"Actor: Robert Blake"

• Over the Top | Blu Ray | (30/06/2025) from £32.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Mighty Joe Young | DVD | (22/01/2001) from £5.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (200.33%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Charlize Theron is the latest stunning blonde to be hanging around some big ape in a Hollywood movie, this one a remake of the 1949 semi-classic with echoes of the superior King Kong. Theron plays the daughter of an American researcher killed by poachers in Africa. The baby gorilla left in her care grows up to become a hugely tall and broad specimen named Joe, living in the mountains as a mostly unseen legend among people who live there. Along comes an eco-minded emissary (Bill Paxton) from a California sanctuary, who talks the jungle girl into providing safe haven for Joe at the LA facility. The transition is not without discomfort but everything is aggravated via a conspiracy of poachers to get Joe into their own greedy hands. Director Ron Underwood (City Slickers) uses a combination of special-effects techniques to give Joe life and personality, and he succeeds quite effectively. The requisite giant-ape-goes-amok scenes are all in place-a couple of them pretty intense--as is a conclusion that finds the simian hero performing a stunning feat of escalation. Underwood attempts to give a little modern spin to some classic Hollywood conventions regarding wild hearts lost in civilization and the results are pretty agreeable family fare. --Tom Keogh

• Stepmom | DVD | (31/01/2011) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Although Stepmom was dismissed as a contender in the 1998 Oscar race, it's worth giving a second chance to this rather cogent, sharp-tongued look at second chances. Susan Sarandon's performance as a mum about to be replaced by her ex-husband's new girlfriend (played by Julia Roberts) has a lot of bite, and it's a shame the script opted to trivialise her plight in its final reel. Initially, the rancour that passes between divorced mum Jackie (Sarandon) and trendy fashion photographer Isabel (Roberts) rings true, aided by the sincerity of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) and the emotional plight of their children, who have the most to lose in their parents' divorce. As the drama makes clear, the children are the real victims in the agony that ensues between old and new love. Director Chris Columbus, who is adept at showing familial chaos (he directed Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone) with a sanitised minimum of lingering emotional damage, actually manages to dig a trifle deeper than usual in exploring the jealousy and hurt that occur when the baton is passed between a birth mum and the younger wife who steps into her shoes. Stepmom fortunately manages to touch on that chord--showing how an ambitious woman might feel hampered by the responsibility of children just because she's fallen in love with their dad--as well as the haunting grief that it causes their birth mum. It's an issue that haunts millions of second wives everywhere, and while Roberts conveys the confusion of being taken for granted in the melee that follows, it's Sarandon who walks off with the film. She's relentless in her fury, and everyone else in the film--the generally excellent Harris included--is sideswiped. It's just a shame that Hollywood once again wimps out in the end, solving the problem by giving Sarandon a terminal illness. Instead of allowing Jackie and Isabel's relationship to unfold on something less than a high note, the movie has to quell its best thing with a false payoff because it doesn't know what to do with real life. --Paula Nechak, Amazon.com

• Money Train | DVD | (08/11/2004) from £5.94   |  Saving you £0.05 (0.84%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This attempt to reunite the stars of White Men Can't Jump will most likely be remembered as the movie that allegedly inspired a number of copycat arsons in the New York subway system. In other words, the movie itself is too perfunctory to be remembered for any other reason. Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes share their established chemistry as a pair of stepbrothers who work the subway detail as undercover detectives in the NYPD. Woody's a compulsive gambler with a huge debt problem to contend with, and he's also competing with his brother for the attentions of their new and beautiful partner (Jennifer Lopez), who's been assigned to join their investigation of the subway crimes. They're also supposed to guard the daily money train (so named because it contains each day's worth of subway fares), but Woody gets the bright idea that it might be the solution to his money woes. What follows is standard-issue action fare for the mid-1990s--lots of violence, excessive profanity, and attempts at witty banter between the co-stars to make it all seem more entertaining than it really is. You'd need to be a serious Harrelson, Snipes, or Lopez fan to add this movie to your collection. For anyone else, one viewing ought to be enough. --Jeff Shannon

• Hustle - Season 1 | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £4.98   |  Saving you £26.01 (522.29%)   |  RRP £30.99

