Without question "The Long Good Friday"is not just the greatest British gangster film ever but also one of the best gangster films of all time.The story of London gangster Harold Shand(an astonishing central performance from the late,great Bob Hoskins)and the fight to save his empire from outside forces is a true classic...and it still is even today.Add to that an excellent supporting performance from Helen Mirren as Harold's wife Victoria,a great script from Barrie Keeffe and an excellent music score from Francis Monkman and it all adds up to a real treat.I mean if the great Martin Scorsese rates this film highly that it must be doing something right.

The Long Good Friday is arguably one of the best British crime dramas I've ever seen. It concerns a prosperous London crime boss (Bob Hoskins) on the verge of making a lucrative deal with a group of American builders. Things however don't go according to plan when bombs are found and henchmen are dispatched by a mysterious group trying to muscle in on his action. In the quest to find these ne'er- do-wells Harry becomes increasingly paranoid and frustrated putting his own standing among London's underground at risk. The film costars Helen Mirren and features a young Pierce Brosnan in a blink- and-you'll-miss-it role.Those in my generation will remember Bob Hoskins as the gruff private dick Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Others still might know him as Mario in Super Mario Bros. (1993) because a lot of people have unabashedly bad taste. Anyone who has ever wondered what he'd look like as a London gangster get exactly what they wish for as Hoskins slips into the role he was born to play. Likewise Helen Mirren is a revelation as his intelligent, faithful and capable wife she provides the dimming voice of reason in Harry's world which is getting smaller by the moment.I would have liked to see Harry's hands get a little dirtier throughout the movie. The film largely focuses on Harry's downward spiral and doesn't mention how he rose to such prominence as a leading mob boss in the first place. In fact, Harry tries to present himself as a legitimate businessman and it is only after the second act that a long dormant psychosis surfaces and his true colors show. Until then we see a largely composed and indulgent mafioso who is brought to a slow boil. All in all however, The Long Good Friday is certainly one of my favorites recommended to me by friends and I readily recommend it to anyone.

British gangster movies can be a little predictable. What keeps them alive is how well the lead is and how interesting the plot unfolds. This film accomplishes both excellently. This is one of the rare movies where you learn what's the major issue along with the main character and this is a good 45 minutes into it at least.The film opens with a lengthy sequence of scenes strung together by Francis Monkman's excellent score. While no one is speaking, you are following things because they are moving quickly. These events are not explained to us though. We simply see them. I won't describe them except to say, it's this sequence that the viewer learns the meaning of along with Bob Hoskins' Harold Shand who is introduced immediately following it.Shand arrives home from an undisclosed location but you can assume it wherever he was, it was a major success for him and his organization. He has plans to expand his organization but he needs further financial assistance by American gangsters who he meets on Good Friday. Without knowing anything about what's happening, people in his employ are being brutally murdered. He launches an investigation and needless to say, things are a surprise to him.What makes this film interesting is Bob Hoskins' portrayal of Harold Shand. You learn all about the type of man he is, the type of character he always had and most importantly, how he got to be as powerful as he became. You learn the value of Helen Mirren's Victoria (Shand's wife). If nothing else, she stabilizes his inner reactionary rage. I imagine Shand fell back on her channeling him more than a few times in order to get to where he is in the story.The story is somewhat dated but it's dated like the movie War Games was. The then news headlines played a heavy role in the events in the story. In War Games it was the panic of an all out nuclear war between the US and USSR many were assuming was inevitable in the early 80's. In The Long Good Friday, it was something else entirely but no less important to what the landscape of London looked like in the late 70's and early 80's A young Pierce Brosnan has a dialog free role but no less important to the story. Paul Freeman also has no spoken word role in the story but he also is vital to how the story unfolds.On the whole, this is a movie that comes off as an experiment that really works well. All of the aspects of a good crime/action movie are here but they are presented in a different way, with a different story and with explosive, at times highly disturbing results. Truly worth seeing.

This movie is an amazing blend of story and action, and pulls off the amazing feat of having a gangster movie with some real heart and some classic charm that was missing from many similar movies of this period and most movies since. The characters are unforgettable and at the very least relatable, you see them and know their plight as they go through this dark period of time.So what's the bacon? Bob Hoskins plays Harold Shand, a London Gangster who's brought about peace in the Capital's gangster scene. However, on the day he plans to sign a giant East End development project with American investors, his organisation is rocked by the murder of his childhood friend and a bomb blowing up his Rolls Royce. Shand now has the ordeal of tracking down the people attempting to destroy his organisation whilst at the same time keeping it a secret from the Americans.So, the good stuff? All of it if I'm honest. It's got heart, with all the characters being at the very least human, not invincible husks with no personality and no real human traits. Shand isn't invincible, he's simply a man who's built himself up from the gutters of the London slums to become the kingpin of the city, and you can really feel for his emotions and really want him to find a way out all the way through the movie.The story is an absolute cracker, strong, coherent, chocked full of twists and really good fun to sit through. At the same time the film, unlike many of the same period, is surprisingly subtle. There aren't an onslaught of nauseating gun battles, nor is it just continual fist fights with no connection to the plot other than to cram in a load of action. It is a fantastic blend of story and style, which I love to bits!To top it all off as well, the soundtrack, although very simple, is fantastic and absolutely catchy. Bet your bottom dollar that you'll be humming the theme tune to this movie for a week after viewing!What else can I say? The story's great, the characters are great, the music's great, it's grounded, down-to-earth and overall a fantastic movie. One of my all time faves and definitely my favourite gangster flick!