Edward Norton captivated critics and audiences alike with his film debut as an altar boy accused of murdering a Catholic archbishop. Richard Gere is the arrogant, spotlight-seeking defense attorney set on proving his client's innocence, alongside a stellar supporting cast that includes Laura Linney, Alfre Woodard, Andre Braugher, Frances McDormand, Maura Tierney, Steven Bauer, Terry O'Quinn and John Mahoney.DISC 2: BLU-RAYTM SPECIAL FEATURESNEW Filmmaker Focus With Executive Producer Hawk KochCommentary by Director Gregory Hoblit, Writer Ann Biderman, Producer Gary Lucchesi, Executive Producer Hawk Koch, and Casting Director Deborah AquilaPrimal Fear: The Final VerdictPrimal Fear: Star WitnessPsychology of GuiltOriginal Theatrical Trailer
Clever twists and a bona fide surprise ending make Primal Fear an above-average courtroom thriller. Tapping into the post-O J scrutiny of the American legal system in the case of a hotshot Chicago defence attorney (Richard Gere) whose latest client is an altar boy (Edward Norton) accused of murdering a Catholic archbishop. The film uses its own manipulation to tell a story about manipulation and when we finally discover who's been pulling the strings, the payoff is both convincing and pertinent to the ongoing debate over what constitutes truth in the American system of justice. Making an impressive screen debut that has since led to a stellar career, Norton gives a performance that rides on a razor's edge of schizophrenic pathology--his role is an actor's showcase and without crossing over the line of credibility, Norton milks it for all it's worth. Gere is equally effective in a role that capitalises on his shifty screen persona and Laura Linney and Frances McDormand give memorable performances in their intelligently written supporting roles. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
An Officer And A Gentleman (Dir. Taylor Hackford 1981): Zack Mayo is a young loner with a bad attitude. Tempted by the glamour and admiration of the life of a Navy pilot he decides to sign up for Officer Candidate School. After thirteen tortuous weeks under Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Gossett Jnr.) he slowly begins to learn the importance of discipline love and friendship. Foley warns Zack about the local girls who will do anything to catch themselves a pilot for a husband
Neil Diamond's self-revealing style has established him as one of the most popular singer/songwriters in pop music. His legendary status as a live performer is fully confirmed with the 18 songs on this collection. Recorded at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles Greatest Hits Live captures Neil and his band at their peak performing the best of Neil's hit-filled catalog. Tracklist: 1. America 2. September Morn 3. I'm Alive 4. Cherry Cherry 5. Sweet Caroline 6. I Am...I Said 7
Cruise back to Baltimore 1963 to the time and turf of a rare American breed: The 'Tin Man' (aluminium siding salesman). Two less-than-honest rivals in the tin game (Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito) meet in a fender bender but their bruised egos and quick tempers turn the minor accident into a major vendetta against each other's symbols of success - their prized Cadillacs. In what would seem to be a coup de grace Dreyfuss decides to seduce DeVito's neglected wife (Barbara Hershe
Setting a Carry On film in a marriage bureau has a certain self-serving obviousness, so it's hardly surprising that Carry On Loving milks the idea for all it's worth. The Wedded Bliss Agency is of course a pretty dubious outfit, being run by Sid (James) and Sophie Bliss (Hattie Jacques), who together are the worst possible example for both marriage and their own profession: they constantly snipe at each other, they aren't actually married and their sophisticated computer matching system is in fact a complete fake. The remainder of the team are mostly cast as hapless clients, with predictable but often very funny situations arising from the various mismatches engineered by the agency, such as the inevitable misunderstanding over one client's interest in modelling. Yes, the humour is about as subtle as a flatulent elephant, but you can't help entering into the spirit of the thing. If there's an outstanding performance it has to be that of Imogen Hassall, who handles her transformation from round-shouldered frump to well-bred love goddess with considerable expertise and a genuine sense of fun. --Roger Thomas
In 1940 3rd Division, then commanded by a little known major, General Bernard Montgomery, were unceremoniously evacuated from Dunkirk but four long years later they were to return to France in the van of the D Day assault force; the greatest invasion of all time. Their task was to break through Hitler's Atlantic Wall on a stretch of Normandy beach codenamed SWORD. With the assistance of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force they would blast their way through the concrete and steel defences that lined the beach. Once ashore their problems were only just beginning!