  The con is on! Hustle follows the fortunes of a gang of five expert con artists let loose on the streets of London. They are specialists in the way of the grifter and all are keen to liberate cash from the amoral and undeserving. From faking film sets and expensive paintings to double-crossing the duplicitous head of a bank's security system the con is on! Episodes comprise: 1. The Con Is On 2. Faking It 3. Picture Perfect 4. Cops And Robbers 5. A Touch Of Class 6. Th

• Erin Brockovich / Stepmom / Steel Magnolias | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Erin Brockovich (Dir. Steven Soderbergh 2000): Erin Brockovich was never trained or indeed meant to work in a lawyers office. Circumstances take this down-on-her-luck twice-divorced mother of three into a legal practice. Here she discovers some legal files that don't add up... On investigation she discovers an injustice and decides against the odds to take on the bad guys on behalf of a poor and very ill community. Stepmom (Dir. Chris Columbus 1998): Jackie (Susan Sarandon) is a divorced mother of two. Isabel (Julia Roberts) is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie's ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris) forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. It is the universal dilemma of the 'non-traditional family' they all love the children but the complex interplay between parents step-parents step-children ex-spouses and significant others is decidedly tricky. But when Jackie discovers she is ill both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest while they have the chance. Steel Magnolias (Dir. Herbert Ross 1989): A beautiful bittersweet comedy set in deep south Louisiana Steel Magnolias unites talents of America's finest actresses as six very special friends bonded together by mutual triumphs and tragedies. Despite their differences beautiful Shelby (Julia Roberts) her strong-willed mother M'Lynn (Sally Field) beauty parlour owner Truvy (Dolly Parton) elegant wealthy widow Clairee (Olympia Dukakis) sharp tongued Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) and mousey newcomer Anelle (Daryl Hannah) enjoy a friendship that spans the boundaries of age and status. Sharing each other's strength and loyalty they face their greatest fears and highest hopes with dry wit and a self-deprecating style...

• The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a beautiful woman claims that her dear husband has disappeared the investigation takes Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) and Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely) to Scotland where - to their surprise - they uncover a plot involving clandestine society Her Majesty's Secret Service... and the Loch Ness Monster! But before he can deduce matters to the elementary Holmes makes an error that may jeopardize the national safety of Britain... and ruin his reputation!

• Billy Wilder Collection - Vol. 2 - The Apartment/The Seven Year Itch/Witness For The Prosecution/The Fortune Cookie/The Pri | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The Apartment: C.C. ""Bud"" Baxter (Jack Lemmon) knows the way to success in business... it's through the door of his apartment! By providing a perfect hideaway for philandering bosses the ambitious young employee reaps a series of undeserved promotions. But when Bud lends the key to big boss J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) he not only advances his career but his own love life as well. For Sheldrake's mistress is the lovely Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) elevator girl and angel of Bud's dreams. Convinced that he is the only man for Fran Bud must make the most important executive decision of his career: lose the girl... or his job. Seven Year Itch: It's every man's fantasy - a summer romance with the sexiest woman he can imagine. Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is a happily married man whose wife and son are off on vacation when his tempting new neighbor (Monroe) sneaks in one hot summer night to cool off in his air-conditioned apartment. How does an ordinary man deal with this irresistible temptation after seven years of marriage? Witness For The Prosecution: When a wealthy widow is found murdered her married suitor Leonard Vole (Power) is accused of the crime. Vole's only hope for acquittal is the testimony of his wife (Dietrich)... but his airtight alibi shatters when she reveals some shocking secrets of her own! Fortune Cookie: Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) is one lucky guy! When he's accidentally clobbered by a 220-pound halfback all Harry suffers is a slight concussion. All that is until Whiplash Willie (Matthau) -- a legal scoundrel of the first order -- arrives on the scene! For if Harry follows shyster Willie's advice and feigns a crippling injury the two charlatans can split a cool million in phony insurance claims. But can Willie's world-class finagling dispel those ominous words that lie within the fortune cookie on Harry's hospital plate: You can't fool all of the people all of the time? The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes: When a beautiful woman claims that her dear husband has disappeared the investigation takes Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) and Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely) to Scotland where - to their surprise - they uncover a plot involving a clandestine society Her Majesty's Secret Service... and the Loch Ness Monster! But before he can deduce matters to the elementary. Holmes makes an error that may jeopardize the national safety of Britain... and ruin his reputation!

