In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.
Bob Hoskins
Harold Shand
Helen Mirren
Victoria
Dave King
Parky
Bryan Marshall
Harris
Derek Thompson
Jeff
Eddie Constantine
Charlie
Paul Freeman
Colin
P.H. Moriarty
Razors
Alan Ford
Jack
Stephen Davies
Tony
Paul Barber
Erroll
Karl Howman
David
Nick Stringer
Billy
Brian Hall
Alan
Paul Kember
Ginger
Patti Love
Carol Benson
Leo Dolan
Phil
Pierce Brosnan
1st Irishman
Daragh O'Malley
2nd Irishman
Kevin McNally
Irish Youth
Tony Rohr
O'Flaherty
Ruby Head
Harold's Mother
Charles Cork
Eric
Olivier Pierre
Chef
Bruce Alexander
Mac
Bill Moody
Boston
Dexter Fletcher
Kid
Trevor Laird
Boy Under Car
Dave Ould
Don
Nigel Humphreys
Dave
Brian Hayes
Pool Attendant
Alan Devlin
Priest
Pauline Melville
Dora
Mary Sheen
Lil
Georgie Phillips
Eugene
Billy Cornelius
Peter
Gillian Taylforth
Sherry
Rob Walker
Jimmy
Robert Hamilton
Flynn
James Ottaway
Commissionaire
Michael Ryan
Waiter
Roy Alon
Captain Death
Harry Fielder
Policeman (uncredited)
Alan Talbot
Snipist (uncredited)
Tony Clarkin
Driver Hitman (uncredited)
Peter McNamara
Young Man in Pub (uncredited)
Jill Goldston
Boat Party Guest (uncredited)
Director
John Mackenzie
Writer
Barrie Keeffe
May 23, 2019
9
It's not about safety, it's about honour.
It's the early 1980s, it's Good Friday, and Harold Shand is waiting to entertain some powerful American muscle. He hopes to get them to help fund his dockside development, but someone is murdering his men, and although Harold has a good idea who is responsible, he isn't quite prepared for the events that follow.
Plot wise, The Long Good Friday is a lesson in under taxing the audience, simplicity in structure and forgoing thunder in the name of telling a solid story. The Long Good Friday is a British gangster picture that owes more to the Paul Muni and Edward G Robinson pictures from the golden age than something like "The Godfather". Where the characters are men of the street, working class villains who literally could be living around the corner from us, their respective antics giving them a reputation as infamous stars to be feared - and grudgingly admired.
What many modern day film lovers may not be aware of is that "The Long Good Friday" had its release delayed, held back a year as Margaret Thatcher and her merry men frothed at the mouth due to the film's portrayal of the Irish Rebublican Army. This was at a time when the Irish troubles were reaching new and terrifying heights, and here in this film, the government sensed a fall out that could have sent wrong message shock waves across the British Isles. This is one of the chief reasons that lifts the pic high above many of its contemporaries, it may be a simple story, but it's not merely about two gangs striving for power on one manor!.
Barrie Keeffe's script positively bristles with a hard bastard edge, some of the set pieces play out as true Brirtish greats, once viewed they are not to be forgotten. Some of the dialogue has an air of timeless bravado about it, delivered with cockney brashness from Bob Hoskins' Harold Shand. Hoskins is on fire, seemingly revelling in the role and fusing menace with a genuine sense of earthiness, one moment Harold is the bloke you want to have a pint of beer with, the next he's one step from rage induced retribution. Helen Mirren is fabulous as Harold's wife, Victoria, loyal and unerringly calm in the face of the madness unfolding, while the supporting cast are also highly effective, with a cameo from Pierce Brosnan that is icy cold in making a point.
Perhaps now it feels like it's only of its time, and it may well be that it's only British viewers of a certain age that can readily embrace the all encompassing thread of gangland London at risk from insurgents? But I will be damned should I ever choose to love this film less with each passing year, for to me it only just stops shy of being a British masterpiece, bristling with realism at a troubled time, and cheesing off Margaret Thatcher in the process, hell it works for me, always. 9/10
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00