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In 1991, Mark ‘Chopper’ Read (Eric Bana) is in jail watching himself on television. He has become the most famous criminal in Australia, a standover man who claims to have robbed and killed only drug dealers and other criminals. The action then shifts to Pentridge Prison in 1978, where a younger, thinner Read establishes his reputation in jail by the vicious stabbing of Keithy George (David Field), a member of the much feared criminal gang associated with the Victorian Painters and Dockers Union. The prison governor, Mr Beasley (Fred Barker) warns Read that they have put a contract out on him, but Read is dismayed when his best mate, Jimmy Loughnan (Simon Lyndon) stabs him seven times. Loughnan claims at his subsequent trial that Read attacked him first.
By 1995, Read is out of jail – a police informant, paranoid because of all the speed he’s taking, but still living at home with his dad. He shoots a drug dealer called ‘The Turk’ outside a nightclub in St Kilda, but the police refuse to believe him. He shoots an old associate, drug dealer Neville Bartos (Vince Colosimo), then drives him to hospital. He threatens his old mate Jimmy Loughnan, who’s back on heroin, with a gun, then apologises. The police eventually arrest him for the murder of the Turk. He is acquitted, but gets five years for other offences, and returns to jail. By 1991, his first book about his own life has sold 250,000 copies. He’s a celebrity, but still alone and in jail.

In 1991, Mark ‘Chopper’ Read (Eric Bana) is in jail watching himself on television. He has become the most famous criminal in Australia, a standover man who claims to have robbed and killed only drug dealers and other criminals. The action then shifts to Pentridge Prison in 1978, where a younger, thinner Read establishes his reputation in jail by the vicious stabbing of Keithy George (David Field), a member of the much feared criminal gang associated with the Victorian Painters and Dockers Union. The prison governor, Mr Beasley (Fred Barker) warns Read that they have put a contract out on him, but Read is dismayed when his best mate, Jimmy Loughnan (Simon Lyndon) stabs him seven times. Loughnan claims at his subsequent trial that Read attacked him first.
By 1995, Read is out of jail – a police informant, paranoid because of all the speed he’s taking, but still living at home with his dad. He shoots a drug dealer called ‘The Turk’ outside a nightclub in St Kilda, but the police refuse to believe him. He shoots an old associate, drug dealer Neville Bartos (Vince Colosimo), then drives him to hospital. He threatens his old mate Jimmy Loughnan, who’s back on heroin, with a gun, then apologises. The police eventually arrest him for the murder of the Turk. He is acquitted, but gets five years for other offences, and returns to jail. By 1991, his first book about his own life has sold 250,000 copies. He’s a celebrity, but still alone and in jail.