cooleyn

Ordered it, got it, watched it - thanks for pointing me to that site, cheaper even than buying from ebay, and with free postage.

Riveting stuff, but interesting to see how (relatively) poor the quality of lighting and sound was away back then, compared with today.

Another thing I noticed was that, for an hour long episode, there was only ONE advert break!

Don't know if anyone feels the same as me, but nowadays Channels 4 & 5 seem to show adverts in the American way - every ten minutes - with the worst being the first, which usually comes about 4 or 5 minutes after the programme has started.

Is this dumbing down, or just commercial exploitation (or both!)

ChristineCB

When we've received from American TV show boxsets, it's surprising to see run-times for 30-minute shows go 26 and 27 minutes each, for 50 or 60, maybe 100 episodes.

More modern 30-minute shows (SEINFELD) may not even cover 20 minutes! ("Not that there's anything wrong with that...")

Watching the STEPTOE shows, those too fill up every minute and I can only groan thinking of how modern showtimes would force many minutes to be excised. I guess they chop off the beginning of scenes most often, since end-of-scenes are often punchlines.

harryshand

A worthy bump for one of Britain's best ever films which was was my British favourite until Dead Man's Shoes came along.

Not sure if it's been answered but Harold's main mooring is now the site of Canary Wharf although St Katherines, King George V and London docks were also used in the film.

I've just had the misfortune to buy and watch ''Sewers Of Gold'' aka ''The Great Riviera Bank Robbery'' aka ''Dirty Money'' which was made by ITC in 1979. The decision to drop TLGF and pay for complete drivel like Sewers of Gold must rank as one of the biggest cinematic clangers of all time.

nickb

..but for me it doesn't wear well. There's a definite scent of the Sweeney. No bad thing you might say, except this was supposed to be a serious movie. But there are some clunking great cliches and I think a lot of dodgy editing. Yes it's a brilliant performance by Hoskins and I remember being impressed when I saw it. But the great pub-blowing-up scene looks tatty and implausible and compared to other Hoskins performances (Mona Lisa springs to mind) it's just the Lock Shmock and Two Smokers of its time. Punching above its weight.

stevie boy

interesting point of view, however, I do not agree

Keechelus

"Punching above its weight" a contributor said.

Nope. LONG GOOD FRIDAY was a solid champion of its time (28 years ago). Brit realism had too few high points since GET CARTER, before the explosion of neo-kitchen sinks celebrating Thatcher legacy in the 1990's.

LONG GOOD FRIDAY got it all right, not least the frightening end. Folks have mentioned the kidnapping, but without a word about Helen Mirren's silent scream as she is driven off to rape, torture and certain death. A fate Hoskins promised to protect her from earlier in the story.