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Narshty wrote:This has to be a forerunner for most neglected film in the Criterion Collection. The super-ugly cover and no-frills non-auteur status seems to have rendered this less than desirable for most. Nevertheless, the transfer still looks remarkable for a low-bitrate non-anamorphic disc from 1998, and as far as the film goes, I'd place it in the top five or so British films of the last 30 years.

It's the sort of film Britain seems to find almost impossible to make on a consistent basis - an intelligent, engaging, story-driven drama. The opening is perhaps a bit too confusing for its own good, but the rest of the picture is simply terrific, moving with a steady pace, punctuated with some fantastic set-pieces (such as the horrific-yet-blackly-comic machete interrogation sequence) and one of the best closing speeches since Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. And Bob Hoskins' face in the final shot is worth the price of admission alone.

Any other thoughts?

HistoryProf wrote:It would appear Anchor Bay managed to come up with an even uglier cover

At least it's now "Explosive!"

'The Long Good Friday' To Get Remake

Classic British crime film The Long Good Friday is getting a Hollywood makeover in Miami under the direction of Resident Evil moviemaker Paul W. S. Anderson. The 1980 original starred Bob Hoskins as a London gangster whose criminal empire comes under attack from a wave of mysterious bombings. But production company Handmade Films says the new movie would be "refreshed" with a modern setting. Chairman Patrick Meehan says, "The original was a highly praised classic and one of Handmade's most prized films, but its reach was limited primarily to the U.K. Following continued interest from the U.S., we realized this remake could attract audiences worldwide with an updated setting and contemporary overtones. When Paul presented his creative vision for this project, we were instantly convinced that this is a story that could be successfully refreshed, yet leave the integrity of the original intact." No actors have so far been cast for the project.

hack director wrote:It's not the IRA in ours, but it is another terrorist organisation, and we're doing it in Miami, so we're re-imagining it for America. Otherwise the story beats and characters will pretty much play out.

It will have the same human cortège scene at the start; the spitting in the face; he's been away somewhere, but it won't have been to New York...I think the script [of the original film], Barrie Keeffe's original screenplay, is so good. And the story is a great story with a great twist in it. And it's pretty remarkable that your lead character is a gangster and you really root for him.

I think it's a great movie for a remake, because outside of the UK it's virtually unknown and it was very much a movie of its time. It really captured that London of that time in the same way we're hopefully going to capture Miami of right now.

hack director wrote:so we're re-imagining it for America

I think it's a great movie for a remake, because outside of the UK it's virtually unknown and it was very much a movie of its time.

And it's pretty remarkable that your lead character is a gangster and you really root for him.

Mr_sausage wrote:

And it's pretty remarkable that your lead character is a gangster and you really root for him.

That's not really all that remarkable.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Saw this today, loved it. And yeah, Hoskins plays probably the most likable gangster I've ever seen in a movie. The scene with him at the pool is really quite wrenching.