"Actor: Don Siegel"

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers | Blu Ray | (23/11/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Invasion Of The Body Snatchers | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In San Francisco everyone can hear Veronica (Alien) Cartwright scream. In the ultimate urban nightmare, to sleep is to die, to be replaced by a soulless alien duplicate. Less a remake of the 1956 classic of the same name, more a fresh vision of Jack Finney's source novel, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the archetypal story of humans supplanted by unemotional "vegetable pods". A masterstroke is the introduction of SF icon Leonard Nimoy as a very West Coast relationships guru determined to explain everything in terms of urban psychological alienation, and the story does prove more unsettling on the big city's forbidding streets. This is very much an ensemble movie, with outstanding performances from Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams, and what proved to be the first of several key genre roles for Jeff (The Fly, Jurassic Park, Independence Day) Goldblum. With minimal effects and very little gore, but filled with unnerving camera angles and a underpinned by a chillingly effective score, the film is relentlessly suspenseful, culminating in a sequence of terrifying set-pieces and a truly spine-tingling finale. More resonant with each passing year, the story was reworked in 1993 as Body Snatchers. On the DVD: While the print is more than acceptable there is a loss of detail and some shimmering artefacts in the very dark scenes. The disc is not anamorphically enhanced, which really should be a standard DVD feature. Still, the picture is considerably ahead of VHS and the stereo sound is highly unsettling. An eight-page booklet gives an intelligent overview of all three Body Snatchers movies, and director Phil Kaufman's commentary is packed with information. --Gary S. Dalkin

• The Point Men | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £5.35   |  Saving you £14.64 (273.64%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In any war there are covert groups whose moral flexibility makes them ideal for intelligence and assassination duties: they are The Point Men. Tony Eckhart (Christopher Lambert) heads up one such team protecting the Middle East peace process. In what seems to be a bungled operation, he's the only one who believes they've killed the wrong man. When the other members of his team start dropping dead, the matter becomes a personal vendetta. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the master of disguise Amar (Vincent Regan) is hoping for (aided by some fast-healing plastic surgery). Personal back stories become clear as the plot ranges all over the world from Luxembourg to Jerusalem, Zurich, Tel Aviv, New York and Monaco. There's lots of espionage intrigue and assassins' technology in this adaptation of the novel The Heat of Ramadan by Steven Hartov. Director John Glen, who helmed the James Bond films during the Roger Moore-to-Timothy Dalton era, knows how to choreograph action, and with Maryam d'Abo (from The Living Daylights) plus the fiery Kerry Fox as Maddy he also maintains a believable pair of love interests. A cross between Ronin and Face/Off, The Point Men inhabits familiar film territory, but as always Lambert is eminently watchable.On the DVD: A crisp 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer and 5.1 Surround makes this as clean a presentation of a modern film as possible. One trailer and page-long filmographies of Christopher Lambert and director John Glen also make it a cheap one. --Paul Tonks

• Play Misty for Me | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £9.60   |  Saving you £0.38 (5.75%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Clint Eastwood (making his very assured directorial debut) is a poetry-spouting stud-muffin DJ stalked by a maniacally amorous fan after a misguided one-night stand in this enjoyably schlocky, undeniably effective film about good intentions gone murderously wacky. Although many of the very 1970s trappings presented here may ultimately be too dated to be taken seriously (including a highly self-indulgent jazz number and a hilariously gooey seduction number between Eastwood and Donna Mills), the core premise of infatuation taken out of bounds remains uncomfortably plausible--and was influential enough to be appropriated by one of the biggest hits of the 1980s. (Here's a hint--it starred Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and a very unfortunate bunny rabbit.) A well-staged and occasionally very frightening thriller worth watching for Jessica Walter's peerlessly unhinged performance alone. Frequent Eastwood collaborator Don Siegel (director of Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff and The Beguiled, to name but a few) has a nice cameo as Murphy, the moustachioed, chess-playing bartender. --Andrew Wright, Amazon.com

• Play Misty For Me | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Clint Eastwood (making his very assured directorial debut) is a poetry-spouting stud-muffin DJ stalked by a maniacally amorous fan after a misguided one-night stand in this enjoyably schlocky, undeniably effective film about good intentions gone murderously wacky. Although many of the very 1970s trappings presented here may ultimately be too dated to be taken seriously (including a highly self-indulgent jazz number and a hilariously gooey seduction number between Eastwood and Donna Mills), the core premise of infatuation taken out of bounds remains uncomfortably plausible--and was influential enough to be appropriated by one of the biggest hits of the 1980s. (Here's a hint--it starred Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and a very unfortunate bunny rabbit.) A well-staged and occasionally very frightening thriller worth watching for Jessica Walter's peerlessly unhinged performance alone. Frequent Eastwood collaborator Don Siegel (director of Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff and The Beguiled, to name but a few) has a nice cameo as Murphy, the moustachioed, chess-playing bartender. --Andrew Wright, Amazon.com