Harold Shand is a London gangster, and the main protagonist of The Long Good Friday.
He was portrayed by the late Bob Hoskins who also portrayed Mr. Smee in Hook, Iago in the BBC 1981 television movie adaptation of Othello and Old Joe in the 2009 film adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Hoskins portrayed Mr. Smee again in Neverland (2011).
History[]
Harold headed a crime empire in London, which he ran peacefully along with his loyal underlings Jeff Hughes, Razors, Colin, Phil, and Jack, without any bloodshed for over 10 years.
In the past he had been married to a woman named Paula and they had a son, though they eventually divorced, and Harold started dating his girlfriend Victoria. This upsetted his mother, who viewed Paula as an Angel and Victoria as the devil in disguise.
In 1980, Harold began making plans of converting the London dockyards into a casino that would host the Olympics. To do this, he begins negotiations with Charlie, an Italian mafioso from America, with the help of corrupt council member and construction boss George Harris, to help fund and plan the development. However, shortly after returning from the United States, and on the day that Charlie joins him to announce his plans, Harold later finds out that Phil was killed in a car bombing after attending church with his mother, before later finding out his childhood friend Colin was stabbed to death while at a pool, which devastates Harold. Things become more complicated as Harold later finds out that a bomb was found in his casino, but failed to detonate, and Harold asks a police officer on his payroll, Parky, to have the bomb examinated, and also demands the name of Parky's informant. Harold finds out that Errol, a small-time criminal from Brixton is Parky's informant, and later confronts him wanting to find information regarding Phil and Colin's deaths, but Errol knows nothing, even after being slashed in the buttocks by Razors with a machete. The rest of Harold's men are unable to find any information either, and Harold is forced to pretend that nothing is wrong when he and Victoria take Charlie and Tony to Harold's favourite pub. But just as they reach to their destination, a bomb goes off inside the pub, destroying it, but luckily without any casualties. Harold find out that the people possibly involved were Irish, later finding out from Parky that the I.R.A. were responsible for the attacks, prompting Parky to tell Harold that he's out, but not before also revealing that some explosives were stolen from Harris' demolition yard, with the sole witness refusing to speak.
Harold later discovers that Victoria told Charlie about what has happened, after he threatened to end his deal and association with Harold. This angers Harold, who slaps Victoria, but immediately apologizes to her. Harold then has Jack look for the witness of the explosives theft, but Jack finds him nailed to the floor shortly before he dies. Prompting Victoria to tell Harold her suspicions about Jeff after she reveals that Harris told her that Jeff couldn't be trusted. Harold then calls Razors, who had earlier told him that just before Harold returned from the United States, he witnessed a widower spit in Jeff's face just after his meeting with Harris. Harold later meets with the widower and her children at her husband's grave, and is shocked to find out that he was a taxi driver who died over a job that Colin brought him in for in Belfast, supposedly on Harold's orders. Harold, completely unaware of what has happened, realizes that Jeff must have planned this, and later meets with him on Harold's boat, where Jeff tells him that he sent Colin to Belfast to deliver £5,000 to the I.R.A. since their men protect Harris' businesses. Harold is then shocked further when Jeff revealed that three of the I.R.A.'s men were killed on the day they were supposed to collect the money, prompting Harold to realize that Colin and Phil's deaths, as well as the bombing of his pub, was done as revenge as the I.R.A. mistakenly blames him for the deaths of their men. Harold then confronts Jeff over the death of the witness who saw Harris' depot being robbed, and also accuses Jeff of betraying him. He then vows revenge against the I.R.A, and when Jeff scoffs at this, Harold kills him in a fit of rage by stabbing him in the neck with a broken beer bottle. Harold soon regrets killing Jeff, and is calmed down by Victoria when he again vows revenge against the I.R.A in London.
Harold later forces Harris to set up a meeting with some I.R.A. members at a stock car racetrack, with the pretense that he’s paying them £60,000 for a truce, despite Harris' concerns and objections. However, this turns out to be an assassination plot, and both of the I.R.A. men, along with Harris, are shot and killed by Jack and another one of his men. Now believing his enemies were all dead, Harold meets with Charlie and Tony to inform them that everything is back in order, but he finds out they were instead planning to leave, as they now view England to be more of a mess than Cuba, and ending their business deal, This prompts Harold to angrily lambast Charlie and Tony for being weak and cowardly at the first sight of trouble, before claiming that he's going to seek a deal with criminal organizations from Germany instead.
Harold then goes into his car, only to find out it had been taken over by I.R.A. assassins. He then sees Victoria being captured in another car. As they speed off, Harold silently goes through a mixture of emotions as he is initally shocked, then saddened, then finally accepting to face his incoming fate.
It is most likely that Harold was killed by the assassins, although it is unknown what has happened to his criminal empire, his men, and especially Victoria.