The Long Good Friday

1 9 7 9 (UK)

Long before music videos ruined British film (and while Guy Ritchie was still watching Grange Hill) John MacKenzie made this brutal gangland thriller.

"There's gonna be an eruption!" roars London crime lord Harold Shand (Hoskins) like a mobster Macbeth, with his empire collapsing around him. And there was, although it was short-lived for director MacKenzie who descended into TV hell.

Harold's attempts to go respectable by interesting a band of American Mafia bosses in a real estate deal in London’s Docklands are frustrated as a rival gang seems to be destroying his empire. Two of his henchmen are murdered and Harold attempts to trace the identity of the killers.

The pressure on him is increased when his American visitors are subjected to a bomb attack and give Harold an ultimatum - He has 24 hours to find the culprits or they will pull out of the deal.

Look out for Pierce Brosnan in his first credited screen performance.