The story of two men destined to face each other on the battlefields of Normandy is told in this programme. Michael Wittmann was a knight of the Nazi empire a natural and accomplished soldier and highly decorated. Like Wittmann Trooper Joe Ekins a shoemaker from Northamptonshire was a volunteer for military service but there the similarities ended. Joe was a reluctant soldier in a county yeomanry armoured regiment while Wittmann served in the Waffen SS s elite Tiger Battalion. Panzer ace Wittmann had 138 tank kills to his name including an impressive score against 7th Armoured Division at Villers Bocage early in the Normandy Campaign but by August 1944 the Allied breakout was gaining momentum and I SS Panzer Corps were struggling to contain the British and Canadians as they fought towards Falaise. In the fields south of Caen Wittmann s Tiger and Joe Ekins s Sherman Firefly were pitted against each other but how was the Panzer Ace finally knocked out? Joe Ekins Veteran of the Battle of Normandy and the North West European Campaign Joe Ekins fought with the Northamptonshire Yeomanry and during Operation Totalise the British and Canadian breakout from the Normandy Beachhead he was a gunner in a Sherman Firefly. This was the only Allied tank that could knock out the much feared mighty German Tiger tank at anything other than the closest of ranges. During the desperate battle he knocked out three Tigers and a Panzer Mark IV. At the end of the war preferring the anonymity of being a shoemaker in civi-street Joe attempted to keep a low profile but over the years his achievement of knocking out the vaunted German SS panzer ace Michael Wittmann denied him obscurity. Stung by some wilful misrepresentation of facts and his views Joe has for the first time told his story for this DVD in full and in detail.
Possibly the most famous of Hitler s SS panzer divisions was the Leibstandarte; it bore his name and shared his fanaticism. The Leibstandarte had proved itself to be highly effective in battle and had fought in virtually all of Germany s campaigns since 1939 justifiably earning the label elite . However constantly called back to the front to stem the advance of the Red Army on the Eastern Front the division was much reduced in power through loss of manpower and a paucity of equipment. In the spring of 1944 the Leibstandarte was again refitting in Belgium a process that was still under way when the Allies stormed ashore in Normandy. The effectiveness of Allied deception measures however kept them fixed awaiting the landing of Patton s phantom army in the Pas de Calais area. Consequently it wasn t until the second half of June 44 that the Division began its nightmare march to Normandy harried all the way by fighter bombers. Arriving at the front elements of the division were thrown into the battle piecemeal to prop up the crumbling German Army as Montgomery launched blow after blow on them. The Leibstandarte s first battle was to choke off Operation Epsom fighting the Scots and the West Countrymen of the Wessex Division in the dense hedgerow country of the Odon Valley. But perhaps their greatest achievement was halting the Great British armoured advance Operation Goodwood; a battle that has been characterised as The death ride of the British armoured divisions . As the Allied breakout gained momentum on the US flank Hitler ordered the Mortain Counter Attack against the advice of his Generals and the Leibstandarte marched west to cut the vulnerable American advance. Under cover of mist the battle started well for the Germans and desperate fighting with isolated GIs resulted but as the weather cleared the fighter bombers lashed the panzers who were forced back. The exhausted German Army fought its way back towards Falaise and seeming destruction by the encircling Allies. Forcing their way through the Corridor of Death a much higher proportion of the Leibstandarte escaped and the Division lived to fight another day. Production notes: The elite Leibstandarte is the subject of considerable fascination and study. This film written and presented by established historians and battlefield tour guides will strip away layers of myth and take the viewers to the places where the SS fought the British Americans and Canadians in one of the most costly battles of the Second World War.
