Rent The Long Good Friday (1980)

Brilliant British Gangland Thriller Set in London's Docklands in 1979, just before redevelopment - The Long Good Friday review by PV

I have watched this film several times and never get bored. It is so well-written and memorable.

The screenwriter Barrie Keefe seems not to have written much more for film, which is a shame - the script sizzles. It is also deeply authentic, for the Cockney gangsters at the time late 70s, the gay scene, the slippery politics of northern Ireland (still going...), the slick USA mafia as hard drugs took over from simple villain ways for organised crime to make an income.

Bob Hoskins inhabits his role totally as a middle-aged Cockney gangster yearning for the old days and trying to build new life into his beloved East End and Docklands. Great to see that place as it was too - the empty wharfs, quays, docks and huge still cranes in a dead people-less landscape. Now all under Canary Wharf which is sort of what the main character wants to build.

See Pierce Brosnan in an early role (he's also a bit part in The Professionals) and Derek Thompson AKA Charlie from Casualty made his screen debut here too. Helen Mirren plays the gangster's mill, in effect, and is thus cast as ''hot totty' here.

Social class, generation difference, nationality, race, gender, sexuality - it is ALL here but not stuffed down the viewers' throat like the woke lectures and self-righteous sermonising of so many movies and TV dramas now.

Authentic language for the time, which 'some may find offensive'. Good, It is authentic and would be how corrupt London coppers spoke. Watch The Chinese Detective 1980 TV series to hear more. NOTHING is gratuitous - not the violence, and there is plenty, the sex, the gay sex, the language. THIS is how to make an AUTHENTIC film. Chuck away the diversity department booklet and just watch this on a loop.

One of the best thrillers EVER. 5 stars every day of the week.

Iconic and Classic British Crime Drama - The Long Good Friday review by GI

One of the finest British gangster films and highly influential. Here you will find the roots of modern British crime stories including Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000). This was the breakout film for Bob Hoskins who plays Harold Shand, the top London crime lord who is wooing the New York mafia to invest in his huge development project. But when his men start being killed Harold has trouble discovering who is attacking him. Helen Mirren is also first class as his wife, and not just the classy bimbo but a more involved and complex character than normally written for such roles. There's a host of British character actors and some gritty scenes. This is a film that looks into the heart of London organised crime, a tale of murder, corruption, ruthless ambition and nasty violence. Interestingly it's a film that looks deeply at the British obsession with its history. Harold is a patriot who sees his crime empire as a symbol of the past British empire and it's not by accident that his downfall is caused by the ambitious younger member of his gang. This is a classic of British cinema and arguably Hoskins best, and definitely most famous, role.