Small Faces doesn't insult your intelligence, and it doesn't have any affectations. Its setting in the 60s is almost incidental; as someone else mentioned, there's no attempt here to glorify or overstate the setting for stylistic reasons. The film is a quasi-remake of Hammer's 1959 film The Stranglers of Bombay. The setting is changed to Hong Kong in 1910 from India in the 19th century but the basic plot of a middle-aged, yet youthful hero attempting to uncover the crimes of a secret sect in a British colony, being captured by the sect, and later released, having a personal stake in the outcome, finding that there is an inside villain, and losing friends or family are all there.

The spectre of the Tongs still lingers. Their name still pops up in The Calton and surrounding areas. But that war cry is now a relic and its echo diminishing as the area and local people move on from a painful and look to the future. This coincided with a resurgence of street gangs at the turn of millennium, many of whom had been active in the city for 50 years, and a new wave of so called “ned culture” that was apparent all over the west of Scotland. The growth in technology meant feuds were being taken outside of the schemes and the city centre at weekends could resemble a battle ground. They took their names from secret societies in China, Singapore and Vietnam and marked their territory with the slogan "San Toi Ya Bass". Fragments of the past still remain. So to are the obvious signs of poverty. Small groups of teenagers still associating themselves with one of the city’s oldest gangs.

See also

The Calton Tongs adopted the title 'Tongs' after some of the local Calton youths attended a movie called 'Terror of the Tongs' in a picture hall near Fielden Street in the East End of Glasgow during the 1960s. The first person to shout 'Tongs ya Bas' was 'Terror McCabe' who had been in attendance at the movie 'Terror of the Tongs , he also adopted the name 'Terror ' from the movie......... During the late 1970s ,early 1980s the prefix 'Real' was added to the 'Calton Tongs' title...as a sort of registered trademark... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongland,_(Gang_Area) CIRV is a co-ordinated approach by the Strathclyde Police gangs task force, the national Violence Reduction Unit, youth support charities such as Includem, social work, housing and education bodies. However by the 1960’s both gangs from the relatively small area were easily outnumbered by larger rival gangs from areas like Parkhead and The Gorbals, so gradually San Toi and The Calton Entry joined forces, merging into the one gang. The writing on the wall (Image: Glasgow Live) A year later in 2009 it was revealed Glasgow had lost the murder capital of Europe tag, to Amsterdam, however it was still named that year as one of the 35 most deadly cities in the world with a murder rate of 3.3 per 100,000. There are still trouble spots, such as an abandoned school 100 yards down from his shop, where a fight broke out a couple of weeks ago. But even here, incidents have tailed off.

The Tongs started in Easterhouse. They took their name from the secret societies active in China, Vietnam, Singapore and the United States. The most famous Glasgow Tong was the "San Toy" named after a battle between the French and the Chinese in Vietnam. The Tongs financed themselves by levying protection money on local shops. They would mark out their territories with graffiti such as "San Toy Ya Bass". But intelligence and measurements of the gang's activities show they have virtually disappeared in their form since the clampdown started in 2007. No clichés. No insult to your intelligence. Just a story, well told, superbly acted, and superbly shot. This film is a textbook on how to make a good drama. Just one of many superb films from the UK (another recent good one was The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner) that we've been deprived of over here until now. We have three major movie firms and producers interested and would be looking to film in Glasgow and in Dublin because of the tax concessions. when McCabe shouted out 'Tongs ya Bass' for the first time. McCabe consequently renamed himself Terror McCabe". [4]One of Scotland's most violent gangs have been smashed by a major initiative - and it is to be copied in London in the aftermath of the English riots. He starts investigating the Tong on his own, despite the police's warnings. Because of this investigation, he gets into a fight with a Tong member. Sale is about to be killed when Lee, the criminal's wife saves him. Lee was forced to marry the man and, hating him, decides to aid in his demise before another innocent person is killed. Realizing the woman is in danger for defying the will of the Tong, Sale tells her to stay at his place.