OldBoy

I read DVD Savant's DVD review of The Long Good Friday (Explosive Special Edition) at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=20920 and...this was a great read and has really piqued my interest.
so any others have the Criterion version and can attest to the gooey goodness of the movie itself?

OldBoy

anybody see this film?

bdots48

I've got the excellent Region2 version of Long Good Friday - arguably the best British gangster film ever made - great performances from Bob Hoskins and Hellen Mirren.

OldBoy

so if i like things like "Lock, Stock...", "Snatch", "Sexy Beast", "The Limey", I should enjoy this immensely?

purplechoe

I don't think so, totally different beasts. In my opinion it's one of the most over rated British films ever made. I like gangster films and I like art films, but this one is a snooze fest on every level. I would say rent before buying. I doubt it's something you'll be coming back to, though some would disagree as always.

Sean O'Hara

I ordered it as a blind buy based on DVD Savant's review, and got it in the mail on Saturday. Disregard what Purplechoe says -- this is the second best film I've seen for the first time this year, right behind Pulse (Kairo). It's closer in tone to a Scorsese film, or classic Hollywood gangster pictures like Little Caesar or White Heat, than to later British gangster pictures.

OldBoy

that sounds good.

JM1

In fact, this is the movie that nearly every British gangster film ever since has aspired to and attempted to ape.

It's become something of a cliche to hear the words "In the style of", or "The new" or even "Better than" The Long Good Friday used in the advertising blurb for these types of films.

It is a classic, without a doubt. I never tire of it; Hoskins performance is a career best, the supporting characters are all well defined, the story is still a hard-hitting and courageous one considering the subject matter, and its political stance with the (then) rise of Thatcherism and Shand's attempt to "go legit" are an interesting kind of time capsule of early 80's Britain and British attitudes.

I love the first 20 mins or so, where you really do not know what is going on and have to work at it, not until later in the story do the pieces begin to fit. Not like today's lazy filmaking techniques where everything is spelled out for people.

I actually work in Canary Wharf, which is shown and talked about in the movie as being the site for a future Olympics, and is just at that point in the process of being redeveloped. Of course now it's like another Wall Street, with lots of banks and corporations moving in. I often try and get my beaqrings and see if I can work out where that sequence was shot, but it's hard as the place has changed so much.

But I digress- if you have not seen the movie it's highly recommended.

One further point - I also have the R2 edition, which has an interview with the director and Hoskins, and also a 5.1 track and commentary, but the 5.1 track on my copy sounded awful, very echoey and unnatural. Could never quite work out of it was a fault or if it was supposed to be like that, but just decided to stick with the mono option anyway.

But I am surprised that there are still no English subs - though I have no problem with the slang there are a few phrases that I have never quite been able to make out. Would have thought we would have got it on this edition.

Great making of doc on this edition too, best I have seen so far on any version of the movie.

OldBoy

that is what i was worried about. sometimes the cockney slang is hard to understand and was bummed that a sub track will not be there. i want to get all and not miss at least a little.
thanks for the great review.

DonnachaOne

It's a great film. On the VA board, these pictures are my avatar and signature.

Bateman

I haven't seen the Criterion version but I caught it on IFC a while back. Great film and even more enjoyable if you like the genre. I don't remember any of the accents or slang being difficult to understand. If you have seen enough British stuff you will have no problem.

On a side note Criterion also has another good Bob Hoskins gangster release in Mona Lisa.

JM1

Gotta share this one with you...

Back before the film was released, when it was in that limbo period before release, where they still thought it may be cut down to a TV movie etc, they had a one-off screening at a West End cinema in London I was working at, called the Empire in Leicester Square. They used to have a smaller sister cinema next door to it called The Ritz, which has since been amalgamated uinto the current 3 screen complex they converted it to.

The screening was a late night one, and was attended by a lot of the cast and crew,and I stayed after work to watch the film.

When the film started, I remember thinking it was very, very hard to follow to start with in the opening 30 mins...events seemed to be referred to that had happened off screen, and it was a while before I was able to make sense of it. I also remember during the early part of the film hearing the door of the cinema banging a lot, with people coming in and out.

At the end of the film I remember enjoying it, but was a little confused and thought that the first 30 mins or so were very confusing.

Then I found out why...


When film copies are delivered to cinemas, they come in metal tins with each being a 15 - 20 minute reel (or at least they used to...remember this was 1980), and each tin is usually marked 1 of 6, 2 of 6 etc, so you know how many reels there should be ana that the film is complete. But often with advance screenings of films, the prints of the film are so new that the reel tins are often not marked up in this way yet, but the projectionist can usually identify the reel order from the "leaders" on the ends of the film.

But what happened in this case was the film was delivered in this way with no reel numbers on the tins...and minus reel 2. Now, there is no way a projectionist would know how many reels a film is supposed to be if the tins are not marked, if he gets 5 reels instead of 6, he will just put them together in reel order.

So...this explained the confusion, and the banging doors, which turned out to be the producer, director etc running out and banging on the projectionists door screaming merry hell. Not his fault, the film companies if anything.

But everyone seemed to take it in good humour in the end.

Cosmic Bus

Has anyone seen a review for Anchor Bay's Mona Lisa reissue? Seems odd that reviews for this new LGF disc have been up for a couple of weeks now, but nothing said about the quality (or lack?) of this other Hoskins film vs the Criterion counterpart.

sippiecup

I think www.filmcritic.com has a review up for Mona Lisa although I don't know how much you can trust them as they tore The Long Good Friday a new one in their review of it

Julie Walker

The dvd will be closed captioned according to the stats and packaging on www.dvdempire.com.

starman9

Is this version of "LONG GOOD FRIDAY" the uncut version? Criterion running time is listed at 114 minutes, while this Anchor Bay SE is listed as having a 109 minute running time. Weird!

Can anyone confirm if this new release is cut?

Great movie!!!

Josh Z

Is the Anchor Bay disc a PAL conversion? 114 - 4% = 109.

starman9

Good question. Is it? Can anyone verify?

JM1

I can verify in the sense that I know the film like the back of my hand through months of working at a cinema when it opened and watching it a lot on tv, video and DVD, and it's the same version that has always been around, nothing missing, nothing added.

I have watched this new version all the way through, nothing missing at all.

starman9

Thanks man! That's great.

It's in authentic NTSC yeah? Not a PAL conversion?

Thanks again!

Josh Z

Is the running time of the DVD really 109 minutes or 114 minutes? Can anyone with the Criterion disc check the running time on theirs?

It's possible that either Anchor Bay just has a typo on their packaging and the disc really is 114 minutes, or they've used a PAL conversion and it's 109 minutes.

IMDb states that the correct running time should be 114 minutes.

Cosmic Bus

My Criterion of LGF lists it at 114 minutes. DVDBeaver mentions nothing about it being a PAL conversion, but does list the running time as 1:54:12 for Criterion and 1:53:56 for the Anchor Bay, so it sounds like just an error on the new packaging.

Peter Cushing

Hope this version is complete, the Criterion & Anchor Bay versions are both dubbed over in certain parts. As this version says something about a glossary of English words then hopefully there will be no more need for pointless dubbing. I have seen no sign of this DVD though & its now mid April.

eXcentris

To make it short, if there's a difference between the transfers it's marginal. The Criterion has an excellent commentary track, the Anchor Bay has no extras except a trailer. Unless one is obsessed with the word "anamorphic", I see no reason to upgrade.

InnocentBlood

can anybody confirm if there's anything on the current R2 version of this movie that is NOT on the new R1 version?