#26 - The Long Good Friday

First funny trivia of note - I almost watched this on Good Friday, which would have been a hoot :D

This was a clever 1979 British Gangster film I had never heard of, starring Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren (in the youngest role I've seen her in so far) and for a little extra boot, Eddie Constantine, who was our detective from Alphaville - (#25) - so he shows up twice in a row

It's a pretty good gangster whodunit with a 70's soundtrack and some pretty thick accents - the Criterion release is out of print - but the DVD I got from the Library had some extra features including an excellent documentary about the making of the film with all the principals, the director and the writer.

I guess this was Bob Hoskins breakout role - the film was made and then bought by George Harrison's film company (Handmade Films) for release in 1980 - Helen is excellent here in a role as the Gangster's Moll, (and much more) - We also get just the briefest peek of Pierce Brosnan here in his first feature film role.

The British Gangster genre isn't well known to me - (neither is the Italian American Mafia genre.  I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen any of the Godfather Trilogy ever) - but as a film it kept you guessing up to the end and engaged you with it's fast pace and I enjoyed it thoroughly - the Soundtrack reminded me of one of those Golan-Globus productions of the 1980's - just a little over the top like someone found their first synthesizer and cranked it up but it worked.

The one shot I really liked is at the end but I won't discuss it just in case you want to see the film :)

RB