Who doesn’t love gangster films? They’re thrilling, dramatic,
and often action-packed, with writing and performances that at their best can
make you relate to an ensemble of violent, morally ambiguous criminals. But
there’s a sub-genre of gangster movies that has its own charm, tropes, and
style: the British gangster film. British gangster films (or British crime
films) are more than just Goodfellas
in London, but they reflect the unique culture of British organized (and
unorganized) crime. Where an American gangster film commonly has a tone of
drama and suspense throughout, their British equivalents often seem to employ a
more darkly comic edge rounded with a cast of colourful characters (and
language), intrigue, and themes that are inherently British. They give a very
interesting perspective on British culture, crime, and character. And because
of my fascination with this, and realization I haven’t seen enough films of
this genre, each Wednesday in September I’m going to review a different British
gangster film and see how they reflect their culture as well as the impact they
have. Now these are going to be British gangster films so I won’t be touching
on films out of Ireland some would confuse as British. In Bruges is f---ing amazing! But I’m really excited for the
samples I am going to be partaking in of a fascinating and provoking genre!
The
late great Bob Hoskins plays Harold Shand a successful gangster who is
attempting to make a business deal with the American mafia to redevelop the
London Docklands for use in the Olympic Games. However a series of attacks on
his men and properties begin to lose him his credibility with the American boss
Charlie (Eddie Constantine) provoking him to track down whoever’s responsible
before he loses his deal and more.
This
is probably the most basic story of these gangster films, one that you could
easily see as an episode of The Sopranos,
but it works to this films’ advantage. It knows it’s not trying to tell a heavy
elaborate story like The Godfather
and so this kind of plot is appropriate. It’s more a film about a character,
and the time, and the struggles inherent to that time. Mackenzie makes sure to
keep focus on Harold and how his seemingly ideal world which he has run fairly
peacefully for the past decade is beginning to crumble around him. This
situation reminds me a lot of the opening to the final season of Boardwalk Empire which also dealt with a
successful crime lord having to deal with the end of an era and the crux of his
power being in jeopardy. I was also fascinated by some of the directorial and
cinematography choices. The camera angles are clever at times forcing you to
identify with the mobsters while at other times with the victims. There’s also
the interesting crucifixion imagery in the film which ties into the Good Friday
of the title, which is also the day the events of the film begin on. Whether
this symbolizes or foreshadows Harold as a Jesus figure or something to that
effect, is up to your own interpretation. It was just a curious choice to me.
Bob
Hoskins is as usual very good and a lot of fun to watch. With the focus being
on his character so much, he had deliver, and he did so very well making this
his breakout role. But there were times especially when he was drinking, I just
couldn’t help seeing Eddie Valiant and it amused me to think if this had been
his character in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
More than Hoskins though, Helen Mirren was electrifying as his wife Victoria.
She wields almost as much power as him and a certain degree over him. She is
very involved in the organization and is incredibly clever. For a film made in
1980 I was surprised how uninhibited the writer was to give a woman so much
character and influence. Especially in a mafia movie where she’s a second
protagonist. And Mirren was exquisite accentuating her character’s power and adding
a welcome drop of class. P.H. Moriarty as Razors and Dave King as Parky were
also pretty good. Paul Freeman, Belloq himself has a minor role as one of
Harold’s goons Colin a homosexual predator. And this film has a number of
cameos from yet to be well-known actors many of whom would go on to be in other
films I’ll be reviewing in this series. Kevin McNally of the Pirates of the Caribbean series shows
up, and Pierce Brosnan and Daragh O’Malley play a pair of hitmen.
The Long Good Friday though it has a basic
American gangster plot, is very distinctly British. This is fairly obvious in
the interactions between the British and American gangsters some of which feel
like the Brits purposely showing America they are different. The state of the
U.K. is reflected through the film’s depiction of political and police
corruption, economic problems, and the dangerous threat of the I.R.A. Harold is
also not your typical crime film lead and the film goes out of its way to show
him not being in control, not making rational decisions, and how all of these
things could lead to his downfall. When he finds out the reason behind these
attacks, it’s the perfect illustration of this lack of control. And that’s one
of the important themes of this movie: consequences. He’s not able to just walk
coolly away from some of the stuff he’s done, some of his responsibilities with
his assets intact. A really good last minute twist hammers this in
exceptionally. Gangster movies often set up their lead character as a relatable
antihero and sometimes do it so well (i.e. The
Godfather) that they can convince you these guys are the good guys. But The Long Good Friday isn’t going to let
you do that. It does enforce how wrong these actions are and by showing the
consequences, it could be seen as a warning. And this doesn’t feel like a
lesson you get in many American gangster films, certainly not in American
gangster culture.
The Long Good Friday is certainly a good
start to British Gangster Month presenting some different themes, interesting
characters and style, and a basic but exciting story and character piece. A mob
boss’s world destructing around him is still very fascinating and I think this
film does it well. As inimitable a film this is though, I look forward to what
the next one brings!
Comments
Post a Comment