Have a better day than this one! (Long Good Friday (DVD))

Member Name: Nolly

Product:	Long Good Friday (DVD)
Date:	04/08/04 (177 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent acting, Gripping Storyline, Good old-fashioned violence

Disadvantages: None really

It?s a tough life being a member of London?s criminal underworld. You know, you live a life that is full of glamour, all posh parties and political influence. Plus of course the fact that you only ever harm your own sort ? you don?t harm anyone who isn?t likely to harm you. Of course I am talking hear as a bystander, not as one of 'the family?.

We all know, however, that the days of Ronnie and Reggie are gone, but they aren?t forgotten. Filmmakers have, thankfully, grasped the fact that we don?t actually believe that being a gangster is the ?getting one over on the boys in blue? type from the marvellous Peter Sellers film ?The Wrong Arm of the Law?, and have introduced more gritty realism into their cinematic offerings.

When I was knee-high to a rather tall grasshopper, I remember reading my Uncle Arthur?s ?Starview? listings on one occasion. For those of you who had never heard of it, Starview was an offering by TV rental company Rediffusion, and was essentially one of the first cable film channels. I remember reading the blurb for one film, and resolved to see the film one day, even though at the time I was only eleven.

In 1984 we got our first video recorder, and, a year later, I hired the film from my local video library. The film was Certificate ?X?, but I was 16 and thought I could handle it. That film was one of the most celebrated gangland films of all time, and the film that brought Bob Hoskins to the attention of the public. That film was called ?The Long Good Friday?. I?ve owned a copy of it since 1988!


Storyline
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SPOILER ALERT ? I try not to give too many away when I do a film review, but of course I do have to give an outline of the story to tempt you, don?t I?

Harold Shand is a powerful man. He owns pubs, casinos and controls most of East London. He has the local police and local councillors in his pocket and is looking to expand his empire. Harold wants to develop London?s run-d
own Docklands into something London can be proud of. He also wants to enlist help and finance from ?businessmen? from the USA. Let?s face it, he even wants to stage the Olympics in the area. It could be seen that he wants to set up legitimate business, but if he is enlisting financial support from shady American characters, he can?t be going totally straight. Thankfully he doesn?t want to build an enormous dome and fill it with rubbish ? that would be totally unbelievable!

When Harold returns from the USA, and while his American guests are visiting his empire to see how secure he is in what he controls, things start going wrong. One of Harold?s best friends is stabbed to death, and parts of his empire, employees, pubs and casinos are attacked. It would appear that Harold?s empire is not as secure as he thought, as he finds himself involved in a struggle with people who represent a far greater threat than he could ever imagine. He begins to doubt himself, as well has his closest allies, and sees his vast empire disintegrate on one seemingly endless Easter Good Friday, hence the title.


The Acting
========

Overall the acting is absolutely top-notch. Sometimes you feel that you are watching something that is worryingly realistic. In the lead role, Bob Hoskins is electrifying. When you hear him say ?I?ll have their carcasses dripping blood by midnight? you just know that he means what he says. We watch with incredulity as his career and his life just dissolve.

Every successful gangster needs a moll, and in the role of Victoria, Helen Mirren is good. She is an upper-class woman who enjoys the good life, but she isn?t overly central to the story, and thus her character isn?t fully developed, nor does it need to be. It could have been developed more, particularly in terms of the frisson between herself and Jeff, but as it stands it is fine, particularly as that would have added more time to the film?s duration.

A wide ra
nge of character actors do a very good supporting job, including P.H Moriarty as Razors, Bryan Marshall as Councillor Harris, Dave King as Parkie, and Paul Barber as Errol the Ponce.

This film is the debut for a man who is nowadays known for being a good guy. Derek Thompson, who is better known as Charlie Fairhead from Casualty, plays Jeff, Harold?s protegé and right-hand man. He is excellent- ambitious, greedy and self-serving.

Oh, by the way, you might catch a young Pierce Brosnan in what I think was his film debut as well.


The Action
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This isn?t a film laden with bad language ? there is no need for a lot of ?mo-fo?s? and all that kind of lingo. What there is a fair amount of, though, is violence. It isn?t all graphic, but it does make you wince. What it isn?t, though, is unnecessary. What you see from time to time in films is violence for the sake of it shovelled in so it causes a reaction. Not so in this one. The violent moments are not unrelenting or constant, and that is what makes them much more powerful, perhaps. For a film that is now 25 years old, I still find them a little unsettling, mainly as the action is normally cold and lacking in emotion ? it is purely part of a day?s work.


Conclusions
=========

As you have probably guessed by now, I love this film. It is gritty, realistic and, if you haven?t seen it before, unexpected. Watch it and learn how to talk like a ?dodgy geezer?!


Neil
August 2004

The Cast
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Harold Shand Bob Hoskins
Victoria Helen Mirren
Jeff Derek Thompson
Razors P H Moriarty
Parkie Dave King
Harris Bryan Marshall
Colin Paul Freeman
Charlie Eddie Constantine

Screenplay Barrie Keeffe
Music Francis Monkman
Producer Barry Hanson
Director John Mackenzie

Running Time 114 Minutes r>
Certificate 18