The Long Good Friday (1980)

Critics loved this finely detailed gangster film, in which a then little-known British actor and director made their mark in international cinema. Director John MacKenzie had labored without much acclaim in film and television before his deft handling of this wry screenplay by Barrie Keefe. Bob Hoskins was a veteran, versatile actor in stage and screen roles who become better known in the United States for his 1988 lead role opposite a cartoon character in the partially animated spoof Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. In The Long Good Friday, he played a dockyard crime boss whose empire crumbles in a series of mysterious bombings over Easter weekend. Richly plotted and thick with suspense, the film made Hoskins an international star and was one of the finest of many contemporary updates of the classic crime film genre. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide