Tonight on Amazon: One of the best English thrillers ever made!

Prophetic, brutal and tense to the point of breaking, “Racket” is one of the greatest British thrillers ever made, led by an extraordinary Bob Hoskins as a mob boss watching his empire slip through his fingers. Watch it on Prime Video.

Who lit the fuse to destroy Harold Shand's empire? An ambitious gangster belonging to the London underworld, in search of respectability, Harold tries to partner with Charlie, a crooked American businessman.

But as he rolls out the red carpet for her, with the assistance of his attractive companion Victoria, a dark series of assassinations and attacks weakens him, compromising the dock development project he is trying to set up. Who could dare to attack him to the point of trying to shatter his empire? The hunt for the culprit begins…

It is always good not to just follow the advice of algorithms on platforms. As long as you dig a little yourself, sometimes with patience, you can find real wonders in the catalogs. Absolute joy to find in Prime Video's catalog an extraordinary film, one of the greatest British thrillers ever made: Racket.

The British Godfather

Otherwise known as “Blood on the Thames” (which we prefer in any case to its original title, The Long Good Friday), directed by John McKenzie, Racketeering is at the top of the genre's films, alongside works of the caliber of The Middle Law, another gem of British crime fiction from the 70s.

In his desperate attempt to save his dismembering crime empire, Bob Hoskins finds here in the guise of Harold Shand one of the greatest roles of his career, supported by an imperial Helen Mirren in the guise of his companion Victoria. This film was also the very first to be shot by a certain Pierce Brosnan, who plays a taciturn killer whose exact nature we will not reveal so as not to spoil the surprise.

Shot in the East End of London in the late 1970s, then in the midst of urban transformation; based on a wonderful script written by a former journalist, Barrie Keeffe; armed with a tense, brutal and violent direction, Racket is often nicknamed “The British Godfather”.

While it may not have the breadth or length of Francis Ford Coppola's epic saga, it remains, like its American counterpart, an absolute reference of the genre. And finally, the film's fabulous and haunting musical themecomposed by Francis Monkman, which we haven't finished listening to on repeat. With barely 107 notes on its sheet, there is still a lot of work to be done to evangelize the crowds around this extraordinary thriller, still too little known by a good number of spectators.

Racket (The Long Good Friday), to watch or rewatch on Prime Video.