A movie about a Canadian gangster and folk hero screens next week at the ACT.
Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster, a Canadian drama film, written and directed by Nathan Morlando, stars Scott Speedman as Canadian gangster and folk hero Edwin Alonzo Boyd.
Canada’s own Clyde Barrow, Edwin Boyd was Toronto’s public enemy number one in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and this vibrant first feature from writer-director Morlando brings his legend to the screen for the first time.
Scott Speedman gives a strong, charismatic performance as Boyd, who returns from duty in the Second World War to a country that has turned a blind eye to its veterans.
Unable to provide for his wife Doreen (Kelly Reilly) and their children, and seeing only disappointment in the face of his policeman father (Brian Cox), Boyd turns to crime. Recruiting a band of small-time crooks he meets during a prison stint, Boyd forges them into a crack team of professional thieves and launches a headline-grabbing series of flamboyant bank robberies that mix force and farce.
Switching effortlessly from crackling caper film to tragic drama to deeply felt romance, Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster was one of the key Canadian films of 2011.
GEMS
• Edwin Boyd plays the ACT Monday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. For more GEMS movies, visit actmapleridge.org.