Die Liste der bösartigen britischen Filme über fiese britische Gangster-Kanaillen bekommt mit CHARLIE einen beeindruckend schroffen, ungewöhnlichen Neuzugang.

Verfilmt wurde das Leben des Bandenkönigs Charlie Richardson, der im South London der 60er mit seiner berüchtigten "Terror Gang" wütete: Charlies Regiment ist von unerbittlicher Grausamkeit. Widersacher werden mit genitalen Elektroschocks und schmerzhaften Zahnbehandlungen bearbeitet.

Als dem King 1967 der Prozess gemacht wird, beteuert er, seine exzessiven Gewaltorgien – die der Film explizit veranschaulicht – einzig gegen Gangster ausgeübt zu haben. Unschuldigen Bürgern hätte er nie ein Haar gekrümmt. Mag sein, dass die fragwürdige Legende für die Öffentlichkeit den Mr. Niceguy spielt. Doch wer diesem Psychopathen die Hand schüttelt, sollte sich schnell vergewissern, ob noch alle Finger dran sind...

Heute arbeitet Mr. Richardson (nach Verbüßen einer längeren Haftstrafe) übrigens als ganz legaler Geschäftsmann, besitzt eine Goldmine in Südafrika und hat unlängst seine Memoiren verfasst.

Written and directed by Malcolm Needs, Charlie is based on the true story of one of the most notorious South London crime families. It charts the meteoric rise of Charlie Richardson, up through the ranks of the criminal underworld as head of the infamous 'torture gang'.

In the sixties, London was owned and ruled by two families, north of the river the Krays, to the South the Richardsons. Some movies portray these families as stupid, violent men who went around cutting and shooting anybody that got in their way. But there was much more to them than that! Now, for the first time in his own words "Charlie" reveals what really happened.

London July 30th 1966, England won the World Cup, a fabled day in English history. But also on that day Charlie Richardson's' life was about to change forever. He was arrested and tried in what became known as the 'Torture Trial' a trial of gravest importance to British society. The case was so significant that even today the files remain sealed. 104 jurors were finally whittled down to 12, all of whom were given a personal body guard.

At a time when The Beatles ruled the world and young Americans were fighting in Vietnam, for ten weeks the British public were glued to the events at the Old Bailey, where Charlie Richardson was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

"The catalog of nasty British films about nasty British gangsters gains a powerful, very unsettling entry with CHARLIE, an offbeat biopic about '60s London hoodlum Charlie Richardson and his notorius 'terror gang'. Led by the magnetic performance from former boyband Bros star Luke Goss (BLADE II). Gritty and violent." Variety