• In Cold Blood | DVD | (14/01/2008) from £11.03   |  Saving you £-1.04 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Cold Blood is Richard Brooks' stylish and powerful 1967 drama adapted from Truman Capote's novel about a shocking real-life murder case. This daring cinematic portrait employs flashbacks to fully examine what drives an individual to commit thoughtless and brutal crimes while using a highly innovative jazz score by Quincy Jones to capture the moody atmosphere. A prosperous and respected Kansas farmer his wife and his two teenage children are wantonly and brutally slaughtered. The murderers are two mindless ex-convict drifters. Neither man is sane enough to regret their crime. The story penetrates the inner workings of the criminals' minds as it follows their purposeless meandering through Mexico and the United States in evasion of the law...

• Secret Agent | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-7.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  One of Alfred Hitchcock's finest pre-Hollywood films, the 1936 Secret Agent stars a young John Gielgud as a British spy whose death is faked by his intelligence superiors. Reinvented with a new identity and outfitted with a wife (Madeleine Carroll), Gielgud's character is sent on assignment with a cold-blooded accomplice (Peter Lorre) to assassinate a German agent. En route, the counterfeit couple keeps company with an affable American (Robert Young), who turns out to be more than he seems after the wrong man is murdered by Gielgud and Lorre. Dense with interwoven ideas about false names and real identities, about appearances as lies and the brutality of the hidden, and about the complicity of those who watch the anarchy that others do, Secret Agent declared that Alfred Hitchcock was well along the road to mastery as a filmmaker and, more importantly, knew what it was he wanted to say for the rest of his career. --Tom Keogh

• The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) (Masters of Cinema) Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (22/01/2018) from £13.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Considered by many Holmesians to be the best Sherlock Holmes movie ever made, Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is both an affectionate parody, and a brilliant, melancholy celebration of Arthur Conan Doyle's infamous detective. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) and Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely), are tasked with locating the missing husband of a mysterious woman fished out of the River Thames. The course of their investigation leads them to Scotland and encounters with a group of monks, some dwarfs and even the Loch Ness Monster. Can Holmes and Watson crack the case? Co-written by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond (one of eleven screenplays they wrote together) and starring the late great Christopher Lee as Sherlock's brother Mycroft, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is one of the most underrated films in Billy Wilder's filmography, and The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the film for Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. Blu-Ray Special Features: Glorious 1080p presentation Uncompressed PCM soundtrack (on the Blu-ray) Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing A new video interview with film scholar Neil Sinyard The Missing Cases (50 mins): A presentation of the films deleted sequences, using script excerpts, production stills and surviving film footage. Includes the film's Original Prologue, The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room, The Adventure of the Dumbfounded Detective and The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners Deleted Epilogue Scene (audio only) Christopher Lee: Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder - an archival interview with Christopher Lee about his experience working with Billy Wilder | Interview with editor Ernest Walter Original theatrical trailer PLUS: A collectors booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp; the words of Billy Wilder; and rare archival imagery

• Lost Highway | DVD | (17/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  David Lynch's Lost Highway is one of the most puzzled over movies of the 1990s. After Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart audiences were prepared for more questions than answers. But this mystery is without doubt the most sinister and disturbing of all his work, which is to say it's arguably the most worthy of puzzling out. Bill Pullman goes to jail for murdering his wife Patricia Arquette the Brunette. He metamorphoses into Balthazar Getty who falls for Patricia Arquette the Blonde. They're involved in many bad things. Getty morphs back to Pullman who's left with neither girl, but a lot of explaining to do about how Robert Loggia was involved with both and who/what on earth Robert Blake is. There are no straight answers. It might just be possible to twist the film into a Moebius strip and work out half the chronology, but that would be missing the point. Lynch makes paintings that move and if they happen to tell a tale (thank you The Straight Story), that's just a happy by-product. This film is "about" a lot of things: obsession, the impossible notion of owning a partner, why tailgating is wrong. Beyond that, it's about nothing more than enjoying just how sensually delicious everything looks and sounds on Lynch's Highway. On the DVD: Lost Highway is presented on disc in Lynch's preferred 2.35:1 ratio (anamorphically enhanced), even if it isn't the cleanest of transfers. Sound however, is only two channel stereo, whereas 5.1 mixes do exist elsewhere. The teaser trailer is hardly worth the effort. --Paul Tonks

• Over The Top | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £15.98   |  Saving you £-2.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Tough two-fisted truck driver Lincoln Hawk (Stallone) is a survivor: a man who holds his own against the biggest and brawniest arm-wrestlers in the country. But when his estranged wife (Susan Blakely) dies leaving his 12-year-old son in the custody of his wealthy father-in-law (Robert Loggia) Hawk's muscles are useless against a powerhouse of money and lawyers. Now to prove he can be a responsible father Hawk must build a new life that he can share with his son but his only chanc

• The Big Sleep | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £6.34   |  Saving you £0.65 (10.25%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Raymond Chandler's hard boiled novel is brought to the screen with sleuth Phillip Marlowe finding himself involved with murder blackmail and violence when hired to protect a General's young daughter.

