FilmRoar

Writer Barrie Keeffe in his only produced film script delivers an intelligent and engaging gangster film in The Long Good Friday (1980). The movie, best known for bringing film notoriety to then TV actor Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Nixon (1995), Felicia’s Journey (1999)) spans a period of two days during which London crime boss Harold (Hoskins) is trying to secure a business deal with backing from the American Mafia. His efforts to woo his New York counterpart, Charlie (Eddie Constantine (Europa (1991))) are put into jeopardy by the unexplained assassination of Harold’s right hand man Colin (Paul Freeman (Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981))) and bombing of one of his restaurants. Eager to not loose the business opportunity and to find and punish those responsible for the attacks on his organization. To make matters worse one of the bombs has exploded in the car that took Harold’s mother to Good Friday mass leaving her traumatized and in the hospital. As Harold states later in the film “You don’t crucify people! Not on Good Friday!”

The style of editing, specially at the beginning of the movie, can be a bit disorienting, but this works for the movie putting the audience in a state of anxious unease over ‘what is really going on’ in the movie that reflects the mood of our protagonist. The empathy is helped by a strong performance by Hoskins that emphasizes the humanity and vulnerability of bad-guy trying to do good in his own way, Harold. Greater depth and humanity is supplied by Helen Mirren (2010 (1984), The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Gosford Park (2001)) as Victoria, Harold’s wife. In the retrospective documentary included in the DVD Mirren talks about how Victoria was originally written as a brainless gangster’s moll but she demanded script changes in order to agree to the part. We should be thankful to Ms Mirren for her demands and for the subdued yet engaging performance she gives forming Victoria into a strong and intelligent, yet still human and vulnerable equal and partner to Harold. Other performances are good though most are over-shadowed by Hoskins’ intensity. A curious note is an all but silent appearance by a young Pierce Brosnan in his first film role (he improvised an unscripted line on set).

The script is engaging, the dialogue fresh and the story intriguing. I found myself wanting to figure out what was really happening from the beginning of the film to the conclusion. The tension is established from the opening scene and the clues dolled out equally to the audience and to the characters making a real connection between the two. The movie represents a departure from style of 50s and 60s Noir and 70s action, building on these genres and establishing new grounds that will give foundation for the Grifter and Con movies that followed in the 80s and 90s. For that reason alone The Long Good Friday should be watched by those interested in film history and genre theory.

The movie is being released today, April 4th, in a new Special Edition DVD that has a wide-screen presentation of the film and includes a commentary track with director John Mackenzie, an hour long retrospective featurette, talent bios, a still gallery, two trailers, a Cockney slang glossary, the screenplay (on DVD-ROM) and an 8-page booklet. The documentary warns the viewer to watch the movie first in order to avoid spoilers, I would take this to heart and suggest the viewer not watch the trailers first either as they will also give key points away. The digital transfer is bright and crisp though the color scheme and visual style follow a 70s aesthetic that I personally find distasteful. The single, usually standard, feature that I really missed was the absence of subtitles. Lines are sometimes delivered in low tones and often with thick British accents that makes them hard to make out. Subtitles solve this problem for U.S. Audiences but are not included in this release.