In his Costa del Sol villa, retired cockney gangster Gary Dove - known as Gal - (Ray Winstone) sees a boulder roll down the hill and smash into his swimming pool. It's an omen prior to the arrival of Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), who threatens to upset the cosy life he has built alongside wife Dee Dee (Amanda Redman) and friends Aitch and Jackie (Cavan Kendall and Julianne White).
Logan wants Gary to do one final job - a safe-deposit box robbery - on behalf of London crimelord Teddy Bass (Ian McShane), and as Gary ponders the offer, Logan's increasingly unstable behaviour, including an unwanted confession, disturbs everyone. When Dove decides to stay put, an incensed Logan heads for the airport. At the villa, everyone anticipates his return, knowing the next few hours will determine their future...
This devastating thriller, directed by Jonathan Glazer and released in 2000, takes its place alongside the decade's best genre pictures, a world apart from the Mockney mayhem of wannabes like Guy Ritchie. Glazer - who made the iconic surfer/ horses commercial for Guinness - was scheduled to direct Gangster No.1, but instead he stayed loyal to the original writers and hopped aboard their new project, saying "If the Jag you want turns up as a Fiat, then at least if you get the actors right, the rest doesn't matter."
The actors are right, but with respect to Winstone, Ian McShane and Amanda Redman - each magnificent - they are eclipsed by Kingsley. Did he really play Gandhi? In his incandescent rage, Logan is the worst kind of psycho: a natural. Just think of Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday, and double it.
Sexy Beast is a Film programme that first aired in 2000 and has been classified a 18 certificate.
