Disc Reviews

The Long Good Friday Blu-ray Review

1st May 2015

Bob Hoskins is at his best in this classic British gangster movie. The Long Good Friday sees him as the eponymous Harold Shand – A “businessman” who plans on joining commercial forces with the Americans with the intention of developing areas of London for a greater Britain and therefore a greater dominance in the world.

Sadly before any of this can go into action, it seems that forces are working hard against him on the Good Friday as members of his team are being taken out, and even some of his owned establishments are having bombs planted on the premises.

Harold spends the titular time racing around London manoeuvring his entire team into action to find out who is responsible and why.

Hoskin’s dominates the screen in a rage fuelled performance that has barely been paralleled in the UK since. It’s easy to see why Hoskins would go on to command the career he had in the aftermath of this very carefully handled thriller.

There are plenty of familiar faces in the supporting cast doing sterling work, but it’s clear who the film belongs to. The pot-boiler aspect of the film is played beautifully in Hoskins actions, and reactions.

For Arrow’s release of The Long Good Friday they have pulled in a decent set of extras. McKenzie provides a director’s commentary for the film. There is a decent hour long making of which features pretty much all of the big names involved (including the late Hoskins). There is also a wealth of interview material from the production team. There is also a second blu-ray and second DVD disc on this release – the highlight of which is a half hour piece by McKenzie called Apaches. This was a short piece used as a warning to school children about the hazards of playing around farm areas.

Schools at and after this time of the late 70s and 80s were sent this video which shows a small group of children playing “Apaches” in a farm yard, and one by one they succumb to various (and often violent) accidents when playing in the area. This was as close to a proper horror film with a body count as young children got exposed to (I know this as I saw it back in the very early 80s at my school and do recall it vividly myself).

A solid package for a solid film that is fully deserving of the Blu-ray treatment – soon to be followed by Mona Lisa. This should be a thoughtless buy.