"Actor: Charles McGraw"

• The Bridges At Toko-Ri | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £9.89   |  Saving you £6.10 (61.68%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A powerful study of courage in the face of irrational odds, The Bridges at Toko-Ri (based on James Michener's novel) is no less patriotic than many other war films, but it dispenses with the gung-ho bluster to focus on the very real and tragic consequences of war. This is also one of the first films to openly criticise the morality of the Korean War while praising the honour and integrity of the men who fought it. Lt Harry Brubaker (William Holden) is one of those men: a lawyer with a loving wife (Grace Kelly) and two young daughters, who is recalled to duty from the Navy Reserve, his mission; to fly with a bomber jet squadron over one of the Communists' most heavily protected targets, the strategically vital bridges in the Korean canyon of Toko-Ri. Brubaker has his own noble protection from his fellow pilots (including Charles McGraw in a fine supporting role), admiring admiral (Frederic March), and from the helicopter scouts (Mickey Rooney, Earl Holliman) who saved his life on a previous missions. But his ambivalence--and his fear that the Toko-Ri mission will be his last--is what gives the film its potent emotional impact. Holden is perfect in his role, and director Mark Robson steadfastly avoids any false sentiment or macho theatrics that would diminish the film's devastating climax. The Bridges at Toko-Ri is also a superlative showcase for the naval operations; the aerial sequences earned an Oscar for special effects and the Navy's cooperation assures total authenticity in the "flat-top" aircraft carrier scenes. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Birds | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes". From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. The Birds follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, The Birds is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really gets under your skin are not the bird skirmishes but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. The director elevated an unknown model, Tippi Hedren (mother of Melanie Griffith), to being his latest cool, blond leading lady, an experience that was not always easy on the much-pecked Ms. Hedren. Still, she returned for the next Hitchcock picture, the underrated Marnie. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, The Birds has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. --Robert Horton

• The Defiant Ones | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This 1958 variation on Huck Finn's adventures with Jim finds a white convict (Tony Curtis) chained to a black convict (Sidney Poitier) as they both escape their captors. With each man literally stuck with the other, racial conflicts take a back seat to survival. Directed by Stanley Kramer (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), the film's obvious consciousness-raising is mitigated by a pair of raw performances from the stars, memorable appearances by Lon Chaney Jr. and Cara Williams, and Kramer's strong storytelling abilities. The Defiant Ones' award-winning script was cowritten by blacklisted writer-actor Nedrick Young. --Tom Keogh

• Blood on the Moon | DVD | (27/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Blood On The Moon

• Hang 'Em High | DVD | (12/06/2000) from £6.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  After starring in the now-legendary Dollars trilogy of spaghetti Westerns for Italian director Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood became a box-office star and imported the style of those classic shoot-em-ups for this 1967 Western directed by Ted Post, with whom Eastwood had worked during their days on the television series Rawhide. Eastwood plays an innocent rancher who is mistaken for a cattle rustler and sentenced to hang by an angry mob. When he is saved from the noose by a passing lawman, he embarks on a renegade campaign of vengeance against the men who attempted to lynch him. Hang 'Em High offers a number of memorable moments and stylistic flourishes, and features a superb supporting cast of Western veterans, including Ben Johnson, Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, LQ Jones, and the "Skipper" himself, Alan Hale Jr Made just three years before Dirty Harry, the film marked a turning point for Eastwood, who would soon move into a prolific period of contemporary thrillers. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Spartacus | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £10.23   |  Saving you £2.76 (21.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  For a limited time only, Universal Pictures are re-releasing five of their most beloved Cinema Classics in cinemas around the UK. The following films will be released: Spartacus, Blues Brothers, Scar Face, The Thing and Animal House.

