The life story of one of Britain's most notorious bare-knuckle fighters, Lenny McLean, also known as the Guv'nor.
Before coming to America to make such acclaimed films as Tender Mercies and Driving Miss Daisy, Australian director Bruce Beresford made a lasting impression with this compelling courtroom drama, considered one the finest films of the Australian new wave of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Based on a true story about three soldiers in the Boer War who are served up as political scapegoats of the British Empire, the film uses a flashback structure to dramatise the courtroom testimony. It begins when the three Australian soldiers are railroaded for the justified killing of a German missionary and placed on trial for court-martial not as a matter of justice, but to mollify the German government for the sake of political expediency. Burdened with a competent but inexperienced and hopelessly disadvantaged lawyer, the soldiers realise that their fate has been sealed and the outcome of their trial is a fait accompli. Unfolding with urgent precision and a riveting focus on its well-drawn characters, Breaker Morant was the all-time box-office hit in Australia at the time of its release in 1980, and it remains one of the very best historical dramas ever made. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) is a best-selling author with hundreds of fans. But one of his stories holds a secret that comes to life; a secret that even he can't imagine.
This lushly produced fantasy has gained a loyal following since its release in 1985, and it gave a welcome boost to the careers of Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer. You have to ignore the overly aggressive music score by Andrew Powell, music director of the Alan Parsons Project (critic Pauline Kael aptly dubbed it "disco-medieval") and director Richard Donner's reckless allowance of anachronistic dialogue and uninspired storytelling, but there's a certain charm to the movie's combination of romance and heroism. Broderick plays a young thief who comes to the aid of tragic lovers Isabeau (Pfeiffer), who is cursed to become a hawk every day at sunrise and Navarre (Hauer) who turns into a wolf at sunset. The curse was cast by an evil sorcerer-bishop (John Wood), and as Broderick eludes the bishop's henchmen, Navarre struggles to conquer the villain, lift the curse and be reunited with his love in human form. The tragedy of this lovers' dilemma keeps the movie going, and Broderick is well cast as a young, medieval variation of Woody Allen. --Jeff Shannon
Sequel to 'Saturday Night Fever' where Tony Manero older but not much wiser pursues his search for stardom on the Broadway stage...
A 1991 comedy, Delirious stars John Candy as the head writer on a soap opera set in the fictional small town of Ashford Falls, whose naff power dressing and power wrangling is distinctly reminiscent of Dynasty. Candy has a crush on the somewhat imperious and Joan Collins-esque star of the show, played by Emma Samms, although waiting in the wings to be written into the show is the more wholesome and unaffected actress Mariel Hemingway. Delirious takes a turn when Candy is felled in an accident and awakes, supernaturally, to find himself in the very world of his own soap, with Ashford Falls a real town and its fictional characters, including Samms, now real people. Candy discovers, however, that in this world he has the power to "write" situations as they suit him--in this case, by casting himself as a dashing, wealthy and mysterious Wall Street hero, able to sweep Samms off her feet. The film is in some ways a precursor of Pleasantville (in which two teens are sucked into the world of a "Honey, I'm home" black and white 1950s sitcom). However, between them the star, writers and director (Tom Mankiewicz) make a ham fist of Delirious. The parody of soap mores is quite well done but quickly palls in its obviousness; Candy's performance is misjudged, as if trying too hard to make the best of a bad job; while overall, the film feels cheap, tacky and broad, once again raising the question why in the 1980s and 90s America produced such great sitcoms but such poor film comedies. On the DVD: Delirious is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It's a decent enough edition but looks its age in places, in terms of colour definition in particular. The only extra is the original trailer. --David Stubbs
Best of enemies. Deadliest of friends. They are fast friends and worse foes. One is Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) a law unto himself. The other is the law: Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) who once rode with Billy. Set to a bristling score by Bob Dylan (who also plays Billy's sidekick Alias) and with a `Who's Who' of iconic Western players Sam Peckinpah's saga of one of the West's great legends is now restored to its intended glory. For the first time since it left
