Elijah Wood

Performer for Our Time

Green Street Hooligans

(2005)

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Green Street Hooligans (2005)
Synopsis

Edward C. Patterson, site owner
Annie Graham, copy editor

A Voice over begins the meat of the film, while Matt travels to see his sister, Shannon, who lives in London with her husband, Steve and baby son, Ben. Upon arriving (which is unannounced and a surprise), they pass the scene of the Firm’s helter-skelter. "Was there a terrorist attack?" Matt asks. Shannon explains the enthusiasm of Football and warns Matt not to call it Soccer.

Arriving at Shannon’s, Matt meets Steve, who has previous plans that evening with Shannon. So, when his brother Pete arrives (Pete is the current head of the Green Street Elite) to tap some money and a lift, he bribes Pete to take Matt to the West Ham Football Game. Pete is reluctant, but he needs the cash. Steve warns Pete not to bring any harm on the chap and also gives the hundred quid to Matt warning him to keep it from Pete; to use it at the Pub to buy beer for the lads.

It doesn’t take Pete long to negotiate for half the money, but Matt refuses. When Matt tries to kick Pete in the groin (and Pete manages to quickly dump Matt on the ground), Pete takes a shine to him and settles on taking him along. Matt states that was his first fight. "Do you call that a fight?" He does warn Matt before they go into The Abbey (the GSE’s home pub) to not mention his father is a Journalist ("Don’t care for journos, do we, although your Da’s probably the exception to the rule); and to keep his mouth shut, as Yanks are not welcomed either.

Matt generally gets along with the GSE, being introduced as the inspiration for the Karate Kid. There’s one exception—Pete’s second in command, Bovver, who shuns Matt and later tells him (appropriately enough in the loo) to piss off. There’s a jealousy (almost homoerotic) between Pete and Bovver. But Pete insists that Matt come to the game, where they have an exhilarating time. As they march down to Greet Street and West Ham Stadium, the Firm sings their song, "I’m forever Blowing Bubbles," and chant in unison "United - United" clapping their hands above their head. The shot is stirring and iconic and will echo at the film’s end. Bovver manages to taunt the opposing firm, the Birmers, who are itching for a fight after the match. Matt heads off alone toward Shannon’s and is chased and caught by the Birmers, who are about to rip his mouth open with a credit card, when the GSE intervene. There’s a violent scuffle. When Matt turns to leave, Pete tells him that "when it starts, you stand your ground." "But I don’t know how to fight." "Focus on someone you hate!"

After the fight, Matt is quite battered, but mentally no worse for wear. "Who was he, mate? Who’d you think about?" "His name is Jeremy Van Holden." Matt is immediately taken into the firms good graces, with the exception of Bovver. Matt stays with Pete the night and in the morning Pete tells him about their main rivals, Millwall, which they haven’t matched in 10 years. However, at that match, something really bad happened to their head man's twelve year old son and the two firms have an undying hatred for one another. He also talks about the importance of reputation and that the GSE had the greatest rep under their former head—The Major.

When Pete returns Matt to Shannon’s, Steve explodes seeing Matt’s condition and he fist fights with Pete. Matt intervenes and they tousle. Matt leaves to stay with Pete, while Shannon is pissed off at Steve. A fine family mess. When Matt and Pete enter The Abbey, Bovver refers to them as a gay couple, which almost puts Pete over the edge. Tension is there. Matt finally decides to stay with Pete getting his stuff from Shannon’s. Shannon pleads with him to stay, but Matt likes his new friends. She tells Matt that the Firm is not the answer to what he’s looking for, and he pops out a, "how would you know. After Mom died you left for a fucking foreign country." They reconcile, but it is clear the Buckners are a dysfunctional family. Matt still hasn’t told his dad he’s been expelled from Harvard.

On a rooftop, Matt tells Pete about his expulsion from Harvard and about Jeremy. "I’d kick seven shades of shit outa ‘im," Peter states. When asked what he majored in, and knowing that the Firm dislikes "journos," he tells Pete he majored in History. It turns out that Pete’s a History teacher. He takes Matt to school, to a football practice, where Matt acts as goalie and gets his ass whipped. Later, at the Abbey, Bovver gets pissy over Matt (the Yank) still hanging around. He leaves and drives to their rival’s hangout in Millwall, where we meet their head man, Tommy Hatcher, a brutal thug, who beats a table with a customer’s head. He lets Bovver go, but things are not boding well for Bovver.

The GSE are going to Manchester for a United Away day on the train. Bovver doesn’t show up and Matt wants to go. But Pete insists that he stay as the Manchester Firm is likely to get very ugly. Bovver does show up, but not before Matt takes the train anyway showing up with the Firm. Pete calls ahead on his cell phone and finds out that the Manchester Firm is waiting for them at the station. Since this is an express train, they smash the emergency stop and leave the train behind planning to go to Manchester in Cabs. No cabs. Matt comes up with a plan. A truck driver conceals them in his cargo container, while Matt (the Yank) sits in the passenger side. They pull through the Manchester Firm, claiming to be the film crew for the latest Hugh Grant movie. It works and they outflank the Manchester Firm, beat the crap out of them and escape; the police arrest the home firm.