• In Cold Blood (1967) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (04/04/2022) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Truman Capote's best seller, a breakthrough narrative account of real-life crime and punishment, became an equally chilling film in the hands of writer-director RICHARD BROOKS (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). Cast for their unsettling resemblances to the killers they play, ROBERT BLAKE (Lost Highway) and SCOTT WILSON (The Great Gatsby) give authentic, unshowy performances as Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who in 1959 murdered a family of four in Kansas during a botched robbery. Brooks brings a detached, documentary-like starkness to this uncompromising view of an American tragedy and its aftermath; at the same time, stylistically In Cold Blood is a filmmaking master class, with clinically precise editing, chiaroscuro black-and-white cinematography by the great CONRAD L. HALL (American Beauty), and a menacing jazz score by Quincy Jones. Special Features New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack New interview with cinematographer John Bailey on the film's cinematography New interview with film historian Bobbie O'Steen on the film's editing New interview with film critic and jazz historian Gary Giddins on the film's music by Quincy Jones New interview with writer Douglass Daniel on director Richard Brooks Interview with Brooks from 1988 from the French television series Cinéma cinemas Interview with actor Robert Blake from 1968 from the British television series Good Evening with Jonathan King With Love from Truman, a short 1966 documentary featuring novelist Truman Capote, directed by Albert and David Maysles Two archival NBC interviews with Capote: one following the author on a 1966 visit to Holcomb, Kansas, and the other conducted by Barbara Walters in 1967 Trailer PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara

• In Cold Blood | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Richard Brooks's In Cold Blood is a faithful 1967 screen adaptation of Truman Capote's extraordinary non-fiction book about the course of two killers in this world--their lives, their senseless slaughter of an entire family, and their executions. Robert Blake and Scott Wilson are remarkable as the murderers, but what has kept this film special over the decades is Brooks's blunt, clearheaded, and non-sensational approach to the story. (The term "semi-documentary" has been applied to Brooks's style on this film, and it's an entirely fair description.) The experience of watching In Cold Blood is naturally unsettling, but the director--as with Capote--leaves final judgments about justice to the beholder. --Tom Keogh

• Spartacus | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £6.24   |  Saving you £13.75 (220.35%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For a limited time only, Universal Pictures are re-releasing five of their most beloved Cinema Classics in cinemas around the UK. The following films will be released: Spartacus, Blues Brothers, Scar Face, The Thing and Animal House.

• The Night Stalker | Blu Ray | (02/10/2018) from £27.24   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Narrow Margin | DVD | (25/07/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Get on board for one of the very best hard-boiled thrillers ever to hurtle out of Hollywood. Charles McGraw (His Kind Of Woman) stars as Detective Walter Brown a cop with a simple mission - get mobster's wife Frankie Neale (Marie Windsor Force of Evil) on the train and take her to the grand jury in Los Angeles where she's going to testify against her late husband's colleagues. But the mob don't want her to spill the beans and they'll stop at nothing to stop her taking the stand; Brown realises they've planted assassins on the train with them and it's up to him to keep her safe. It's going to be one hell of a journey...

• A Boy And His Dog | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The award winning true story of a popular young girl in a small German town who entered a school essay during the 1970's writing on what her town did during World War II. What she finds to her surprise and dismay is that the Catholic clergy and businessmen who she was raised to respect and admire and who she fervently believed defied the Nazi's did just the opposite. And after deciding to write the book on the subject the more she digs the more she is thwarted and actually threatened physically by rock throwing and bombs... Winner of a 1990 BAFTA award for Best Film In A Foreign Language available for the first time on DVD!

• Armored Car Robbery | DVD | (11/07/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Dave Purvis (William Talman) is the smartest crook there is and he's got a red-hot scheme to secure his retirement: rob an armoured car full of money, then fly off to the sun. But Dave's not as lucky as he needs to be: a cop car swings past, guns are fired and a policeman dies. The dead man's friend Lt. Jim Cordell (Charles McGraw) vows pursuit: he's smart and tough and gets results. As the heat starts to rise, paranoia kicks in and the gang turns on each other. Can Dave escape before Cordell runs him to ground?

• Gladiator/Spartacus | DVD | (14/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Gladiator: The great Roman General Maximus (Russell Crowe) has once again led the legions to victory on the battlefield. The war won Maximus dreams of home wanting only to return to his wife and son; however the dying Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) has one more duty for the general - to assume the mantle of his power. Jealous of Maximus' favor with the emperor the heir to the throne Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) orders his execution - and that of his family. Barely escaping death Maximus is forced into slavery and trained as a gladiator in the arena where his fame grows. Now he has come to Rome intent on avenging the murder of his wife and son by killing the new emperor; Commodus.... Spartacus: Stanley Kubrick's film tells the tale of Spartacus the bold gladiator slave and Virinia the woman who believed in his cause. Challenged by the power-hungry General Crassus Spartacus is forced to face his convictions and the power of Imperial Rome at its glorious height. A classic inspirational true account of one man's struggle for freedom Spartacus combines history with spectacle to recreate a moving drama of love and commitment.