Director: Dave Mclean
Writer: Dave Mclean, Khaled Spiewak, Kyle Titterton (Screenplay)
Starring: Conor Berry, Sean Connor, Grant Robert Keelan, Tara Lee, Kit Clark, Blair Robertson
Plot: His football career over, Davie starts promoting gigs in Dundee with two friends, leading to a hugely ambitious Iron Maiden show. Out of his depth and in debt with gangster Fergie, Davie needs to pull off the biggest scheme of his life.
Tagline – Always let ambition blind ability.
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Schemers starts as Davie (Berry) sees his football career end with a leg break, looking to get back on with his life, he teams up with his two friends Scot (Connor) and John (Keelan) in an attempt to start working on hosting gigs around Dundee, only he must work within the rules gangster Fergie (Mills) offers him.
As Davie sees the business starting to take off, he is getting bigger names heading his way, which sees him turning his head to the illegal world he finds himself in, while running up his own debts, all for one more target to achieve something big.
Thoughts on Schemers
Characters – Davie is a promising young footballer who sees his potential career shattered by an injury, turning to another love of his music, he starts a business with friends looking to promote music in Dundee, where he will have to deal with gangster, debt and learning about his own ambition to make things happen. Scot and John are the best friends that support Davie’s wild ideas, helping with he finances he can’t always handle. Shona is the nurse that helps Davie back to fitness, while slowly falling for each other, she doesn’t like certain decisions Davie is making which could see his own health in trouble. Fergie is the gangster that own all the venues in the city, giving him a slice in every show, turning the screws to get himself more money and if people don’t pay, he will hurt them.
Performances – Conor Berry brings us a confident performance, showing us how his characters always believed he could solve the problems, with the wise talking. Sean Connor and Grant Robert Keelan are great in the supporting roles, with Tara Lee filling the love interested very well through the film.
Story – The story here follows Davie McClean a promising young footballer who sees his career shattered turning to arranging gigs, learning about the gangsters that are trying to control the area, needing to prove he can escape this life and become something more. This is a story that is based on the real people, and the struggles to make things happen, the risks it took to achieve things and seeing how the 70s was a different era for making music, by performing to become somebody, which would circle around the booker. The story always feels like it is only just about to happen, showing us how unplanned most of the ideas are.
Comedy – The comedy in the film comes from seeing how the plans always just come together, with Davie always finding himself in more trouble.
Settings – The film is set in Dundee, where we see the rivalry between the football teams and the rising music scene.
Scene of the Movie – The Iron Maiden preparation.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough threat from the gangster.
Final Thoughts – This is an entertaining comedy that showed us the unorthodox methods Davie McClean used to make a name for himself in the late-1970s.