Long Good Friday, The - The long good Friday

Drama, Thriller

Bob Hoskins	Harold
Helen Mirren	Victoria
Dave King	Parky
Bryan Marshall	Harris
Derek Thompson	Jeff
Eddie Constantine	Charlie
Paul Freeman	Colin
Leo Dolan	Phil
Kevin McNally	Irish Youth
Patti Love	Carol

Director	John Mackenzie
Producer	Chris Griffin; Barry Hanson
Writer	Barrie Keeffe

Straddling two decades, The Long Good Friday is a gangster film with a thoughtful and provocative core. Made in 1979, but not released--after a near-comical saga of proposed re-editing and overdubbing recounted in the booklet--until two years later, it combines the gritty realism of 1970s movies (Get Carter, The Sweeney) with the nouveau riche, fake-glamour culture of the 1980s. Bob Hoskins gives one of his most engaging screen performances as Harold Shand, top London mobster whose grandiose ambitions are doomed to failure of Shakespearian proportions. Helen Mirren is understated and alluring as his wife, and there's a strong support cast--even a brief, near-silent cameo from Pierce Brosnan! Director John Mackenzie controls tension impressively over the 109-minute span and if the IRA angle now seems a tad contrived, the prolonged final image of Shand coming to terms with defeat is breathtaking; heightened by Francis Monkman's punchy synths and saxes score.

On the DVD The Long Good Friday is presented on disc in a 16:9 full-frame picture that reproduces well, and is enhanced by stereo and 5.1 Dolby surround sound options. There's a photo gallery and the original trailer, detailed biographies and film notes, a running commentary from Mackenzie, and an interview with Hoskins and Mackenzie taken from the National Film Theatre presentation in 2000. There must be a whole archive's worth of these interviews by now, so let's have more of them included in future DVD releases. --Richard Whitehouse