“Bob Hoskins’s Harold Shand—a barrel-chested thug for the ages—is the lynchpin of this gripping thriller. But I have a real soft spot for Francis Monkman’s sleazy synth ’n’ sax theme, an insistent and incongruous porno-prog menace that hammers into your brain, and never leaves.” —Ashley C, curatorial director

Directed by John Mackenzie • 1980 • United Kingdom
Starring Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Dave King

A combustible performance from Bob Hoskins is the fuse that lights this underworld saga, a landmark of British crime cinema. Hoskins plays Harold Shand, an ambitious London mobster who, just as he attempts to close a major real-estate deal with the American Mafia, finds his crime empire rocked by a string of attacks, sending him on a ruthless quest to find out who’s responsible. Abetted by an ice-cool performance from Helen Mirren as Shand’s in-command moll, THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY is not only a gripping gangster thriller but also a vivid portrait of late-1970s Britain—a powder keg of cultural and political tensions on the verge of explosion.