The Long Good Friday

The Long Good Friday is a 1980 British gangster film directed by John Mackenzie from a screenplay by Barrie Keeffe. Starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, the film, set in London, weaves together events and concerns of the late 1970s, including mid-level political and police corruption and IRA fund-raising. The supporting cast features Eddie Constantine, Dave King, Bryan Marshall, Derek Thompson, P. H. Moriarty, Paul Freeman and Pierce Brosnan in his film debut.

The film was completed in 1979, but because of delays, it did not have a general release until early 1981. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, and gave Hoskins his breakthrough – he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and won an Evening Standard Film Award for his performance as gangster Harold Shand.

The Long Good Friday is recognised as an all-time cinema classic. It placed number 21 on the British Film Institute's Top 100 British films list, and Empire ranked it 19th on their list of the 100 best British films.