6. The Long Good Friday (1979/1980)
Harold Shand is an old school gangster trying to make it legitimate in 1970s Britain with the help of the American Mafia. He wants to develop London's Docklands into the next Olympic venue. This is against the background of police corruption and IRA violence as well as Britain entering the EEC. Shand is the main man of the London underground scene when a series of bombs and assassinations rock him to the core. The rest of the film follows Shand's attempts to find out who his persecutors are. He discovered that an associate got caught up in an IRA attack and was killed alongside several IRA men. The organisation now somehow blames Shand for this cock up. Shand responds in his violent fashion and believes the American mafia will support him, however, due to recent developments, the mafia are no longer interested in British business. Harold leaves a hotel and is escorted by two IRA men to his inevitable death. The breakthrough performance by Bob Hoskins as Harold Shand, Hoskins plays a thoroughly evil man but yet a complex and deep man with a lot of subtly. It is an extremely uncompromising film with lots of brutal violence that may alienate the casual viewer. Vying with Brighton Rock as one of Britain's best gangster movies, The Long Good Friday sees Hoskins lose his grip on a potential Trans-Atlantic gangster cooperation coup to accepting his impending death at the hands of the IRA. Helen Mirren is terrific as Hoskin's mistress - a highly intelligent woman who is smart and sophisticated. Another British gangster movie that puts Guy Ritchie to shame - the violence, the characters and the plot are just perfect and combine to make a Gangster movie that is damn nearly perfect.