The Long Good Friday

The Long Good Friday (1980)

  • 95% of critics liked it
    (20 reviews)

  • 86% of users liked it
    (9,738 ratings)

John Mackenzie's masterfully directed British crime drama features a star-making performance by Bob Hoskins as Harold Shand, a successful London gangster whose world falls apart over the course of one weekend. Shand controls the London docks and is planning a big real estate deal, financed by… More

R,
Directed By
Written By
Barrie Keeffe
Genres
Mystery & Suspense, Drama
In Theaters
Apr 2, 1982 Wide
Paragon

Critic Reviews

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    In many respects a conventional thriller set in London's underworld, The Long Good Friday is much more densely plotted and intelligently scripted than most such yarns.

  • Geoff Andrew, Time Out

    The admittedly well-constructed set pieces are all too often diminished in effect by the uninspired camera-work.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    I have rarely seen a movie character so completely alive. Shand is an evil, cruel, sadistic man. But he's a mass of contradictions, and there are times when we understand him so completely we almost feel affectionate.

  • Janet Maslin, New York Times

    Though its plot contains much that's new, The Long Good Friday is a swift, sharp-edged gangster story in a classic mold.

  • Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

    The screw-turning plot is great fodder for Hoskins and Mirren, who expertly calibrate their stressed-out character arcs. [Blu-ray]

Read all 10 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Luke B


    The Long Good Friday is Hoskins' break out performance and it's no surprise as to why. He inhabits the role of Harold Shand with such passion that we are completely swept along with him. Harold Shand is a gangster and businessman. As he approaches making a lucrative deal… More

  • Universal D


    Well deserving of its many accolades, Friday is one cheery holiday weekend with Brit crimelord Bob Hoskins (in a juggernaut performance worthy of all the gangster greats) as his world crumbles all around him. Helen Mirren lends able support (one of the best I've seen her in) and… More

  • Randy T


    Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren and a kick-ass ending.

  • Cassandra M


    At the time of writing this, I've just been thoroughly impressed by a rare British TV screening of 'The Long Good Friday', a gripping, bleak and uncompromising study of a supposedly untouchable underworld kingpin whose organization collapses around his ears when a… More

  • Daniel M


    The Long Good Friday is part of a fascinating breed of films which are simultaneously of their time and completely ahead of the curve. It is the near-perfect marriage of the crime thriller conventions of the 1970s, as pioneered by Get Carter and The French Connection, with an enticing… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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