The Music - The Long Good Friday (1982) Discussion

[–] termsandconditionsapply 17 years ago

Miles, Francis Monkman is held in high regard in the UK amongst musicians.
He was in Curved Air and worked with Brian Eno as well as scoring for Mackenzie's LGF - which in my opinion is pretty damn fine. The end piece is superb.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] starmarker 16 years ago

I have to admit the synthesizer sound is quite dated. But I really liked the music and thought it was very powerful and memorable.

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[–] [email protected] 16 years ago

I think it still works for LGF because the film is very much 'of the 80's'. The Docklands/Canary Wharf developement hadn't really started. I think it's a great piece of music anyway...

But I take your point about 80's synth music dating films (Ladyhawke, anyone??)

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[–] Writ_in_Water 16 years ago

I think the music is deliberately up-to-the-minute (for 1979, that is): it points up that times have changed and that this is the "new" London: a reality that Hoskins' character hasn't quite grasped.

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[–] tintinetmilou 16 years ago

But I like the music for Ladyhawke (another good film) but I accept that I'm the only person who does :)

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[–] OttoVonB 12 years ago

Gonna have to side with the original poster here. And it's funny he mentioned Scarface: I found Giorgio Moroder's music awful in that too, even back then... 80s music has aged strangely. But then that style is making its own comeback of sorts, anyone seen Drive?

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[–] jenniferles1000 15 years ago

Yeah i love that end piece of music as well.

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[–] DeathToPigs 16 years ago

It's recognisably of its' time (is that such a bad thing?) but I don't think it spolis the film at all.
The title tune is superb.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] jcp-12 16 years ago

I believe the music is perfect for this film, the first time we hear it is when we are introduced to Harold when he is walking through the airport, I think this is a very powerful scene, plus the music at the end of the film when Harold is caught by the IRA, just perfect!!!!

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[–] honorabili 16 years ago

It's one of the best parts of the film. Many people don't get early electronic music anymore or what it took to write music back then with the limited technology.

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[–] zurichpoet 15 years ago

The music is of that time. And it is perfect!

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[–] jc1305us 14 years ago

Great soundtrack! I own it as well. The music is of the period, but you can't seperate the film from the music, it wouldn't work as effectively.

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[–] General_Cromwell 15 years ago

I love the score and actually own the LP! I love the title music and that nice track where Harold's yacht docks after its trip down the Thames.

"Dream much, Will?"

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[–] fhn15 15 years ago

I actually liked the music. It doesn't date the movie any more than any of the songs in Scarface do that film. Seriously, nothing says "80's gangster movie" like synth and woodwinds.

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[–] mihajlo321 15 years ago

the music was awesome, especially in the last scene.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Osujin 13 years ago

I found the score to be distracting and just plain atrocious.

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[–] Felonious-Punk 13 years ago

Interesting reaction, Osujin. I happened to love the soundtrack, as I have other works by Monkman. But I read his words somewhere that he never did much other soundtrack work because filmmakers told him his music was too distracting. Personally, I would use other words, such as that his music raises the bar too high for most movies. I found myself only picking out a few little pieces of acting or direction that matched Monkman's offering, one of them being the scintillating Helen Mirren. Unfortunately, that's not enough for me, and this is a movie that I would pass on having in my collection and instead opt for just having the soundtrack in my music collection. Cheers!

The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443

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[–] onex-ge 13 years ago

The music was best at underscoring the cheesiness of the characters and their milieu. It went well with the decor in Harold's flat and the clothes his thugs wore.

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[–] flashingturtle 13 years ago

I love the sound track, it's big and loud just like Harolds personality.

Why quote other people when I like the sound of my own voice?

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[–] rabates 13 years ago

These bloody comments about things being dated. God forbid anything seem like it wasn't created in the last 5 hours - as though today was the last word in timeless quality. It is a brilliant score, of it's time and far more interesting and progressive than half the tuneless muck accompanying today's movies.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] stephan-128 13 years ago

i'm 41 and remember when this movie came out. just getting that out of the way. i finally had a chance to see it tonight with a fellow film buff. we both found the music loud and distracting and we actually turned the movie off and watched something else, and the music was the reason. partly it was because in the half hour we saw it seemed like there was 15 minutes of music and no dialogue. the movie seemed to settle down on the boat, but once the two murders took place it ramped up again and my friend and i looked at eachother like "we are not sitting here for another 90 minutes of this. i may give the movie another chance at some point, i want to, but its going to be in spite of the music if i do.

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[–] annemarieko 13 years ago

I hadn't seen "The Long Good Friday" for years but heard the music while my husband was watching television the other night and knew immediately what it was. That's memorable music. I don't like electronic music but thought the score was perfect for this movie - it gives it a hightened sense of suspense. And though I loved Scorcese before "Gangs of NY", I thought the music in his films became intensely loud from Goodfellas on, making it hard for me to hear the dialog. Or maybe I'm just getting hard of hearing. I love this movie. I was struck by the great acting of Hoskins and Mirren, neither of whom I'd ever seen before, and that tiny glimpse of physical perfection that was Pierce Brosnan.

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[–] enfieldboy 13 years ago

The music was perfect for this film, so what if its dated, it captures the time and the mood of the film perfectly, a cracking score in a fantastic film. British cinema at it's finest and one of my all time faves.

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[–] dasterly2007 13 years ago

I loved the music so much,I went out and bought the soundtrack.

