The Long Good Friday
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| The Long Good Friday | |
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| Directed by | John Mackenzie |
| Produced by | Barry Hanson |
| Written by | Barrie Keeffe |
| Starring | Bob Hoskins Helen Mirren Dave King Bryan Marshall |
| Music by | Francis Monkman |
| Cinematography | Phil Meheux |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films Handmade Films Paramount |
| Release date(s) |  November 1980 2 April 1982 |
| Running time | 114 min. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Long Good Friday (1980) is a British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren.
The film was directed by John Mackenzie from a script by Barrie Keefe. It was originally produced by ITC, who later attempted to bury the film.[citation needed] The rights were then bought by George Harrison's company Handmade Films. The film works on more than one level, as a conventional gangster film, or as an oedipal tale.[citation needed]
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[edit] Plot
The film's protagonist is Harold Shand (Hoskins), an old fashioned 1960s-style London gangster who is aspiring to become a legitimate businessman, albeit with the financial support of the American Mafia. The storyline weaves together current events of the time, including low-level political and police corruption, IRA gun-running, the displacement of traditional British industry with property development and the emerging free market economy.[citation needed]
The story hinges upon an act of betrayal by one of Harold's closest and most loved employees, the implications of which only become clear at the climax of the film.
[edit] Locations
The film was shot on location around London including:
- Heathrow Airport.
- St Katharine Docks - Harold's yacht is moored on the Thames there.
- St George in the East (CofE) Church - used for exterior shots of the church where Harold's mum goes to a service and when his Rolls Royce is blown up in the churchyard.
- St Patrick’s Church (RC), Greenbank, Wapping - used for the interior scenes of the Church service.
- Canary Wharf/West India Docks is the venue for Harold's proposed marina development. The future location of One Canada Square is clearly visible as his yacht tours the site. There is also a small model of the proposed development in Harold's yacht.
- Paddington train station.
- King George V Dock in the Royal Docks, now the site of London City Airport - Harold has a meeting here.
- The Savoy Hotel.
- Wigmore Street.
- The Salisbury pub, 1 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, Harringay - used to represent Fagan's Pub in Belfast.
[edit] Early roles for famous actors
The film includes a large number of performances by young actors who later became famous.
- Paul Barber (Denzil in Only Fools and Horses and Horse from The Full Monty) plays a police informant who is visited by Harold and his scary associate "Razors".
- Pierce Brosnan appears as an IRA assassin.
- Daragh O'Malley, who plays Sergeant Patrick Harper in the series of TV movies based on Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series of historical novels, appears as Brosnan's fellow assassin.
- P. H. Moriarty ("Razors") and Alan Ford appear as members of Shand's gang. Both would later play the chief villains in Guy Ritchie films.
- Gillian Taylforth, later of EastEnders fame, appears briefly as a young woman who finds a man nailed to the floor of a disused warehouse.
- Derek Thompson, who went on to find fame as Charlie Fairhead in medical drama Casualty appears as Harold's right-hand man, Jeff.
[edit] Influence
The opening scene, in which Harold is walking through Heathrow as if he owns the place, clearly influenced the entry of Ben Kingsley's character, Don Logan, in the British gangster flick Sexy Beast (2000).[citation needed]
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Alphaville |
The Criterion Collection 26 |
Succeeded by Flesh for Frankenstein |
