The Long Good Friday

In the late 1970s, old-school London gangster Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) tries to modernize and expand by partnering with the American Mafia in a legitimate business venture. Unfortunately, an unseen enemy stands in his way. As his men are picked off left and right, Harold becomes increasingly more violent and paranoid.


British gangster films these days are largely the province of Guy Ritchie. Years before he put his postmodern twist on the genre, however, they tended to be grittier and bleaker. John Mackenzie’s The Long Good Friday rests firmly in this earlier tradition, albeit with a few stylistic modifications. There is a fair amount of flair on screen, as the Rolls Royce-driving Harold clearly enjoys the good life. A catchy theme song by Francis Monkman lends the film a sense of urgency, and the violence depicted is brutal (meat hooks and bottle shards, anyone?) even by modern standards (the film was made in 1979).


Tense, intricate plotting and top-notch acting are really what set apart The Long Good Friday from other films of its ilk. Hoskins, best known for playing Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and a variety of Cockney villains, puts his all into Harold Shand, and the result is a sympathetic, principled, though still thoroughly villainous protagonist. He is matched by Helen Mirren as his stylish and cunning girlfriend, Victoria. A young Pierce Brosnan makes his debut here as well, and although he isn’t on screen for very long, his role is pivotal and he displays some of the edge that served him in his later run as James Bond.


Despite the emphasis on character and the action-driven plot, The Long Good Friday packs quite a thematic punch. It offers a snapshot of Britain at a turbulent time, hopeful about economic renewal on the one hand but plagued by The Troubles on the other. But whatever “the world is going to hell” sentiments the film appears to offer are counterbalanced by making the representative of tradition and order an iron-fisted gangster.


If there is one blemish on this work – aside from the British accents being occasionally indecipherable – it is that so much tension is put into the mystery of who is ruining Harold’s Easter weekend that by the time this is revealed, the movie loses a lot of momentum. It redeems itself, however, with an effectively pessimistic conclusion.


The Long Good Friday is not an easy movie to watch. The violence, the accents, and the sheer amount of activity on screen command every bit of your attention. However, if you can get into it, you may find it to be the most meaningful crime film to come from the other side of the Atlantic.


8/10