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[–] stephan-128 13 years ago

hello, i commented on the music about 6 months ago. i saw the movie last night, and hear is my revised opinion:

i saw the last 3/4s of it, ie. almost from the point i had given up before.
its quite an excellent movie, and bob hoskins' performance is mesmerising.
the music, which i'd found so problematic before, was now merely a) sometimes distracting, or b) sometimes an enhancement.
What i had seen before was a way music dependent mess, as far as i could tell.
I could only take so many shots of cars parking accompanied by blaring dated music. I have not changed my mind regarding all that. But it turns out the movie as a whole is pretty damned good, and Bob Hoskins portrayal is totally mindblowingly great.

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[–] LeonardPine 12 years ago

What a pair of plumbs. The wordless opening sets up the whole film and connects to what we learn later on about the films plot. You don't deserve to see The Long Good Friday.

"Charlie don't surf!"

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[–] cian_jm 12 years ago

I completely agree. A poster above me has bemoaned us youngsters who can't take anything that hasn't been made in the last 5 hours but that's completely missing the point. There is plenty of music much older than this that hasn't aged as badly (hey, people still love Mozart). No, today is not the last word in timeless quality, but what relevance does that have to the conversation? Maybe we'll look back on the Social Network soundtrack and think "that sounds weird, how did that win an Oscar" but so what? A movie's entertainment value changes over time and the music in this movie has changed for the worse.

I watched this for the first time for a film studies class and overheard other students coming out of the lecture hall complaining about the music too. It was much less noticeable as the film went on but in the dialogue-less opening scenes it struck me as being very annoying due to it's repeating of the same melody over and over and the strange sounding synthesizer used.

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[–] eldontyrrell 12 years ago

I did agree with the posters who bemoan those who would refer to anything older than "five hours" as dated -- and I did it with a smile.

That said, it does seem as if the music in this film is quite a subjective matter, and I do believe I can dig where those who *didn't* like it are coming from (too loud, out of place, etc.).

*That* said, count me among the ones who liked it quite a bit, and so I ax the following question: of the several DVD versions available from Amazon in the US, do any of them include the original soundtrack as a bonus feature? I tried to look through all the different versions, but could recall seeing the trailer as the only "bonus" on any of them. If anyone knows, do tell!

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[–] cian_jm 12 years ago

Maybe I sounded a little aggressive in my first post. What I meant was that you can like the music or dislike it and neither opinion is "right", but it's unfair to complain about 'kids these days' not liking the music just because they're too young to understand when there's plenty of movies from the same era or older that still sound great.

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[–] eldontyrrell 12 years ago

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

As I was thinking about the music this morning, after having watched the film last night, something came to mind and so I watched the first five or ten minutes again, to see if today's thoughts had some merit. I think they do, so lemme explain.

I'm going to paraphrase here and there, but someone (or several folks) wrote that they didn't like the music "blasting" while they were watching "cars parking" and maybe some "unexplained" murders, break-ins, and whatnot. Fair enough; early on, Monkman's score might seem a bit out of place during long shots of the country house, might obscure any conversation between the receivers of the suitcase, might obscure conversation between Colin and the one or two guys in his presence at the pub, etc.

(Now -- while I'm a Yank -- even while *specifically* looking out for any, on the second viewing I couldn't pick up any clues that Colin was in Northern Ireland at the beginning. Admittedly, I would not have been able to recognize by looking at license plates, but beyond that, we barely hear any voices, can detect no accents, see any street signs, etc. Sure, if we happen to notice, we can discover the name of the bar, but I'm not convinced that's a total giveaway.)

Here's my point: I think this is *precisely* the reason for the music, for this part of the film. The music "helps" us to possibly take all these events as somewhat random. And yet, these "random" events are, in fact, the basis for everything that happens subsequently.

So, once Harold gets off the plane, even though we've seen that "some things" happened just beforehand, nevertheless we barely know more than he does. And it cannot be by accident, as he walks down the hallway, that the score picks right up just as it first began, because for *Harold*, the movie is just beginning.

Short version: stylistically, if some believe the music is "dated", I can see where they're coming from. However, musically-speaking, it is certainly neither "amateurish" nor "bad", and from the frame of reference that is the movie itself, it fits in perfectly. Just my $0.02, but I think it works.

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[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

This whining about the use of electronic music in 1980´s flicks is getting kinda tedious. A few less fortunate instances aside, it was used to a decent enough effect in this particular number.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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[–] RSBonos 12 years ago

After just seeing it for the first time, I thought the music was excellent and stood out as a positive. I don't know if this is considered from the same genre, but watching movies like 'The Sorcerer' and 'The Keep' with Tangerine Dream soundtracks makes those films very unique. A lot of this negative reaction is just a reflection of not liking something we are not familiar with.

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[–] even0110 11 years ago

I'll just say, as someone who finished the movie a few minutes ago, I came here specifically to see if anyone else thought the music was as loud and distracting as I thought it was. Didn't ruin a very good movie though.

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[–] RevengeOfToonces3 11 years ago

Oh man, I love the score to this flick. Bob Hoskins is the first thing I think about; the music is the second thing.

There's just something about "80s sounding" music and gangster flicks that makes sense to me. The music screams shallow decadence.

"He makes me laugh, he'a always humping and pointing at Reese Witherspoon." - rebschucks

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[–] General_Cromwell 11 years ago

I think the music has a haunting quality to it. And also a sound of despair and finality about it.

"Dream much, Will?"

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