• Electra Glide In Blue | DVD | (22/09/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A pint-sized police officer who would rather use his brains than his gun is put into a situation where neither can help him in this police drama. John Wintergreen (Robert Blake) is a street-smart Arizona motorcycle cop who dreams of climbing the ladder and becoming a police detective, but his ambitions are scoffed at by his partner, Zipper (Billy 'Green' Bush). Wintergreen's superiors also tend not to take him seriously due to his short stature, but when he stumbles upon the scene of a murder, he digs up enough relevant evidence to ensure his advancement to detective status. However, Wintergreen soon realizes just how corrupt his superior Poole (Mitchell Ryan) truly is, after Poole attempts to frame a local hippie, Bob Zemko (Peter Cetera), for a crime he didn't commit. Adding fuel to the fire is Poole's discovery that he and Wintergreen have both been dating the same woman, dancer-turned-barmaid Jolene (Jeannine Riley) Electra Glide In Blue was the first (and, to date, only) directorial credit for James William Guercio. Successful in the music industry as a manager and producer, Guercio was best known for his association with the top-selling jazz-rock group Chicago: several members of the band appear in the movie, as does a young Nick Nolte in a bit part. On a note of sad irony, Terry Kath, the longtime Chicago vocalist who died in 1978 from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, plays a gun-wielding killer in this film.

• 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

• Town Without Pity | DVD | (16/03/2015) from £14.83   |  Saving you £-1.84 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Gottfried Reinhardt directs this grim courtroom drama set in West Germany. Four American GIs are accused of raping a German girl, but their wily defence lawyers seek to get them all acquitted. The cast includes Kirk Douglas, Robert Blake, Frank Sutton and Christine Kaufmann.

• Electra Glide in Blue | Blu Ray | (17/03/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  NO-ONE CAN KEEP A LITTLE MAN DOWN. Ambitious but diminutive motorcycle cop John Wintergreen patrols the Arizona highways, yearning for promotion to the homicide division. Thanks to his revelation that a supposed suicide is actually a murder, his wish it granted. But good cop Wintergreen is about to discover that street-smarts and integrity can have lethal consequences as he finds himself sinking into a mire of workplace politics and corruption - not to mention a very tricky love-triangle. Troubled cult star Robert Blake (Baretta) plays the lead in this directorial debut from music producer James William Guercio, who took a salary of one dollar into order to afford the services of legendary cinematographer Conrad Hall. Guercio managed the rock band Chicago, several of whose members appear in the movie and look out for Nick Nolte in an uncredited bit-part. A JAMES WILLIAM GUERCIO ROBERT HITZIG PRODUCTION ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE STARRING ROBERT BLAKE BILLY (GREEN) BUSH PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY JAMES WILLIAM GUERCIO SCREENPLAY BY ROBERT BORIS STORY BY ROBERT BORIS & ROBERT HITZIG MUSIC COMPOSED BY JAMES WILLIAM GUERCIO.

• This Property Is Condemned | DVD | (08/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the play by Tennessee Williams and scripted by Francis Ford Coppola (amongst others) 'This Property Is Condemned' features an outstanding performance from Robert Redford as Owen Legate; the man sent to shut down much of Dodson town's railway. Owen meets Alva a beautiful girl whose affections are keenly sought after in Dodson. Whilst axing jobs Owen tries to woo Alva in an attempt to whisk her off to New Orleans so they can start a new life together. Now Alva must make

• Pork Chop Hill | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £6.20   |  Saving you £6.79 (109.52%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Lt. Joe Clemons has been given the order: take Pork Chop Hill. If it's taken by the Chinese US negotiators at the Panmunjom peace conference would lose face with their Communist adversaries - an unthinkable outcome. And so Clemons leads his troops into combat to fight for an objective that they know to be strategically pointless. But they also know that an order is an order. They must take Pork Chop Hill or die trying...