers work is often grim and downbeat and you can never be sure whether Latimer's character Moon (also the alternate name for the film) will actually make it to the closing credits. As an early directorial effort Man of Violence is remarkably accomplished and well worth tracking down.

The BFI's Flipside release looks and sounds superb and the film is accompanied with The Big Switch an earlier effort from Walker which is again a gangster film and in my opinion the better of the two.