Legend is a 2015 biographical crime thriller film^[6] written and directed by American director Brian Helgeland. It is adapted from John Pearson's book The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins,^[7][8] which deals with their career and the relationship that bound them together, and follows their gruesome career to life imprisonment in 1969.^[9][10]

This is Helgeland's fifth feature film. Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis and Christopher Eccleston star with Colin Morgan, Chazz Palminteri, Paul Bettany, Tara Fitzgerald and Taron Egerton as well as the singer Duffy featured in supporting roles.

In the 1960s, Reggie Kray is a former boxer who has become an important part of the criminal underground in London. At the start of the film, his twin brother Ron is locked up in a psychiatric hospital for paranoid schizophrenia. Reggie uses threats to obtain the premature release of his brother. The twins unite their efforts to control a large part of London's criminal underworld, made easier when the head of the south London Richardson Gang (a.k.a. the Torture Gang) is imprisoned. One of their first efforts is to muscle-in on the control of a local nightclub, using extortion and brutal violence.

Reg enters into a relationship with Frances, his driver's sister, whom he eventually marries. When he is imprisoned for a previous criminal conviction, which he cannot evade, she makes him swear that he will leave his criminal life behind, an oath he never honours due to the allure of crime. While Reg is in prison, Ron's mental instability and violent temperament lead to severe financial setbacks at the nightclub. The club is almost forced to close after Ron scares away most of the customers. On the first night after Reg's release from prison, the brothers have an all-out fist fight, but they manage to partially patch things up.

The brothers are approached by Angelo Bruno of the Philadelphia crime family who, on behalf of Meyer Lansky and the American Mafia, wants to engage them in a crime syndicate deal. Bruno agrees to a fifty-fifty deal with Reg to split London's underground gambling profits in exchange for local protection by the brothers. Initially, this system is highly lucrative for the Kray brothers; however, Ron's paranoia and inclination towards violence causes problems for Reg's efforts to maintain control. Ron's barely concealed volatility results in him publicly murdering George Cornell, an associate of the Torture Gang. As a result, Scotland Yard opens a full investigation of the Kray brothers.

Reg's marriage with Frances crumbles due to his addiction to crime. Unable to bear Reg's false promises to reform, Frances starts consuming prescription drugs illegally. After he beats and rapes her in a fit of rage, she leaves him. When Reg approaches her to reconcile, Frances seems to agree and they plan to visit Ibiza. But soon she kills herself by drug overdosage leaving Reg guilt ridden. The twins' criminal activities continue and Ron pays petty criminal Jack "the Hat" McVitie to kill Leslie Payne, Reg's partner, who controls the legal side of the Krays' operations, as he doesn't trust Payne. Jack only wounds Payne, who then turns the brothers over to Detective Superintendent Leonard "Nipper" Read, the head of the investigation. Reg finds out and brutally stabs McVitie with a knife during a party hosted by Ron. The testimony given by Payne means that Ron is arrested and charged with Cornell's murder. The final scene shows a police squad breaking down the door to Reggie's flat in order to apprehend him for McVitie's murder.

The closing captions indicate both brothers receiving criminal convictions for murder.
They died five years apart, Ron from a heart attack in 1995, and Reggie from bladder cancer in 2000.

In addition, Paul Bettany makes an uncredited cameo appearance as Charlie Richardson, whose South London Richardson Gang (also known as the Torture Gang) had a turf war with the Krays.

Financing for Legend was provided by StudioCanal, which also distributed in the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand and Germany in addition to handling international sales, which started at the beginning of the Cannes Film Festival.^[22] On 30 April 2014, Cross Creek Pictures acquired the North American distribution rights to Legend from StudioCanal, with a planned 2015 theatrical release through Universal Pictures in its distribution deal with the studio.^[23][24] Sales to other territories such as Asia, Africa and much of Europe are being completed.^[25] The film was originally set for release in the US on 2 October 2015, but it was moved to 20 November 2015.^[26]

Legend premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2015 at Roy Thomson Hall.^{[citation needed]}

• The Krays (1990 film)