This BAFTA-nominated film starring the great Dirk Bogarde in one of his career-best performances also includes excellent support from Sylvia Syms and Denis Price. The police are after Jack Barrett (Peter McEnery). He has stolen 2 300 from the building construction firm that employs him as a wages clerk. Despite being an ordinary young man of twenty-three years of age he is scared out of his wits by the crisis that is mounting - and they are circumstances beyond his control - Barret
Written by the late, great Jimmy Sangster (The Revenge of Frankenstein, Taste of Fear), this supernatural riff on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None is a gruesome, hugely entertaining chiller. Two American architects (real-life couple Katharine Ross and Sam Elliott, who met on the set of this film) are holidaying in England and find themselves trapped at a country mansion where the various guests become victims in a series of unexplained and increasingly violent deaths. Director Richard Marquand (Return of the Jedi, Jagged Edge), making his feature-film directing debut, deftly balances horror and grisly black humour. The film also boasts sumptuous photography by the great Dick Bush and Alan Hume, a wonderfully eccentric score by Michael J Lewis and a superb supporting cast which includes Charles Gray, Margaret Tyzack, Ian Hogg, John Standing and The Who's Roger Daltrey. Extras: Two presentations of the film: the US theatrical cut, presented in widescreen from a High Definition master (100 mins); the UK theatrical cut, presented open matte from a Standard Definition master (102 mins) Original stereo audio New and exclusive audio commentary with Kevin Lyons, editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television An Editing Legacy (2015, 14 mins): award-winning editor and second unit director Anne V Coates recalls her work on the film The Make-up Effects of ˜The Legacy' (2015, 11 mins): Robin Grantham discusses his specialist make-up creations for the film Ashes and Crashes (2019, 4 mins): interview with second unit director Joe Marks An Extended Legacy (2019, 11 mins): an analysis of the differences between the US and UK cuts Between the Anvil and the Hammer (1973, 27 mins): The Legacy director Richard Marquand's acclaimed documentary short film, made for the Central Office of Information, about the Liverpool police force Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
A hot and steamy thriller in more ways than one! To Lieutenant Remy McSwain life in New Orleans is all about the 'Big Easy' until a series of gang killings spiral out of control. When a beautiful investigator Ann Osborne arrives from the D.A.'s police corruption task force Remy realises he is caught between truth and lies honour and corruption. Soon he finds himself jailed for attempting bribes and life is far from 'The Big Easy'.
No relation to the 1992 Clint Eastwood film of almost the same name, 1959's The Unforgiven is based--like John Ford's The Searchers--on a novel by Alan LeMay. Again the story focuses on a frontier family divided by racism. But instead of the complex, endlessly resonant demonology of the Ford picture, here John Huston aims for a pat, civil-rights-era allegory of loving solidarity triumphing over societal prejudice--and, to be sure, some noble but dangerous Kiowas. Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn costar as, respectively, the eldest son of a ranching family and the beloved sister who's not his sister at all, but an Indian. However, the film's dark heart belongs to Joseph Wiseman as an avenging ghost who materialises out of the wind and Lillian Gish as the matriarch who will do whatever she must to protect her clan. --Richard T Jameson
The Hot Spot is best known to lecherous film buffs for Jennifer Connelly's topless scene, but this sultry southern noir deserves more than prurient interest. It's arguably Dennis Hopper's best directorial effort (OK, so that's not saying much), and Charles Williams' source novel Hell Hath No Fury finds Hopper in a comfortable B-movie milieu, riffing on Double Indemnity with an overripe tale of sex, greed and blackmail in an unnamed Texan town. Fresh from the final season of Miami Vice, Don Johnson stars as a shifty drifter, conning his way into a salesman job on a used-car lot, where the boss's insatiable wife (Virginia Madsen) offers him sexual favours and a lovely secretary's (Connelly) innocence is threatened by a percolating scandal. Nobody's really innocent, of course, and Hopper spices this languid web of secrets with enough trashy misbehaviour to qualify The Hot Spot as a bona fide guilty pleasure. --Jeff Shannon
