Gangster films have never had the same pedigree in Britain that they have long enjoyed in America. Part of the reason is that the formative years of Hollywood in the twenties and early thirties coincided with the growth of organised crime fuelled by Prohibition, a period when the doings of Al Capone and his contemporaries provided a rich source of inspiration for film-makers. Another part of the reason is that during this period the British Board of Film Censors tended to discourage home- made gangster movies. This form of censorship owed little to moral concerns about violence- the BBFC were quite happy to allow cinemas to show American crime flicks- and a good deal to political considerations. British governments, of all political complexions, liked to play down any suggestion that the country had a serious organised crime problem. (And, by American standards, it didn't).
There have, however, been a few isolated British gangster films which have achieved classic status, such as "Brighton Rock" or "Get Carter". The 1980s were to add two more British gangster classics, "The Long Good Friday" and "Mona Lisa", both starring the same actor, Bob Hoskins.
Like "Get Carter", "The Long Good Friday" is very much a product of a particular place and time. Mike Carter's film reflected the Tyneside of the late sixties and early seventies, John Mackenzie's the East London of a decade or so later. For at least a century the economic heart of the East End had been the London docks, which provided employment for many East Enders, either directly as dockers or indirectly as workers in the factories which made use of the raw materials imported through the docks. By 1980, however, the docks were in decline, hit by the growing move towards containerisation, and schemes were afoot for the redevelopment of the Docklands. This process started with St Katharine's Dock, the basin closest to central London; early in the film we see shorts of this area, now transformed into an upmarket marina where the main character, Harold Shand, keeps his luxury yacht.
Shand is a London gangster who is trying to put together a legitimate, or at least semi-legitimate, property development scheme to redevelop parts of the Docklands in partnership with Charlie, an American mafioso and with Harris, a corrupt local councillor who also runs a construction business. His world is rocked, however, by a series of bomb attacks on his property and the murders of some of his associates, including his closest friend Colin. The film revolves around Shand's efforts to discover who was responsible for these attacks and to take revenge. The plot involves a number of the social concerns of the period, including violent crime, terrorism, political and police corruption; besides Harris, Shand also has a senior local police officer on his payroll.
Although there are other good contributions, notably from Helen Mirren as Shand's wife Victoria and Bryan Marshall as Harris, the film is dominated by a tremendous performance from Hoskins as Shand, a man who tries to present himself to the world as a cheerful, likeable cockney geezer but who, beneath his jovial exterior, is no more than a vicious thug. Strangely, the filmmakers wanted to dub over Hoskins's cockney accent, believing that it would be difficult for Americans to understand. Even more strangely, the actor chosen to do the dubbing was from Wolverhampton; a West Midlands accent would have been no more comprehensible in America and in Britain would have sounded completely wrong on the lips of a London gangster. Fortunately, this scheme was dropped when Hoskins strongly objected. This was the film which made Hoskins a star and led to him becoming a leading figure in the British cinema of the eighties and nineties.
The one thing I din't like about the film was the revelation that the Provisional IRA were behind the attacks on Shand's empire, making for an uneasy combination of London gangsterism and Irish politics. (The IRA, and other terror groups, ran their own organised crime rackets in their Northern Irish fiefdoms, but never tried to tangle with mainland gangsters). With that one reservation, however, I found "The Long Good Friday" a gripping gangster film which deserves its classic status. 8/10.
There have, however, been a few isolated British gangster films which have achieved classic status, such as "Brighton Rock" or "Get Carter". The 1980s were to add two more British gangster classics, "The Long Good Friday" and "Mona Lisa", both starring the same actor, Bob Hoskins.
Like "Get Carter", "The Long Good Friday" is very much a product of a particular place and time. Mike Carter's film reflected the Tyneside of the late sixties and early seventies, John Mackenzie's the East London of a decade or so later. For at least a century the economic heart of the East End had been the London docks, which provided employment for many East Enders, either directly as dockers or indirectly as workers in the factories which made use of the raw materials imported through the docks. By 1980, however, the docks were in decline, hit by the growing move towards containerisation, and schemes were afoot for the redevelopment of the Docklands. This process started with St Katharine's Dock, the basin closest to central London; early in the film we see shorts of this area, now transformed into an upmarket marina where the main character, Harold Shand, keeps his luxury yacht.
Shand is a London gangster who is trying to put together a legitimate, or at least semi-legitimate, property development scheme to redevelop parts of the Docklands in partnership with Charlie, an American mafioso and with Harris, a corrupt local councillor who also runs a construction business. His world is rocked, however, by a series of bomb attacks on his property and the murders of some of his associates, including his closest friend Colin. The film revolves around Shand's efforts to discover who was responsible for these attacks and to take revenge. The plot involves a number of the social concerns of the period, including violent crime, terrorism, political and police corruption; besides Harris, Shand also has a senior local police officer on his payroll.
Although there are other good contributions, notably from Helen Mirren as Shand's wife Victoria and Bryan Marshall as Harris, the film is dominated by a tremendous performance from Hoskins as Shand, a man who tries to present himself to the world as a cheerful, likeable cockney geezer but who, beneath his jovial exterior, is no more than a vicious thug. Strangely, the filmmakers wanted to dub over Hoskins's cockney accent, believing that it would be difficult for Americans to understand. Even more strangely, the actor chosen to do the dubbing was from Wolverhampton; a West Midlands accent would have been no more comprehensible in America and in Britain would have sounded completely wrong on the lips of a London gangster. Fortunately, this scheme was dropped when Hoskins strongly objected. This was the film which made Hoskins a star and led to him becoming a leading figure in the British cinema of the eighties and nineties.
The one thing I din't like about the film was the revelation that the Provisional IRA were behind the attacks on Shand's empire, making for an uneasy combination of London gangsterism and Irish politics. (The IRA, and other terror groups, ran their own organised crime rackets in their Northern Irish fiefdoms, but never tried to tangle with mainland gangsters). With that one reservation, however, I found "The Long Good Friday" a gripping gangster film which deserves its classic status. 8/10.
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