Goodnight, Bob Hoskins

Now here's some news that bummed me out, Bob Hoskins died of pneumonia at the age of 71. Mr Hoskins was best known for playing the human lead in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but I think his best role was as the lead in one of my all-time favorite films- The Long Good Friday. In the film, Mr Hoskins played the head of a British crime syndicate who becomes aware that the people in his organization are dropping like flies around him. As the snare in which he's caught steadily tightens, he engages in a desperate struggle to determine the nature of his enemy. In one memorable scene, he has his operatives round up a bunch of associates and bring them to an abattoir in order to interrogate them:





Ultimately, he learns that his foes are implacable- they are not the "reasonable businessmen" or corruptible law enforcement officers that he is used to dealing with, and therefore he is out of his element in his efforts to save himself.

Mr Hoskins totally owns the movie, no small feat playing opposite Helen Mirren. While most of his career was spent as a supporting player (you know, "that guy" in a spate of movies), in The Long Good Friday you can see him as a forceful lead, playing an almost entirely unsympthetic character that is nonetheless fascinating.

While I am not much of a filmgoer, I have long been a fan of Mr Hoskins. I'm gonna miss the guy so much, I'll even give him a pass for starring in Super Mario Brothers, the movie.