Project Detail

Dead Man's Cards

Scott Johnston

Synopsis

Former boxer Tom is on the ropes. His promising fight career is long over, thanks to an eye injury, his marriage is on the rocks and he's broke. When a chance encounter at the gym leads to the offer of work as a doorman at a run-down nightclub, the jury is out on whether he has taken a step on the road to redemption or has finally hit the self-destruct button.

The volatile head doorman Paul (knuckle-duster ever at the ready) is a battle-hardened veteran from the old school. Recognising Tom for the fighter that he once was, Paul takes him under his wing and guides him through the ins and outs of life as a club land 'peacekeeper'. Tom does his best to fit in and play the hard man, but soon strikes up a friendship with Mary, the world-weary head barmaid, who recognises something more than the norm in the down-on-his-luck fighter. Unfortunately for them, dealing with a smack on the nose and a drunk with a broken bottle is nothing for Tom compared to his inadequacy at dealing with a broken heart. The personal baggage of losing his wife due to his impotency is a secret he will keep bottled up at all costs. Tom soon finds out he has entered a world of trouble when Chongi, the head of the biggest, most ambitious security firm, has a score to settle with Paul, and stakes an interest in the down-at-heel club. As the tension escalates, Tom is soon forced to question his new loyalties, and whether he really has lost the bottle for a fight.

Details

Year: 2006
Type of film: Features
Running time: 110 mins
Format: 35mm Cinemascope
Director: James Marquand 1st Feature
Producer: Steven Corless, Phillip Evers
Editor: Sigvaldi Karason
Screenwriter: James McMartin, James Marquand
Director of Photography: Mathew Whyte
Sound: Alan O'Duffy
Music: Bernd Rest
Principal cast: Paul Barber, Tom Bell, Samantha Janus, Gary Mavers, James McMartin

Genre

Action

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Stray Dogs Productions

31a Well Lane, Rock Ferry
Merseyside, CH42 4QQ
UK

T+44 (0)15 1644 6600

straydogsfilms@yahoo.com

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