Montgomery’s brainchild, Operation Market Garden, was designed to end the war by Christmas 1944 and clear away Hitler’s V weapons from the North Sea Coast. Following the collapse of the German Army in Normandy and its flight back across northern France, it seemed that a bold move to seize the three major and numerous other waterways across Holland would place the Second British Army beyond the Rhine. This would deliver Germany’s powerhouse the Ruhr, put the Allies on the North German Plain and the road to Berlin. The Allies had, however, outran their supplies and the Germans were staging an amazing strategic recovery. The BHTV team, made up of leading historians and battlefield guides, probe the controversial background to Operation Market Garden. Early afternoon on 17 September 1944 the 101st US Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles), who parachuted onto Drop Zones dictated by the air planners wish to avoid ‘unnecessary casualties from flak’ around Eindhoven, had been denied a coup de main against the first significant canal bridge at Son. With plenty of warning of the approach of the US paratroopers, the Germans blew the bridge arguably dealing Market Garden a potentially mortal blow. Meanwhile, XXX Corps were having trouble of their own after a start at 1430 hours. A mixture of SS and Fallschirmjger troops despite a bombardment halted the breakout of the Guards Armoured Division in its tracks! However, by nightfall the Irish Guards were through the German defences and had reached Valkensward 10 miles along the 60 mile route to Arnhem. The delay in reaching and bridging the canal at Son was significant but German resistance was hardening as troops were rushed to attack the airborne carpet and single route the British intended to use across Holland. With the bridging operation complete the Grenadier Guards Group covered the next 30 miles to Nijmegen in little over three hour. Market Garden looked as if it were back on schedule despite the setbacks and Arnhem was only ten miles further on. It was one thing to reach Nijmegen in forty hours but for the American Paratroopers holding the route open proved to be a different matter! The road north across Holland quickly earned the well deserved nick name ‘Hell’s Highway’. The paratroopers had to constantly fend of the growing number of enemy troops who were mounting increasingly strong attacks from east and west. Lacking numbers on the ground and transport it was an unequal battle to keep the road open. The Germans only had to get within firing range of the road elevated across the surrounding flat terrain to effectively close the vital highway and starve the troops fighting to reach Arnhem of all kinds of combat supplies. The team will examine successes and failures on Hell’s Highway to find out whether the reasons for failure can be found on here or was it soldiers of two nations fighting alongside each other to execute a fatally flawed plan?
Documentary which looks at the attempts by allied forces in WWII to gain control over a bridge in Nijmegen. With the help of archive footage as well as newly filmed re-enactments, the film gives a detailed account of the battle, drawing on information from historians and an eyewitness account from Lord Peter Carrington who crossed the Nijmegen bridge with British tanks.
Setting a Carry On film in a marriage bureau has a certain self-serving obviousness, so it's hardly surprising that Carry On Loving milks the idea for all it's worth. The Wedded Bliss Agency is of course a pretty dubious outfit, being run by Sid (James) and Sophie Bliss (Hattie Jacques), who together are the worst possible argument both for marriage and for their own profession: they constantly snipe at each other, they aren't actually married and their sophisticated computer matching system is in fact a complete fake. The remainder of the team are mostly cast as hapless clients, with predictable but often very funny situations arising from the various mismatches engineered by the agency, such as the inevitable misunderstanding over one client's interest in modelling. Yes, the humour is about as subtle as a flatulent elephant, but you can't help entering into the spirit of the thing. If there's an outstanding performance it has to be that of Imogen Hassall, who handles her transformation from round-shouldered frump to well-bred love goddess with considerable expertise and a genuine sense of fun. On the DVD: The picture ratio is 4:3, and as is usual for this series the disc has no added features, which always seems like a terribly missed opportunity.--Roger Thomas
A family move to Beverly Hills following a win on the lottery. 300 million dollars finds their old lifestyle at odds with their new neighbours and events are set for a clash of cultures!
Never before have so many resources been available to the family historian tracing Great War ancestors both online and locally but the past dearth of easily accessible material has now been replaced by a blizzard of information that needs its own skills to navigate. Expert genealogist Simon Fowler shows Richard Hone the ropes with some surprising results. Armed with details of Richards great uncle William Pye's service between 1914 and 1918 the film sets out with battlefield historian Tim Saunders to Find Uncle Bill and trace his war on the Western Front to his death just weeks before the Armistice. Their journey takes them from his first battle at Loos via the Somme and Passchendaele to his last battle and lost grave in the Ypres Salient.
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