"Actor: John Bryson"

• The Getaway | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  It's better than the 1994 remake starring Kim Basinger and husband Alec Baldwin, but this 1972 thriller relies too heavily on the low-key star power of Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, and the stylish violence of director Sam Peckinpah, reduced here to a mechanical echo of his former glory. McQueen plays a bank robber whose wife (MacGraw) makes a deal with a Texas politician to have her husband released from prison in return for a percentage from their next big heist. But when the plan goes sour, the couple must flee to Mexico as fast as they can, with a variety of gun-wielding thugs on their trail. MacGraw was duly skewered at the time for her dubious acting ability, but the film still has a raw, unglamorous quality that lends a timeless spin to the familiar crooks-on-the-lam scenario. As always, Peckinpah rises to the occasion with some audacious scenes of action and suspense, including a memorable chase on a train that still grabs the viewer's attention. Getaway is not a great film, but a must for McQueen and Peckinpah fans. --Jeff Shannon

• The Osterman Weekend | DVD | (30/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Once a year Tanner invites a small group of friends with whom he studied at Berkley to a social gathering known as the Osterman Weekend named after Bernard Osterman (Craig T. Nelson) at whose home the first such meeting took place. Shortly before the latest Osterman Weekend is due to happen the CIA convinces Tanner that one of his friends is a KGB operative involved in a conspiracy that threatens national security. He agrees to have his home wired with video and audio surveillance equipment in the hopes of uncovering the traitor. On arrival at Tanner's house the friends soon realise what's going on and the amiable tone of the weekend rapidly degenerates into a tense psychological battle of wits leading to an orgy of violence.