Richard Allen "Skinhead" etc.?

[billy bentley]

Does anyone know if there were any attempts to make any of Richard Allen's popular paperbacks into films ? I am in no way defending Allen as an author, although I'll own up to reading two or three when they came out. Nor am I complaining that they weren't made. "Bronco Bullfrog" and "Clockwork Orange" are to me both far from Allen's work, albeit for different reasons. I would have thought some enterprising producer would have thought his cheap violence and sex, would have made for some relative box office success.

[davidb]

there was an interesting feature on these books in "my favourite shirt "a history of ben sherman by paulo hewwitt and terry rawlings ,a great book about the shirt [ obviously ] and its cultural impact ,no mention of films though .you can tell the decade those books originated "skinhead vs kung fu " etc ! interestingly richard allen was a pseudonym for a canadian called james moffatt !

[billy bentley]

They were ugly books, but they did have some great covers amd as I said before they sold quite well. Definitely NOT worth reading now, in case anyone wondered.

[sippog]

I notice IMDB lists 85 entries under "skinhead". From personal recollection I counted: (UK) Made In Britain, This Is England, Oi For England (US) The Believer, American History X (Australia) Romper Stomper

What's interesting about the genre is less the "bovver boy" aspect Allen celebrated but the ideologies that underpin it. Ultra nationalism and neo-fascism are rife at the moment; they thrive on economic problems and political turmoil; so this is a very relevant topic and I'd be surprised if we don't get more drama on the subject. It's the flip-side of Islamic extremism - the disaffected and alienated young men on the other side of the fence.

[davidb]

allen or moffatt ! was given 10 days to research skinheads and write the first novel after the publishers seen a gap in the market ! he was chosen because he had a reputation for writing fast ,according to hewwitt and rawlings anyway .ive never read one ,covers do look good though !

[byebyebadman]

the covers look amazing, and i've always wanted to read them myself, but they're ridiculously overpriced due to the fact that they're collectors items. my older brother claims to have collected them all in his teens, and says "they were unbelivably bad.................but the covers looked good!" on the same note, my favourite skinhead on film was gary oldman in 'Mean Time' he looked the part and played it well. i love the scene when theres a bunch of them sitting outside the labour exchange with nothing to do, it actually looks like the cover of a richard allen novel

[billy bentley]

Does anyone know who took ths photographs for the covers of these books. Seems to me along with the Art Director (if there was one) they deserve a part of the credit. Any ideas ?

[billy bentley]

Sippog, you make some very astute points but it was the potential cinematic exploitation of the "bovver boy" phenomenon that I was wondering about. Obviously at the top end of the scale Mr. Kubrick made out like a bandit, but I was suprised that none of the smaller entrepreneurs never ploughed this field. Of course there is "Bronco Bullfrog" but it is far removed from Allen's cheap, ugly and vicious arena.

[davidb]

the only youth cult that ever seems to have made it to the big screen regularly i think is the leather clad biker ,maybe it sells better internationally ? the temptation would always be to change the screenplay slightly to suit international tastes ,a lot of foreigners are baffled by the mod lifestyle portrayed in quadrophenia ,yet identify and understand instantly that theyre watching teenage rebellion when the rockers thunder into view on their triumphs

[vetchbook]

the thing with the skinhead books is that they are of their time.
the style of writing etc is not that important.
look at selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn or Irvine Welsh; difficult reads but very rewarding once you manage to get in to them.

as for the collectability factor; the books are very hard to find. there is a collective issue available. printed cheaply as a paperback often used to be.

[billy bentley]

Vetchbook, no offence but "of their time" is something of a catch all phrase. Both Welsh and Selby aspired to create genuine works of literature and many would say they suceeded. Allen on the other hand appears to be a paperback mercernary. A gun for hire. I have to be honest and say I haven't read any of Allen's books in thirty five years, so they may well be better than I remember them. But ultimately they are exploitive by nature. Allen soon switched from skinheads to any kind youth/counter culture subject he could find ("Chopper", "Mama", "Sorts", "Glam" etc.). One of the last ones I saw was titled "Teeny Bopper Idol". I think there can be great value to "low culture" items/output/product call it what you will. But I think you are mistaken to consider them in the same company as great work.

[batman]

Amazon.co.uk: The Complete Richard Allen: "Skinhead", "Suedehead", "Skinhead Escapes" v. 1: Richard Allen: Books

Amazon.co.uk: The Complete Richard Allen: "Skinhead Girls", "Sorts", "Knuckle Girls" v. 2: Richard Allen: Books

I read some of the Skinhead books years ago. I found them to be very interesting and entertaining books .... definitely not high art, but I don't consider anything Irvine Welch has written to be high art either.

[billy bentley]

Perhaps there is more of a connection between "Skinhead" and "Trainspotting" than I had considered. Still I find it hard to imagine Welsh approached the writing of "Trainspotting" with Allen's cynicism. I am definitely not willing to compare or see any connection between Richard Allen's work and Selby's "Last Exit To Brooklyn" the book. It's like compariing Carry On to Carol Reed !

[davidb]

forgot to mention theres a great episode of the gangster series the long firm which features the transition from mod to skinhead or "bonehead" as the charactor calls it !

[billy bentley]

A reaction to the influence of the hippie aesthetic on mod. Again another wonderful subject and/or setting for a flick.