Dolly Parton (9 to 5 Steel Magnolias) and James Woods (The Hard Way) star in this lighthearted romantic comedy about a country girl who accidentally becomes Chicago's hottest talk radio celebrity. With her homespun wit and down-home advice Shirlee Kenyon wins listeners' hearts... and the heart of investigative reporter Jack Russell. But when Jack discovers the hidden secret to her success it jeopardises both her newfound celebrity status and their future together. Filled with roman
Made in 1983, the US TV mini-series Kennedy has Martin Sheen playing a president well before his stint on The West Wing. All of the momentous events of JFK's remarkable term are covered (with actual news footage used to excellent effect), but it is the portrayal of the entire Kennedy family as real, flawed people that gives Kennedy its power. The Kennedys gossip, snipe, joke and bother each other like a real family rather than rigid historical figures or threadbare caricatures. Sheen plays JFK as a man with lofty ideals who is more than willing to dirty his hands to serve his greater purpose. Blair Brown plays Jacqueline Kennedy with a shrewd understanding of politics, but also a whiff of vanity. In addition to the strong performances by both leads, Vincent Gardenia gives a brilliant performance as J Edgar Hoover: stiff, quirky and strange, prurient and moralistic at the same time and boiling with hatred. --Ali Davis
No one is a better soldier than Pvt. Raymond Endore (John Saxon) at least in his own mind. Stationed in Korea as the conflict between the United States and the divided peninsula is coming to an end Endore sleeps while his platoon works to gear up for his nightly patrols of the area. These patrols used to bring vital information but now they have become a nightly ritual for Endore to slash the throats of suspected enemies tolerated by a Captain (Charles Aidman) who fears Endore's unstable nature. A Korean war orphan (Tommy Matsuda) befriends Endore as well as an idealistic soldier (Robert Redford) and these two soldiers must decide the fate of the child as the ceasefire is announced.... Madness in men during their tour of duty a subject also at the heart of Hell Is For Heroes and Attack! is the focus of this brutal 1961 war drama. Redford in his film debut offers a strong counterpart to the criminally underrated John Saxon (who would go on to a career of character work) who gives a stunning performance as a killer who only seems at peace after taking the life of another victim.
Alistair Sim's Scrooge is an all-time favourite Christmas family film and a genuine classic of British cinema. Scrooge is also the definitive big screen adaptation of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' one of the world's best loved Christmas stories
Haunted by horrifying childhood memories the son (Vincent Price) of the Spanish Inquisition's most notorious assassin teeters on the brink of insanity. But when his adulterous wife fakes her own death to drive him over the edge she soon discovers that betrayal cuts both ways.
A man (Al Pacino) stages a bank robbery so that his homosexual lover can pay for a sex-change operation. He bungles the robbery and is caught up in a stand-off with police, bargaining with the lives of his hostages. The event soon gets television coverage and the hostages begin to get friendly with their kidnappers, while their attempts to bargain are bungled all the way. Directed by Sidney Lumet.Based on: A true story/The book by Patrick Mann Technical Specs: Languages(s): EnglishInteractive Menu
Wagner's passionate opera about a medieval minstrel torn between the temptations of sacred and profane love is seen here. A distinguished cast is headed by Richard Cassilly who was perhaps the leading exponent of Tannhauser at this time; Eva Marton is the radiant Elisabeth; Tatiana Troyanos a musically and dramatically stunning Venus.
All episodes from the first 13 seasons of the JAG spin-off series NCIS, centering on the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a crack team of government agents who operate outside the military chain of command. These special agents traverse the globe, investigating crimes linked to the Navy or Marine Corps from murder and espionage, to terrorism and stolen submarines. More than just an action-packed drama, NCIS shows the sometimes complex, always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together under high-stress situations.
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