“You don’t go crucifying people outside a church, not on Good Friday!”
“He wouldn’t hurt a fly, well only when it was necessary.”
In The Long Good Friday, Hopkins gives a ferocious performance, moving from very funny to cold hearted killer easily. The film has been favorably compared to both Scarface and the Godfather. I’d have to agree. The movie is now available in a new edition from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) is having a good Good Friday. He’s an English gangster who is about to close a very lucrative business deal for a casino. He has a beautiful, intelligent girlfriend, Victoria (Helen Mirren), and is about to get international support for his project from Charlie (Eddie Constantine), an American mobster. However, soon things start blowing up, both literally and figuratively. Suddenly Harold’s Friday is not going so good anymore. That’s as much of the plot as I’m going to give you since figuring out what is going on is part of the fun.
Hoskins give a tour de force performance and is given excellent support by Helen Mirren. Mirren’s part was rewritten when she signed on and was originally the bubble headed girlfriend, but she was made Harold’s equal with the casting of Mirren. Hoskins was so convincing that when he met a real English gangster the fellow was proud to meet “one of our own who was doing well”- much to Hoskin’s shock.
The movie greatly benefits from the interplay between Mirren and Hoskins. Pierce Brosnan makes his feature film debut as “First Irishman.” The soundtrack by Francis Monkman is also excellent. Note : In 2001 Hoskins and Mirren have a reunion of sorts in a very good movie called Last Orders (3.5 stars IMHO).
Victoria and Harold
The Criterion company put the Long Good Friday out on DVD in 1998 and holders of that edition will definitely want to consider the upgrade (though I don’t have that version to compare picture quality). The Criterion disc was not enhanced for 16x9 TVs and only had the American and British trailers as supplements.
The Anchor Bay disc is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include an informative commentary by director John Mackenzie. He relates in the scene where Hoskins addresses his gang that half the guy were actors and half were the “real thing.” East End guys who ‘ad done a bit of bird (time in prison), etc. What he thought was most amusing was the “technical” advice that he received from them although they would not admit that they knew about such things only that they had “heard” how it was done.
There is also a 54 minute documentary called “Bloody Business : Making the Long Good Friday.” It features interviews with producer Barry Hanson, director John Mackenzie (Frenzy Mackenzie because he shot his film so fast), director of photography Phil Meheux, and actors Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, and First Irishman (aka Pierce Brosnan). The documentary has some very revealing and interesting facts, such as that the film was nearly sunk if not for Hoskin’s contract.
The film’s original producers chopped the film down to 83 minutes and were going to release it to American TV. To make it more palatable to American audiences, Hoskins was dubbed. He had it in his contract that this could not be done without his permission and they had not gotten it. He threatened to sue and the dubbing was removed but the original producers still didn’t feel that they had a movie they could release. Not to mention the fact that many of the Sirs (Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, John Gielgud, etc.) of English stage and screen had signed a petition against the re-voicing of a leading actor in support of the film.
Mackenzie, in the commentary, mentions how pale Lew Grade, head of the studio who was going to release the film, became when the list of Sirs was read. Hoskins met Eric Idle at a party and Idle bought the film, through his Handmade Films company, and released it. Other extras include the U.S. and U.K. trailers, a cockney slang dictionary, poster & still gallery, bios, and the screenplay on DVD-ROM. There’s also a booklet with an essay by Richard Harland Smith.
First Irishman
The Long Good Friday is an excellent gangster film and Hoskins gives a powerhouse performance. His equal is in Helen Mirren’s performance. Owners of the previous disc will want to upgrade for the extras and the anamorphic enhancement (not to mention that this version, for having so much more, is cheaper). In my opinion this is one to have in your collection, but definitely give it a rental if you love gangster films.
The Long Good Friday is available for pre-order at Amazon for an April 4th release. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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