“What I'm looking for is someone who can contribute to what England has given to the world: culture, sophistication, genius. A little bit more than an 'ot dog, know what I mean?”
Welcome to Harbour Highlights, a series of cult and classic films handpicked by the staff of Harbour Lights. For April, Stephen starts your Easter weekend early with British classic The Long Good Friday.
Bob Hoskins stars in the role of Harold Shand, gangster king of the docklands with ambitions to expand his territory. With his beautiful and shrewd wife Victoria (Helen Mirren) on his arm and politicians and police in his pocket, Harold welcomes his American mafia connections for an Easter weekend of cementing his legacy – but an explosion of violence throws Harold’s world into chaos as he fights an unknown enemy to save his empire.
Regularly voted as one of the best British films ever made, The Long Good Friday was saved from its direct-to-TV fate to become a bone fide classic. With a cast led by Hoskins and Mirren at the top of their game – including Pierce Brosnan in his feature film debut – the film is a Shakesperean gangster drama with fantastic characters, thoroughly rooted in a specific time and a place , with one of the all-time endings. If nothing else, it’s worth seeing it on the big screen for the score alone.
