FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: The Long Good Friday (Special Edition) [DVD] [1979]

The Long Good Friday (Special Edition) [DVD] [1979]
enlarge	Director: John Mackenzie Actors: Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Paul Freeman, Leo Dolan, Kevin McNally Studio: Anchor Bay Home Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£19.99~~ Buy Used: £0.93 as of 25/11/2009 14:26 GMT details You Save: £19.06 (95%) New (8) Used (20) Collectible (2) from £0.93 Seller: zoverstocks Rating: 10 reviews Sales Rank: 39596 Format: PAL Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 109 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5060020620508 ASIN: B000067NQM Theatrical Release Date: April 2, 1982 Release Date: June 10, 2002 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Intricately plotted and smartly paced, this gangster saga clicks as whodunit, social satire and explosive thriller. The piece is crowned by Bob Hoskins' 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.pBarrie 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. pEven with lesser performances, the script and John Mackenzie's solid direction would make IThe Long Good Friday/I 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 ITheGodfather/I, IScarface/I, IGoodFellas/I and other classics of that genre. I--Sam Sutherland/I Amazon.co.uk Review Straddling two decades, IThe Long Good Friday/I is a gangster film with a thoughtful and provocative core. Made in 1979, but not released--after a near-comical saga of proposed re-editing and overdubbing recounted in the booklet--until two years later, it combines the gritty realism of 1970s movies (IGet Carter/I, IThe Sweeney/I) with the nouveau riche, fake-glamour culture of the 1980s. Bob Hoskins gives one of his most engaging screen performances as Harold Shand, top London mobster whose grandiose ambitions are doomed to failure of Shakespearian proportions. Helen Mirren is understated and alluring as his wife, and there's a strong support cast--even a brief, near-silent cameo from Pierce Brosnan! Director John Mackenzie controls tension impressively over the 109-minute span and if the IRA angle now seems a tad contrived, the prolonged final image of Shand coming to terms with defeat is breathtaking; heightened by Francis Monkman's punchy synths and saxes score. p BOn the DVD/B IThe Long Good Friday/I is presented on disc in a 16:9 full-frame picture that reproduces well, and is enhanced by stereo and 5.1 Dolby surround sound options. There's a photo gallery and the original trailer, detailed biographies and film notes, a running commentary from Mackenzie, and an interview with Hoskins and Mackenzie taken from the National Film Theatre presentation in 2000. There must be a whole archive's worth of these interviews by now, so let's have more of them included in future DVD releases. --IRichard Whitehouse/I

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 10 1 2 Next » Have a Bloody Mary October 22, 2002 Number 6 (The Village) 16 out of 17 found this review helpful This is a true classic, for so many reasons. It has telling things to say about the 80's in Britain, and it's a great London film, a cinematically unfamiliar London of the yet-to-be redeveloped Docklands - it stands on the threshold of something. At the same time it's a timeless, Shakesperean drama of ambition and power, politics and hubris. It moves at a cracking pace, and it it still has a visceral effect. Like most great films, the music adds a dimension, driving the film forward. And Hoskins. A bravura performance, a modern tragic hero, raging against the inevitable, never truly understanding his fate, until the incredible final scene. I saw this film years ago on tv, and its images have stayed with me; it's great to say that it is as fresh and involving now as I remembered it. And I have to say, the accident of fate that is Pierce Brosnan - with the hindsight of Bond, he looks as beautiful as the Angel of Death in this now. pDVD seems good, the commentary informative. A film for the library, with a DVD that does it justice. AMAZING February 11, 2001 10 out of 11 found this review helpful This was the first British ganster movie I ever saw, and I was blown away by the acting, storyline, and direction.pThe only film that can challenge this monster of a movie is Get Carter(1971) The Long Good Friday September 1, 2003 10 out of 11 found this review helpful The Long Good Friday is possibly the best British Gangster film of all time. Only Get Carter (1971) can compete in the same league. Bob Hoskins portrays the part of the London Gangster superbly. With a strong cast, this film had all the makings of a winner. There have since been many british gangster films ie. Snatch, Lock Stock, Sexy Beast etc but for me this film will always be the greatest gangster film ever made. The Best British Gangster Movie May 1, 2003 Mr. J. C. Healy (Blackpool, UK) 4 out of 4 found this review helpful Long before Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels existed the quintesential (and still the best) british gangster movie. Bob Hoskins in his finest role desparately hanging on to power in east end London.brThe pace, the plotting all leading up to a stunning ending. Buy it, watch it, love it! The best gangster movie ever with an uneasy touch of realism April 20, 2000 3 out of 3 found this review helpful Few gangster movies leave the audience with the feeling that this might just be real but the Long Good Friday does so in large quantities. Bob Hoskins as Gangster Harold Shand gives one of the best performances of his life as he slowly loses control of his London based gangland empire to a dark and unseen enemy. The plot unfolds brilliantly providing small pieces of evidence as to who this invisible enemy is and why they are out to destroy Shand and his empire. Combing detective skills and brutal revenge, Shand fights to the bitter end to find the reason for the attacks against him and to eliminate the aggressor from the face of the earth. Whilst there is no major twist at the end, the outcome is totally unpredictable providing enjoyment right to the credits.pThere are few movies that rate as classic gangsters but this is right up there with the best. If you haven't seen it before you are in for a treat. Definitely one movie for the home library. Showing reviews 1-5 of 10 1 2 Next »

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