The Long Good Friday

It’s 1979 and Margaret Thatcher has just become Prime Minister. London’s answer to Little Caesar, entrepreneur Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) is already thinking about the Docklands redevelopment and bringing the Olympics to the East End. All he needs is a little seed money from our American friends across the pond: “We’re looking for people who can contribute to what England has given the world: culture, genius, sophistication. Bit more than a hot dog, know what I mean?” Unfortunately for Harold, his bid to wine and dine the Mafia over Easter weekend coincides with a gang war he never saw coming.

This is the great British gangster film, and the godfather, really, to the likes of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. John Mackenzie’s film is less flippant than Guy Ritchie’s, and the violence here packs a punch, but it’s got almost as many laughs. The screenplay, by Barry Keefe, is full of juicy lines, delivered with rare aplomb by Bob Hoskins in a star-making performance: “Nothing unusual,” he says! Eric’s been blown to smithereens, Colin’s been carved up, and I’ve got a bomb in me casino, and you say nothing unusual?”