The GSE’s reputation is bolstered by this ballsey move. Their "Yank" is famous. "So, you’re The Yank." Matt tells us (in VO), "that I never lived so close to danger but I never felt safer." As for the violence and fighting, "it grew on me. Once you’ve taken a few punches and realize you’re not made of glass, you don’t feel alive until you push it as far as it can go." In the midst of this euphoria, this change in Matt Buckner (even his clothing changes from jeans and loose shirts to an uniformed sleek black knit and he gets the GSE tattoo), his father arrives. Meeting Carl Buckner we can see why his children lack steel. But he resists his father’s demand that he return to school and the states. His father hopes that at least Matt is writing a story about these ruffians he’s befriended. Matt says, he’s not, but he does keep a journal, as always. His father does convince him to have lunch with him at The Times, where he is spotted by a GSE member, who tells Bovver. Now, Bovver is livid that The Yank is also a spying little journo.

The GSE is also excited that they have drawn Millwall in the quarter final FA Cup match. At this time, Steve learns from Shannon that Matt is a journalism student, while Bovver has descended on Pete and, while pawing through Matt’s laptop, finds the Journal and evidence that he’s writing about the Firm. Steve goes to the Abbey to warn Matt that he’s taking a very dangerous course, being a journo and associating with the firm. Before he can leave with Matt, he’s recognized and lionized as the GSE’s famous founder—The Major. Steve tells Matt about the incident with Millwall where Tommy Hatcher’s kid got his head crushed under GSE boots. There’s a graphic flashback to the incident. After that he left the GSE. "I met your sister." Pete shows up at the Abbey with Bovver and knocks Matt about, until Steve intervenes. Pete realizes that Matt is still trustworthy, which totally pisses Bovver off. He takes off for Millwall, where he tells Tommy Hatcher that the Yank’s a journo and that The Major is back.

Millwall comes to The Abbey before Steve can leave. They fire the place and during the melee, Tommy stabs Steve in the neck with a broken bottle. Pete and Matt manage to get Steve to a hospital. Bovver, who realizes what he’s done, helps. At the hospital, Shannon goes berserk on Pete. She was the one who got Steve to leave the Firm and got him to promise he would never be involved again. Matt calms her down, but begins to realize what a dangerous deal this Hooliganism is when mixed with revenge. Steve will survive. Shannon tells him that she’s leaving for Boston where she and baby will be safe. Pete has set in motion a "closer" with the Millwall Firm on the wharf the next day. He also tells Bovver to get out of his sight forever. Bovver, who has gone from jealous to tormented, hits the bottle and winds up drunk on a park bench. Pete tells Matt to go home. It’s not his fight.

Matt is packed to leave, but decides to go to the fight anyway. While they assemble like the fierce tribe they are, he runs behind them and joins. This full assembly of the GSE and the message music played during this scene, "One Blood" is a powerful theme punch; that the tribe stands their ground even when it’s not for reputation, but for retribution. And a Holy War breaks out in the films most graphic and horrifying rumble. Tommy Hatcher is bent on one thing only—killing a Dunhan, namely Pete, to avenge his son’s death. Pete is nearly killed but saved by Bovver’s appearance. But, when Shannon shows up looking for Matt and Matt stupidly calls for her (as she has a van and means for them to save Pete), things turn Medean ugly. Tommy sees Shannon as a Dunham and his lieutenant chases after her. She and baby Ben are trapped in the van, while Matt tries to get Hatcher’s lieutenant away. Matt is pulverized. Pete tells Bovver, "If you want to make up for all you’ve done, you save my brother’s family." Bovver launches at the Millwall’s henchman, but Tommy moves on them. Pete calls to him to come finish him off, but he would rather get at Steve’s wife and baby. Then Pete insults him. "You’re the reason your son was killed. You didn’t protect him." That strikes a nerve, and Tommy attacks Pete viciously, so viciously both firms stop their fighting and pull him away. But it’s too late. Pete’s dead. We get an aerial shot of his broken body, dressed in a white jacket, drenched in blood surrounded by both firms. They are stunned. Bovver weeps and throws his body across his friend.

In a voice over, Matt tells us that "Pete’s life taught me to stand my ground. Pete’s death taught me when to leave."

In true show me fashion, the film ends with a short, but poignant epilog. We get a shot of Boston’s Mystic River and are now in a fashionable business club. Jeremy Van Holden is with some friends who congratulate him on landing a deal. He excuses himself to use the restroom, where he promptly sets up to snort coke. Matt enters. He’s in his black, tight fitting turtleneck outfit. He opens the stall’s door and surprises Jeremy, who says, "Buckner. Is that you? You look like shit?" "You said you’d hook me up. I took the fall for you and you said you’d hook me up when you graduated." Jeremy gets annoyed, but agrees that that is true but to see his secretary. He’s in the middle of a meeting. Matt moves away and plays back a tape recorder with Jeremy’s confession. "What’s that?" "It’s the chip to get me back into Harvard." Jeremy lurches forward to get the tape, and like a coiled spring Matt pins him to the wall and has his clenched fist to his face. "I wouldn’t do that if I were you." The hand shakes. We know it can do a great deal of damage. But it relaxes. It doesn’t. Pete’s life taught him to stand his ground. Pete’s death taught him when to leave. So, he does. He comes out of the business club and begins to sing. "I’m forever blowing bubbles." As he walks down the street, more and more invisible voices join him. The film ends with Matt Buckner alone on a Boston street shouting "United", and clapping his hands above his head in unison with a choir of invisible brothers, who have granted him his steel and who, unlike his real family, will walk with him forever.