Harold, a prosperous English gangster, is about to close a lucrative new deal when bombs start showing up in very inconvenient places. He is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.
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.
Although The Long Good Friday is firmly rooted in a very different era -- early 1980s Britain is another country entirely -- the film still feels fresh and uncompromisingly tough.
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.
