| The Long Good Friday - Criterion Collection |  | Director: John Mackenzie
Actors: Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Paul Freeman, Leo Dolan, Kevin McNally
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $9.18
as of 9/9/2010 06:09 CDT details
You Save: $20.77 (69%)
New (7) Used (22) from $9.18
Seller: imprintmusic
Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 9,551
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 715515009621
ISBN: 6305174091
UPC: 715515009621
EAN: 9786305174097
ASIN: 6305174091
Theatrical Release Date: April 2, 1982
Release Date: November 24, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
Intricately plotted and smartly paced, this gangster saga clicks as whodunit, social satire, and explosive thriller. The piece is crowned by Bob Hoskins's career-making turn as a London mobster courting respectability and Helen Mirren's subtly detailed performance as his upper-crust mistress. Cockney wiseguy Harold Shand is a would-be burgher whose domination of the city's underworld stems from his shrewdness as a mediator and his skill at harnessing political and economic clout. As Easter approaches, he's poised to launch an aggressive real estate development scheme along the depressed Thames waterfront when all hell breaks loose: a trusted lieutenant is brutally murdered, Shand's mother is nearly killed in a car bombing, one of his pubs is blown apart, and the visiting American don crucial to the pending deal is quickly growing wary. Barrie Keeffe's original screenplay keeps the viewer a step ahead of Shand, providing us with a telling but teasingly incomplete glimpse of the misstep by his underlings that has set chaos loose. At the same time, Keeffe underlines the bourgeois pretensions of the rough-hewn, barrel-chested Shand, how the elegant Victoria (Mirren) helps serve those ambitions, and the myriad parallels between Shand's minions and the local politicians and police only too willing to join in his scheme. Tart, funny dialogue and alternately playful and pungent Eastertide imagery complete Keeffe's shrewd design--two key scenes, in a meat locker and a warehouse, invoke the Crucifixion itself. Even with lesser performances, the script and John Mackenzie's solid direction would make The Long Good Friday a keeper, but Hoskins's explosive portrait of Shand and his descent toward brutal revenge elevates the film into the very front rank, earning admiring comparisons to The Godfather, Scarface, GoodFellas, and other classics of that genre. On DVD, Criterion's new digital transfer restores more than just the widescreen aspect ratio--the film has never looked better, even if an occasionally muddy sound mix survives to make the thick Cockney accents a challenge to decipher. --Sam Sutherland
Amazon.com
A very impressive British sleeper, this 1979 film features Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa, Who Framed Roger Rabbit) as a ruthless gangster caught up in the competitive turf wars of the London underworld. Just when the gangster thinks he's made a deal to insure his financial security and solidify his power, he is targeted for assassination by an unseen enemy and must go to war for his very survival. Hoskins turns in a tightly coiled yet sympathetic portrayal of a man tragically trapped by his own ambition. Featuring a sexy performance by Helen Mirren (White Nights, Prime Suspect) as the mistress he can't quite trust, The Long Good Friday is a moody, evocative thriller and an undiscovered gem of the crime genre. --Robert Lane
Product Description
Bob hoskins stars as a london racketeer fast losing control of his gangland empire: helen mirren shines as his classy moll. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 11/24/1998 Starring: Bob Hoskins Helen Mirren Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 64
 Mirren steals this surprisingly boring gangster flick April 6, 2010
K. Swanson (Austin, TX United States)
3.3 stars
LGF starts out pretty well, but soon runs into myriad problems, specifically that Hoskins is completely unbelievable as a ruthless mob boss; he seems more like an annoyed office manager. When he accidentally kills a betrayer, Bob sobs on his gal's shoulder. Some tough guy! His moments of supposed menace seem almost comical, as there's no real nastiness in Hoskins here, compared to the great screen gangsters. Bob's a reliably fine actor, but miles away here from his performances in Mona Lisa and others.
Mirren is quite believable, though, and the bit players are fair enough; Brosnan has next to no lines and nothing to do, so he hardly counts. My main issue was the very slow pacing, and the slowly-revealed plot, too slowly in fact, so that we stopped caring who did what and just traded bets on how long before the next corpse showed up, covered with movie blood. I'd suggest taking the under.
The reviews here comparing this to The Godfather are insane. That film moves well and is full of legendary lines and performances; this film plods along with a vague plot, a weak ending, and very few memorable lines. The direction is haphazard and adds zero tension or menace, apart from, "What the heck is going on here, who's fighting who, and why should I care?"
All in all, I expected a lot more from the reviews here, and would have to say this is one of the most disappointing "gangster" movies I've ever seen. Compare this to Lock Stock or Get Carter; those are great Brit gangster films. Next to those, The (Way Too) Long Good Friday is a snorefest.
 old school gangster film February 2, 2010
The Mad Bostonian (Massachusetts)
I like gangster films, Lock stock and two smoking barrels, snatch, layer cake, rock n rolla, scar face, i can't but wonder did long good friday influence these types of films, IMO i think so. I caught this little film gem on netflix. Bob Hoskins gives a great performance, he plays a gangster trying to broker a real estate deal over the easter weekend, entertaining his financiers who are from across the pond... NY, meanwhile everything is slowly unraveling around him, his best trusted man is killed, his mother almost blown up, and a pub he owns gets blown to bits. Meanwhile he is trying to keep the NY financiers from leaving. Helen Mirren who by the way looked very lovely back then when she was younger, plays his mistress and confidant. And watch out for a young Pierce Brosnan as a hitman.
