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The Long Good Friday is a film which I didn’t really ‘get’ when I was younger. i would’ve been in my teens when I first saw it.
The late, great Bob Hoskins plays Harold Shand, a gangster with a finger in every pie, wheeling and dealing all over the place, but there’s dodgyness abound as the new boys in town want in on everything – and since they’re the IRA, what are the odds it’ll all go a bit tits-up for our leading man?
That said, you can sometimes tell when something bad is going to happen, as evil music plays out in the background, but at other times there’s quietness throughout until terrorism strikes, such as an early bomb where the victim was least expecting it.
Rewatching it after all this time, it’s amusing to see some of the cast who have since become mega-famous. This was one of Paul Freeman‘s first movie roles back then, but he later became very famous after he played the evil Belloq in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. His character was seen pulling very young Kevin McNally (in fact, everyone’s young here!), who was simply labelled “Irish Youth”. For me, his stand-out moment was pushing Lisa Faulkner’s head into a boiling fryer in Spooks, while last year, he made a brief appearance in 24: Live Another Day.
Elsewhere, there’s the Karl Howman, probably best known to TV viewers for Brush Strokes, as womanising Jack; P.H. Moriarty, aka Hatchet Harry from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (as was Dexter Fletcher who pops up as a ‘kid’); four-times James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, simply as “1st Irishman” here; and last but not least, it’s Charlie Fairhead from Casualty! Yes, Derek Thompson – still with the curly hair these days, even if it’s a little greyer!
There’s also plenty of great dialogue here, such as on the death of one friend, Harold cries out: “He wouldn’t hurt a fly! … well, only when it was necessary…”
Oh, and one quick spoiler..
The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 theatrical ratio and in 1080p high definition, and below is a full description, which is shown prior to the film, about all the work that went into the restoration. It’s quite simply astounding how good it looks, and there’s also one of the extras showing how the original version compares. It was a treat to rewatch this film on my Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV with a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
As for the audio, it’s in the original mono and, so it won’t be a special FX bonanza, but it delivers exactly what it was meant to, back in the day.
The restoration information reads:
- “The Long Good Friday has been exclusively restored for this release by Arrow Films.
The original camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan, and the film was graded on the Baselight grading system. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools. Image stablity was also improved.
The film’s original mono soundtrack was transferred from the magnetic reels, and audio issues such as pops, clicks and audible buzz were repaired or removed.
The restoration of The Long Good Friday was fully graded under the supervision of Director of Photography Phil Méheux and was completed in 2K resoliution.
The project was supervised by James White on behalf of Arrow Films, with all work carried out at Deluxe Restoration, London.”
Go to page 2 for the extras.
The extras for The Long Good Friday are spread over 2 Blu-ray discs (or DVDs, if you’re watching on that format). The first disc’s extras are as follows:
- Bloody Business: The Making of The Long Good Friday (54:52): An in-depth extra, split into five chapters, made in 2006 so it’s in 16:9 but not in HD, but everyone’s on board – including Bob Hoskins – to give their thoughts in how the film came together and what it meant for them, including Pierce Brosnan, for whom this was his first film. It would be to give it short shrift if I described it as clips from the film set against chat from the cast and crew, but it’s like that big-time – it’s basically a must-see for all fans of the film and does it great justice.
- Interviews: Three here, shot between 2014/2015 and in HD – producer Barry Hanson (5:40), screenwriter Barrie Keeffe (8:28) and cinematographer Phil Méheux (3:18). I like how Keeffe explains how Bob Hoskins only read for the part of Harold Shand by chance, but looking back, he can’t imagine anyone else having played the role, while Méheux also shows just how good this new transfer is witih a comparison between this and the older video transfer.
- Hands Across The Ocean (7:10): A line taken from Hoskins’ speech on the boat, this piece takes a look at when the film was shown on TV, at a time when they would censor movies to pieces… but this this segment looks at how it fared on US TV, would you believe some of the voices have been redubbed??
- Theatrical trailers (4:37): Two trailers in 16:9, made back in the day.
- Audio commentary: from director John Mackenzie.
And disc 2 gives us…
- Apaches (27:26): Oh, now this is a godsend as it’s the 1977 film – an early collaboration between Mackenzie and Méheux, clips of which are shown on TV all the time as it was commissioned by the Central Office of Information on behalf of those Health and Safety chaps and chapesses, intended to scare rural children into thinking twice about playing on farms, because some of them end up brown bread. And, oddly, when they do, all the other kids seem to forget about them.
Now, Mackenzie and Méheux? Perhaps they should’ve gone into business together and made a film company called, say, “M&Ms”. I believe the copyright of the name may still be available!
This film, presented in the original 4:3 aspect ratio, also includes an optional introduction from Mr Méheux, running 1:38. In a way, it’s good that it’s optional as it gives spoilers. I would’ve liked the film to have included some chapters, though, as there are none.
- Q&A with Bob Hoskins and John Mackenzie (27:50): Filmed in 2000, at the National Film Theatre, conducted by Richard Jobson (where is he now?).
- More interviews: More from producer Barry Hanson (16:16), screenwriter Barrie Keeffe (14:18) and cinematographer Phil Méheux (17:37), plus first assistant director Simon Hinkly (18:10) and assistant art director Carlotta Barrow (6:09).
In addition, there’s a 100-page hardback book featuring new writing on the film by critics Mark Duguid and Mike Sutton, plus archive pieces by Robert Sellers and Patrick Russell, illustrated with original production stills.
The final two discs in the package are a Blu-ray and DVD for Mona Lisa, with extras containing an audio commentary by Bob Hoskins and Neil Jordan, brand new interviews with director Neil Jordan, writer David Leland and producer Stephen Woolley, and an Original Trailer. I’m looking to review this shortly.
As you put the discs in, you get clips of The Long Good Friday on disc 1, plus Apaches on disc 2, but when it comes to the chaptering, I feel one should come every five minutes on average. Arrow, like many other distributors, go for a low 12 however long the film. I would like them to increase that number. Subtitles are in English.
The Long Good Friday Special Edition is out from May 18th in a Blu-ray/DVD Boxset and check out the full-size cover by clicking on the packshot.
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FILM PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 7 10 |
| OVERALL | 9 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 114 minutes
Year: 1980
Distributor: Arrow Films
Released: May 18th 2015
Chapters: 12
Cat.no: FCD1080
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: Uncompressed PCM 1.0 Mono
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: John Mackenzie
Producer: Barry Hanson
Screenplay: Barrie Keeffe
Music: Francis Monkman
Cast:
Harold Shand: Bob Hoskins
Victoria: Helen Mirren
Parky: Dave King
Harris: Bryan Marshall
Jeff: Derek Thompson
Charlie: Eddie Constantine
Colin: Paul Freeman
Phil: Leo Dolan
Irish Youth: Kevin McNally
Carol Benson: Patti Love
Razors: P.H. Moriarty
Harold’s Mother: Ruby Head
Eric: Charles Cork
Chef: Olivier Pierre
1st Irishman: Pierce Brosnan
2nd Irishman: Daragh O’Malley
David: Karl Howman
Alan: Brian Hall
Jack: Alan Ford
Don: Dave Ould
Ginger: Paul Kember
Boston: Bill Moody
Priest: Alan Devlin
Tony: Stephen Davies
Mac: Bruce Alexander
Dave: Nigel Humphreys
Erroll: Paul Barber
Kid: Dexter Fletcher
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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