The Long Good Friday (1980)

Talented English director John MacKenzie knew that the English gangster genre needed a good shot in the arm...and he delivered the goods with this tightly scripted and brilliantly acted crime drama.

Bob Hoskins is outstanding as London mob boss, Harold Shand...masterminding a major construction development along the river Thames that will nett him, and his American backers, millions of pounds. Shand has everyone on his payroll...politicians, police and enforcers...but then suddenly everything starts to unravel, and Harolds world turns upside down in the space of a day. MacKenzie's film moves with intent and purpose and Barrie O'Keeffe's screenplay keeps the suspense at a finely tuned pitch. A terrific support cast headed by the sulrty Helen Mirren as Harold's wife, Victoria....Derek Thompson as the cowardly, opportunist Jeff....P.H. Moriarty as the aptly named bodyguard "Razors"....and Bryan Marshall as the drunken councillor, Harris, further contribute to the success of this challenging film.

Clever use of authentic London locations and creative cinematography lend a further hand to enhance the claustraphobic atmoshpere closing in upon Harold Shand and his crew...the viewer really feels through Hoskins emotional range, the unnerving pressure that is causing him to come apart at the seams. Excellent transfer to DVD...sound and color both superb...it's a pity that Criterion didn't add a few extra goodies that they usually package with their fine presentations.

A solidly crafted, gripping film with A grade performances by a splendid English cast...and keep your eyes open for a very youthful Pierce Brosnan in a minor role.

FOOTNOTE : MacKenzie also made another powerful movie three years prior in 1979 called "A Sense of Freedom"...based on the true story of Glasgow gangster, Jimmy Boyle, and his life in jail and out. It's a harrowing, gritty prison film that doesn't pull it's punches...unfortunately it's not on video or DVD at present...but hopefully it will return. Another A class crime film !!

I don't know this for sure, but the Criterion edition of The Long Good Friday is probably the only halfway decent edition of the film available. The story itself is really good, but the DVD leaves a LOT to be desired. First, it is poor quality mono. Second, there are NO subtitles in ANY language. I had much difficulty understanding the mostly "cockney" English, doubly difficult due to significant audio distortion at most all audio levels! If it weren't for the fact that the story is so absorbing, and I am a big fan of Bob Hoskins, I probably would not have been able to sustain an interest to watch the DVD through to the end. But I did! However, I have to watch it at least one more time to catch all the dialogue I missed the first time!!! Also, although the picture quality was mostly decent, the DVD contained many white splotches (original film deterioration?) that most likely could and should have been cleaned up with more attention by Criterion, especially since Criterion provided NO extras (except for a couple of trailers) with this edition. Why are Criterion's prices so high for bare minimum and, in this case, average technical quality DVDs? Objections aside, this is an intriguing ganster flick!

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The second best ever Brit gangster movie is a brilliant energy-filled piece. Ritchie's "Lock, Stock..." is fine if you want a jokey gangster film bailed out by lucky coincidences, but this is the real thing, believable and intelligent.

What really raises this movie into the stratosphere is the bravura performance by Bob 'Oskins. The much-praised ending is riveting. Surely it's the most dazzling display of an actor's craft to hold in close facial shot for a prolonged time showing a variety of emotions cross the features? Hoskins does this to perfection, showing (at least) disbelief, anger, realization, fear, grim amusement and acceptance over a 90 second period, all the while set to pounding soundtrack and flickering lighting from passing streetlamps.

If you haven't seen this, do yourself a favor and buy the excellent DVD which also has some neat features.

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I have compared this with the UK release and there are several significant differences: This is 1.85:1 whereas the UK release is cropped to 1.66:1. The cover claims that is the original aspect ratio but I can find no evidence to support this. The American release also has subtitles God knows who did them, but not a London Cockney for sure and despite many errors they will be a great help to the hearing impaired. My UK copy had a prominent hum on the DTS-HD Master audio, (but not on the stereo track), but the US release seems fine. So far it is the US by a knock-out, but the UK has a decent range of extras including commentary and a really interesting "making of" doco. Why on earth they could not have done a decent job and got them all on the same disc baffles me but in the end I will watch this US release for the wider picture, the better audio and the subtitles. It has also recently been on sale for $5.99, a real Christmas gift!

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Here is a link to a review of the Image Entertainment Blu-Ray, with screen shots and comparisons to previous editions on DVD:If the above doesn't appear as a live link, then simply copy and past into the address bar of your browser. The news, however, is simple: the disc is single-layered, and the feature doesn't even occupy all the space it could (18gigs, where 25 was available). Screen shots demonstrate that the disc gives a marginally brighter image than the existing SD-DVDs, but is otherwise unremarkable, and has no supplements, not even the supplements on the old Anchor Bay "Special Edition" from a few years ago. Detail is mushy, with nothing particularly standing out, though the colours appear to be somewhat improved. It looks to me as if an existing master, of reasonable quality, has simply been turned into a quick blu-ray. What needs to be done is to remaster the film specifically with blu-ray in mind. Yes, it's cheap, but in this case, and based on the screen shots, I would say that you are truly getting what you pay for.

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