One film that keeps me up at night is The Wolf of Wall Street. Aside from his monumental Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas trifecta, I’m not a big fan of Martin Scorsese, but Wolf of Wall Street is such a well-made film on such a reductive scope, it’s hard to decide if it deserves praise or derision. Taking Jordan Belfort’s memoirs as fact, and ignoring all other potential views, it’s like listening to a pub-braggart telling tall tales; undeniably entertaining, but lacking where it comes to any genuine insight.
Dave McLean’s Schemers is a much more modest proposal, but suffers from a similar issue; Mclean was a music promoter in Dundee before going on to manage Placebo, and this semi-autobiographical tale seems like pretty much his own origin story; a tale of 80’s music business excess that falls firmly into the ‘wonder of me’ category. That said, there’s sparks of interest here as three young Dundonians seek to stage a money-spinning Iron Maiden gig at the city’s Caird Hall to pay off their debts to various criminal factions.
Davie (Conor Berry), Scot (Sean Connor) and John (Grant Robert Keelan) land in the music biz by accident; aspiring footballer Davie injures himself, and falls for his nurse while in hospital. Promising her tickets for a disco, he ends up promoting a series of bands including Simple Minds and The Skids, but the splitting of profits with gangsters puts the boys in mortal danger. Can they pull off their biggest gig and save their skins, or will their plan backfire?
Given Mclean’s success, the resolution is never in doubt, but part of the fun of a heist-type movie is the how, and Scottish audiences will enjoy details like the side-swipes at Sydney Devine. But Schemers is hobbled by rote adherence to out-dated clichés; the opening sequence is a rip on Trainspotting, all freeze-frames and high-street energy, and the film’s feel is disappointingly generic in aping the worst geezer-excess of Guy Ritchie. Female characters are poorly served, and the final gig is underwhelming.
Once a certain amount of money and success is achieved, many talents turn to memorialising themselves, and it would be churlish to deny that Schemers has a beating heart buried underneath all the borrowed style. Like Wolf of Wall Street, this project needed another set of eyes on the script and production, mining a perspective that might create audience appeal. But with Scottish film production in the doldrums, individual efforts deserve some applause, and Mclean and his crew deserve some credit for getting this lightweight, but entertaining story out there.
Well, as a former record label employee, I think I’d see it.
I take it you’ve put the black arts behind you…
I did, but I learned so much. This was in Seattle in the heyday of grunge.
Lovely city, and the capital city of music for a while. Good to escape music industry pressures, maybe this film will remind you of them!
I got nothing, sorry. Since a certain somebody won’t let me use The Word That Must Not Be Said, I’ll say ope-nay!
Linguistics Man saves the day again! da da du dum!
“I’m not a big fan of Martin Scorsese” …neither am I. But…I did like Shutter Island, and I have yet to see Wolf of Walfstreet…a film that I have heard some very good things about, so it’s nice to see another reminder of something I still need to watch 😂
As for this one…don’t know…doesn’t sound like a film I might enjoy, but eh…could be wrong. Maybe I just need to watch it when I’m ironing stuff…that might work😊
I saw Iron Maiden in concert in 1983. Just thought I’d throw that out there. Probably not going to see this movie.
I saw them in Glasgow three years ago…
“Maiden’s alive??” said in Brian Blessed’s voice.
And by some quirk of fate I was dressed exactly like the lead singer, much to the amusement of my friends. They were good! Brian Blessed good!
Nope.
That’s a very good term. Why dodn’t you call your blog ‘ironing novices’? Might be a nice alternative to Bookstooge and myself and our Masters of Ironing super-blog….
Might give that ago, sounds like a good Ironing movie. Dundonians is it? I always thought they would be Dundeebles.