Alternative Character Interpretation: Harold Shand can be considered a generally positive character who is loyal to his friends and is eager to build a new future for Britain. It is just that his subordinates mugged the monster who then thwarted his projects and destroyed his empire.
Two of Harold's henchman later graduated to being the main villains in Guy Ritchie gangster films - P.H Moriarty (Razors) played Hatchet Harry and Alan Ford (Jack) played Brick Top.
The violence by the IRA came to be ended through a peace accord named the Good Friday Agreement (allowing Harold to have returned to London to settle his affairs in the proposed sequel).
One of Pierce Brosnan's first film roles as the IRA hitman, pretty much as a walk-on. Back when it was made, Brosnan was an absolute nobody. By the time the DVD came out (twenty years later), he had his own segment on the special features, talking about how he got the part.
Paul Freeman appears in one of his earliest film roles as Harold's friend and associate Colin. A year later, he appeared as Indiana Jones' main rival Rene Beloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and went on to be a prolific character actor.
To some degree Bob Hoskins himself, who was a relative unknown prior to this film, other than a supporting performance in Zulu Dawn as well as a major role in the TV serial Pennies from Heaven.
