The British Film Institute has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Alan Clarke's
The Firm (1989). The release will be available for purchase on May 23.
This unflinching drama from the controversial director of Scum explores the violent world of a football hooligan. Originally censored prior to its broadcast in 1989,
The Firm has now been transferred in high-definition for the very first time, and is presented in two different versions, including a Director's Cut which finally restores previously unseen material.
In
The Firm, Bex Bissell (played, in a bravura performance, by Gary Oldman,
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), wages bloody war against rival gangs to decide who will lead a national 'firm' into Europe to do battle on an international playing field.
Special Features:
- The Firm (Director's Cut, 68 mins): painstakingly reconstructed from Clarke's personal workprint
- Optional audio commentary with Gary Oldman
- The Firm (Broadcast version, 67 mins)
- Optional audio commentary with actors Lesley Manville, Phil Davis, author David Rolinson and the BFI's Dick Fiddy
- Elephant (1989, 39 mins): Alan Clarke's sparse, shocking drama about The Troubles
- Optional audio commentary with producer Danny Boyle and critic Mark Kermode
- Alan Clarke interview (1989, 10 mins): the director discusses Elephant and The Firm
- Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light (2016, 36 mins): new documentary about the making of Clarke's last films