The Long Good Friday (Anchor Bay U.S. Edition)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: C+     Extras: B     Film: B+

 

 

The Long Good Friday is a classic British film that has become somewhat of a cult film here in the U.S. since it’s release.  The film has also garnered some attention, as it’s first U.S. DVD release came from Criterion back in 1999.  The Criterion edition of the film was non-anamorphic and had a Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono soundtrack.  In the U.K. Anchor Bay issued a special edition of the film a few years ago with some nice extras and a Dolby 5.1 mix, plus an anamorphic transfer, which I will compare later in this review.  This new Anchor Bay edition is Region 1, but the question is how does it compare to the other two versions of the film. 

 

Bob Hoskins stars as Harold (a top crime boss) in England, who is being muscled by some of the other bosses for control over territory.  This won’t be as easy as they think, but then again there are bombs going off in all the wrong places as things heat up amidst the celebration of Good Friday.  The gritty nature of the film plays out well set against a backdrop of tension, which is executed quite well in this patient crime drama.  The film also stars two other actors I’ve come to enjoy on the screen as well: Helen Mirren and Eddie Constantine. 

 

One factor that is key to this film is the picture and sound, which play a vital role in any film, but if the print of this film is not done correctly one might mistake the gritty nature of the film for a poor production.  Phil Meheux’s cinematography is not necessary brilliant throughout, but this was one of his earlier films leading him into later successes and bigger productions like Golden Eye, Entrapment, and The Mask of Zorro. 

 

The Long Good Friday is represented here in a 1.85 X 1 anamorphic transfer that does not look nearly as good as one might hope.  There is an excessive amount of grain that was a problem to some degree on the Criterion Edition as well as the U.K. Region 2 disc.  However, it is more of a problem here.  One advantage that this does have over the U.K. edition is that it doesn’t have a squishing effect.  For some odd reason the U.K. disc looked like someone took and smashing the picture from the top to the bottom making everything appear a bit wider.  Here everything looks proportional.  Colors are ok, although the film does have a slightly washed out appearance, but once again none of the other DVD editions of this film really looked vibrant enough either.  The Criterion edition was non-anamorphic and also had a washed out appearance, although it’s framing was much better.  This is a difficult decision because each of the three releases have something going for them as well as something going against them.  It’s too bad all the good aspects couldn’t have been combined for an ultimate release of the film. 

 

The sound is almost the same deal in that each of the releases have something going for them, but overall the U.K. edition wins out with having both a 5.1 and 1.0 option.  The mono (2.0) soundtrack on the region 1 disc is not much better than the 1.0 mono on the Criterion disc and is way below the Dolby 5.1 mix on the U.K. release.  I am baffled why Anchor Bay would release the film in 5.1 overseas and not here in the U.S.  I could perhaps understand this if they loaded the DVD up with extras, but that is clearly NOT the case.  The U.K. contained extras and much more than this one in fact.  What I like about the 5.1 mix that does not come across in the 1.0 setting is that the 5.1 does not sound as harsh nor as compressed.  The 5.1 enables the music to breathe a bit and the dialogue is far more natural. 

 

Extras are decent taking the same audio commentary and delivering it here with director John Mackenzie giving interesting insights throughout.  It would appear through his inflections that he enjoyed making the film and that is also serves a special place in his heart even if there are certain aspects that he may have done differently knowing now what he wishes he would have known then.  This is probably his best work even to this date. 

 

Other extras include Bloody Business: The Making of The Long Good Friday, which does not appear on the U.K. edition and makes it’s debut here apparently.  Nice.  There is also a DVD-ROM screenplay you can access as well as bios, trailers, and a cockney dictionary for those that want to learn how to talk like a British gangster. 

 

It’s difficult to make a final decision on this particular release, especially since the U.K. disc is regions 1-6 and in the PAL format, which means if you can play PAL DVD’s you are in luck regardless of which region you are in.  Criterion fans will obviously want to track down that particular disc if they haven’t already, but like I mentioned before…all of these DVD’s have some good, some bad.  I’d say if you go with any of these versions you are not going to be entirely disappointed.

 

 

-   Nate Goss