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Academy Award nominee Bob Hoskins delivers a ferocious performance as mobster Harold Shand, the all-powerful boss of the London underworld. But on the day he is about to close the ultimate deal with an American crime family, Shand's empire suddenly - and literally - begins to explode around him. Who would dare attack Britain's most ruthless gangster? How far will he go to find the truth? And what is the deadly secret behind the havoc of The Long Good Friday?Oscar nominee Helen Mirren (Gosford Park, Caligula), tough guy Eddie Constantine (Alphaville), and Pierce Brosnan (in one of his first film roles) co-star in this now-classic crime drama that critics compare to The Godfather and Scarface as one of the greatest gangster films of all time.
"Explosive and original." Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
"Brutal and brilliant...A benchmark British gangster classic!" Empire Magazine
"Engrossing and influential..." Gary Panton, Movie Gazette
"Nothing short of a masterpiece...Hoskins makes Brando's Godfather look like Mr. Rogers!" Richard Freedman, NewHouse Newspapers
"...amazing...a masterful piece of filmmaking!" Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Editor's Note
John Mackenzie's rabidly engaging, complex gangster film concerns the demise of a dominant English racketeer, Harold (Bob Hoskins), who is about to change his image and go straight. While negotiating a deal with an American organized crime organization to develop the barren Docklands section of London, his associates begin to turn up dead, and the tough Cockney businessman realizes that getting out will be more difficult than he had anticipated. This extremely tight British thriller made Hoskins a star.
Plot Summary
London underworld gangster Harold Shand controls a criminal empire built on every vice except narcotics. Even his gun moll, Victoria, is a vision of class. For his next racket, Shand plans to buy up moribund London dock yards and redevelop them for the 1988 olympics. Yet on Good Friday when Shand meets with an American Mafia chief to seal their financial partnership, somebody kills two of his right-hand men, attempts to murder his mother, and blows his favorite pub to high heaven. Directed by John Mackenzie and written by Barrie Keefe, this engaging complicated melodrama shows a man trying to control his animal urges and to act like a civic minded business man. He detests anarchy and tries to use violence only as a tool. Eventually he is doomed because his brand of capitalism can't defend itself against the terrorism of the IRA.
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