Defining Favourites: The Long Good Friday (1980)

John Mackenzie's gangster classic is not just a deconstruction of the gangster as much as it is also a breakdown of the capitalistic system which they run.

Photo: Janus Films

Welcome to my Defining Favourites, a section dedicated to essays about films that I feel confident in calling favourites in some way or another - akin to Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies” reviews. These essays are for paid subscribers, so if you would like to read more beyond the free preview, please consider subscribing.

Directed by John Mackenzie
Screenplay by Barrie Keeffe
Produced by Barry Hanson
Starring Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Dave King, Bryan Marshall, Derek Thompson, Eddie Constantine, Paul Freeman
Running Time: 100 minutes
Premiere Date: November 3, 1980

Is there really much different between the worlds of a gangster and a businessman? In The Long Good Friday, you’re exploring the world of Harold Shand, who believes that he’s above the gangsters whom he had once affiliated with – only to find that everything that he knew isn’t quite so simple anymore. It doesn’t start where we would think it did, but maybe the most haunting thing about how The Long Good Friday unveils itself is felt in knowing that one can’t really leave the life of a gangster behind so easily. Yet it’s also room for the most powerful statement to be made by The Long Good Friday: it just doesn’t matter which side of the law you’re on.

Harold Shand’s presence is an unmistakable one at that, because he talks as if he were a politician hoping to run to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. But it’s the way he talks that allows yourself to really see where his ambitions are coming forth, as he’s trying to turn himself into a legitimate businessman. But considering the political backdrop upon which The Long Good Friday had been made, the most powerful testament made by John Mackenzie’s film is felt in how much this movie feels very informed by the circumstances that led into what would become Margaret Thatcher’s London. It’s a very haunting indictment for what’s to come forth, but people like Harold Shand only continue doubling down on this.