Hoskins plays a mobster with such vitality, grandiose performance, a man almost on the edge, trying so desperately not to come unraveled while all of this is going on. Hoskins plays the character as a man who rather shoot and ask questions later. A gang leader who doesn't like to be screwed with, doesn't want to be the one shoved around, where he does the shoving in this town. Of course with this type of movie it's always this type of character's downfall and in the end what goes around comes around shall I say. I thought the movie had tight direction, a well thought out, steady paced story, viewer getting tidbits on who is betraying hoskins. Oh and the ending, the range of emotions Hoskins is feeling, way he conveys it through his facial expressions with the camera on him for over a minute, can't beat a better performance than that, he showed anger, disbelief, realization, acceptance for his fate.
The movie felt gritty, the underworld of London back in the 70's, early 80's, definitely has that Limey feel, that British flair, as I said I can't but think if Guy Ritchie used this type of story arch for his movies, borrowing elements from Long Good Friday, intricate plot, cast of shady/ interesting characters, witty dialogue, having that underworld London feel.
So if you want to watch an old school Limey gangster film and have all ready seen all of Ritchie's movies, rent this one, you will not be disappointed.
 good movie, good atmosphere, british accent difficult to understand October 30, 2009
Rene Theberge (Ste-Foy, Québec Canada)
I appreciate this movie, a good script, a great story, well acting but the language....wow, very difficult to understand the subtility. Too hard for me
Clean up on lane 10 February 13, 2009
R. Bagula (Lakeside, Ca United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Pierce Brosnan is a young bit player in this film as an IRA hit-man.
The bombs start going off in London and the bodies start piling up
in what at first appears to be a MOB turf war,
but is actually a delivery gone bad?
The acting is first rate here and we believe the London MOB with manners that we see. Soon after this era they started putting up cameras on all the London street corners. But the bobbies can still be bought?
Labor in London is Irish in construction
and the paths cross in a very strange way.
Top Brit-gangster movie February 1, 2009
John Peter O'connor
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Before this movie was released, with the exception of Michael Caine`s Get Carter, British gangster movies were little known around the world and even at home, they were little appreciated. With Harold Shand, a brash, rough pint sized gangster on the make, Bob Hoskins changed that and paved the way for a whole raft of gritty crime thrillers set in the British Isles. Although few of the later movies rose to the heights claimed by Caine and Hoskins.
Harold Shand is a London gangster from the old school, he is the man that the real life Kray twins might like to have been, bursting with ruthlessness, animal cunning, aggression, hubris, charisma and ambition he sets out to transform himself into a businessman cum developer who will succeed because the qualities that make him a good gangster will allow him to defeat any legitimate business rival. He is assisted by his girl Victoria (Helen Mirren) - several grades above the classic Barbera Windsor style of gangster`s moll - who understands her man`s strengths and weaknesses and gives him the support and guidance that he needs succeed without threatening his perceived alpha male dominance.
Shand`s big idea is to get in on the development on London`s docklands and to cash in on an upcoming bid to host the Olympic games. He turns to an American crime syndicate for backing and the movie is set on an Easter weekend when he is playing host to mobster Charlie (Eddie Constantine) and Tony (Stephen Davies), Charlie`s lawyer.
Harold`s plans start to come unstuck as his organization quakes under attack from an unknown enemy who is planting bombs and assassinating Harold`s men. Victoria, assisted by Harold`s right hand man Jeff (Derek Thompson), attempts to keep the Americans on-board while Harold must find out who is behind the attacks and deal with them. He finally works out what is going on but can his gangster instincts deal with an entirely new threat?
Hoskins and Mirren are outstanding. They are an unlikely couple but they will have you convinced. Great acting from them both is helped by a script that gives them plenty to work with. Unfortunately, the two of them do a fine job of highlighting just how poor is the rest of the acting. Jeff has betrayed Harold but he hardly gives a hint as to what his motives might have been and all of the other characters seem to be determined to deliver their lines and collect their money and that`s it.
The uninspiring supporting actors do not detract though. The script and the editing deliver a tight package that it always moving along and holding your attention. The camera work is good too - you are there in Harold`s London and not just in a studio with a few street scene backdrops.
If you like this film then you will want to catch "Mona Lisa" in which Hoskins gets quite close to the Shand character. All of the subsequent Brit-gangster movies will entertain you but never reach the same level. For that, you should perhaps try "Trainspotting" but not if you found Hoskins` accent difficult!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 64
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. | |
