The Long Good Friday
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Movie Reviews of The Long Good Friday
Movie Review: Essential Viewing
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the best Gangster films ever made. Strong characters, great locations, excellent casting, dramatic soundtrack and interesting believable plot. If you see it once you will want to see it again and again.Movie Review: British gangster classic returns... Anchor Bay's edition trounces earlier Criterion release
Summary: 5 Stars
Anchor Bay has outdone itself with this superlative transfer of the British gangster classic, "The Long Good Friday". It is seldom that a video company can release a film that surpasses a Criterion edition but Anchor Bay has done it. Its version totally eclipses the earlier Criterion release. And at half the price to boot.
Some commentators have placed The Long Good Friday at the same level as The Godfather and Scarface. Personally I wouldn't go that far, but it is a superb movie. Made in 1979, it stars Rob Hoskins in probably the role of his life, as London Mob Kingpin Harold Shand and a young Helen Mirren as his wife. It also stars the even younger Pierce Brosnan in his first film role, as an IRA hitman out to get them. The story is straightforward enough. After subduing all his rivals and establishing himself as king of the London underworld, Shand is set on expanding his empire by tying up with the American mob. On the day he is to seal the deal with his American investors, his lieutenants are killed one by one, his properties across London are bombed. Unknown to him, his underlings have been quietly dealing with the IRA for their own ends. Unfortunately, a mistake leads to the deaths of several IRA operatives and the organisation is out for revenge. It is a violent movie but the violence is implied rather than explicit. Some unforgettable scenes include the one with the rival bosses being strung up on meathooks at the abbatoir as Shand questions them, another where one of Shand's men is left crucified on a garage floor, and of course, the final extended closeup on Shand's face as he contemplates his fate at the hands of a smiling Pierce Brosnan.
Anchor Bay has restored the picture beautifully with hardly a speck of dirt to be seen, the image looking sharp with just the slightest amount of film grain, colors vibrant and black levels deep and rich. It is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.77:1 with anamorphic enhancement. The audio too has been restored, though it is still essentially monophonic. The dialogue is much clearer now, clear enough to decipher the Cockney dialect. Unfortunately Anchor Bay has followed tradition by not including subtitles on this DVD. Video companies should know by now that for many Americans, Cockney is about as intelligible as a foreign language. Anchor Bay obviously knows this because it includes a long A-Z Cockney dictionary on its DVD but it would have done better with optional subtitles. Apart from the new feature length commentary by director John Mackenzie, there is a 54 minute long featurette "Bloody Business: The Making of The Long Good Friday," the US and UK trailers, Talent Bios, a Posters and Stills Gallery, the Cockney Glossary, the complete screenplay in Adobe Acrobat format, and an illustred 8-page booklet featuring an article on the movie. Definitely worth the upgrade.
Movie Review: Greatest gangster film ever made, but ... no optional subtitles for the hearing impaired?
Summary: 5 Stars
I hope someone here will correct me if I've missed it in the "product details" section above, but I don't see any mention of optional subtitles (in any language) being offered on this latest DVD of The Long Good Friday, so I have to assume that once again the Powers That Be have decided it's either "impossible" or too much trouble to subtitle this film either for millions of hearing-impaired people or for millions of people whose native language isn't English.
I see that a list of Cockney slang definitions is offered on this DVD, but for a film like the Long Good Friday such a list should be offered as a supplement to optional subtitles, not as a substitute for them. To compress the rich colloquial language of The Long Good Friday into subtitles would be quite a challenge, but it wouldn't be impossible.
The Long Good Friday is a film millions of people (including me) consider to be the greatest gangster film ever made. It deserves the maximum chance to be appreciated by the maximum number of viewers, a chance it won't get as long as the hearing impaired and those whose native language isn't English have no subtitles to consult.
Movie Review: The Cockney "Godfather" finally gets its due
Summary: 5 Stars
A brutal uncompromising film "The Long Good Friday" has been available on DVD only in a bare bones edition prior to Anchor Bay's re-release (at an expensive Criterion Edition at that). Mobster boss Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins)empire has begun to crumble. Members of his organization are being murdered and his establishments being blown up putting a deal with the American Mafia to redevelop the crumbling Thames water front into chaos.
Hoskin is nothing short of brilliant in director John MacKenzie's film which was inspired by real events. A taunt screenplay by Barrie Keefe (this was the former journalists only major film)and vivid characters allow Mackenzie and Hoskins to some of their best work. While MacKenzie has gone on to direct a number of fine films this remains one of his best. Featuring strong performances by Helen Mirren, Dave King and one of the first appearences of Pierce Brosnan "The Long Good Friday" looks marvelous in this top notch transfer from Anchor Bay. Unlike the Criterion edition this one has a full clip of extras including "Bloody Business" an excellent featurette on the making of the movie, both the U.S. and U.K. theatrical trailers, a Cockney Slang Glossary, poster and still gallery, talent bios and the original screenplay on DVD-Rom. More importantly there's a very good commentary track from director John Mackenzie along with new interviews in the featurette with Hoskins and Mirren on the making of the film.
This is definitely worth the upgrade from the older Criterion edition of the film. Oh and the eight page booklet has a reproduction of the original poster and an essay covering the history of the film.
Movie Review: Bob Hoskins, the most underrated actor ever?
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen many of crime/ganster films in my day, but far and few bare any such comparison to the emotional ride that is THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY. Bob Hoskins plays one of the most memorable british mafia rolls as Harold Shand an overachieving crime lord who is on the verge of a major deal, when his whole world seems to out of nowhere be tumbling down.
THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY takes one on a journey as we watch Harold (Hoskins) go from a fearless crimelord to a paranoid accusive and fearful man. This movie is a "must see" for fans of any crime saga films such as The Godfather and Goodfellas and is seemingly a precursor to such recent british crime films as Snatch and Layer Cake.
I recently picked up the Anchor Bay release of this film, and was amazed at how much they have cleaned up the picture and sound from the former criterion release, as well Anchor Bay has stock piled a load of new interviews with the cast and makers of this classic. This is the release to buy!!!