The Long Good Friday  DVD

Product details

    Rated - Suitable for 18 years and over
    Package Dimensions - 18.03 x 13.76 x 1.48 cm; 83.16 Grams
    Director - John MacKenzie
    Media Format - PAL
    Run time - 1 hour and 49 minutes
    Release date - 10 Oct. 2005
    Actors - Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Eddie Constantine, Dave King, Brian Hall
    Studio - Bay View
    Producers - Barry Hanson
    ASIN - B000AMSSFW
    Writers - Barrie Keefe
    Number of discs - 1

Acclaimed gangster thriller starring Bob Hoskins as a top London crime boss whose attempts to launch a legitimate business enterprise are disrupted by a number of bombs from an unknown adversary. Harold Shand (Hoskins) is a gangster who has worked his way to the top with utter ruthlessness and a penchant for violence. Recognising that a more secure and prosperous future lies in moving to legal operations, he prepares to trade a life of crime for respectability through a plan to regenerate London's Docklands area. However, when unknown bombers begin targeting his properties and killing his associates, Shand only knows one response - violence. As he and his mistress, Victoria (Helen Mirren), try to hold his crumbling empire together, Shand finds himself facing the ironic prospect of all-out war just as he tries to convert to peace.

REVIEW:
This is quite simply one of the very best British films ever made, period. If you've never seen it before you are in for a very special treat.
Looking at it now, it was remarkably prescient about the future route the country was about to take in the 1980s.
As a social document of the time therefore it is a unique and strikingly-accurate portrait of its era - as a straightforward, timeless thriller it is up there with the very best of world cinema.
This is the movie that made a star of mister Hoskins. Michael Caine was initially considered for the role of Harold Shand, but it was ultimately [ and rightly I think] felt that his persona was too intelligent and self-aware for this part, and so British film history was made with the casting of Hoskins.
Arrow's 2K restoration of this masterpiece is a thing of beauty; having owned this movie on VHS, then DVD and now bluray only a 4K scan could possibly improve on the video presented here.
It comes with an absolutely excellent essay written by the BFI's Mark Duguid which sets out very clearly how and why this movie has developed both its reputation and standing in the British public's affections down the decades.
Notorious at the time of release for its topicality and gruesome violence, its classical structure and memorable dialogue and set-pieces have ensured its longevity.
I love movies with surprising endings, and TLGF has one of the very best final 2 minutes you're ever likely to see, a sequence which has become a 24-carat classic - feel your scalp tingle at the sound of Francis Monkman's electronic score kicking in as the film's unforgettable protagonist finally - and, fatally, too late - understands his fate .
Watch, watch and watch again - this film NEVER gets old.



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CONDITION EXCELLENT
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