"Director: Ken Loach"

• Poor Cow | Blu Ray | (25/07/2016) from £11.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (91.74%)   |  RRP £22.99

  "I fell in the family way when I was 18 and I got married to a right bastard". Ken Loach's debut feature tells the story of Joy, a young mother (Carol White) whose chauvinistic thug of a husband is thrown into prison. She takes up with one of his friends, lovable, kind-hearted burglar Terence Stamp, but he too ends up in jail.It's intriguing to compare Poor Cow with Cathy Come Home, which Loach made for TV with the same actress at around the same time. Both are about mums trying to make a go of their lives in adverse circumstances. Cathy Come Home, shot in black and white, is an altogether tougher film. Poor Cow, with its Donovan music, gaudy colour photography, star names, and incongruously bawdy humour, seems lightweight by comparison. Certain sequences--Joy making love in the hay or posing half-naked for lecherous amateur photographers--must surely make Loach grimace now. There are some powerful moments--Joy desperately looking for her son who has wandered off, unattended, onto a building site, or trying to escape from her abusive husband--which anticipate such later Loach films as Ladybird, Ladybird or Raining Stones. The scenes between Joy and Stamp are played with real tenderness and humour. Don't be surprised if you think you've seen them before--some of the footage of Stamp was used in Steven Soderbergh's recent thriller, The Limey. --Geoffrey Macnab

• Ken Loach Collection (3-disc Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (25/09/2017) from £29.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  KEN LOACH COLLECTION (3-disc Blu-ray Set) This new collection brings together three of Ken Loach's finest films from the 1990s, titles linked by the director's career long drive to tackle social injustice and contemporary political issues. In Riff Raff Glaswegian jailbird Stevie (Robert Carlyle) heads to London to find work but discovers a world of corruption and degradation. Inner-city poverty is brought to the fore in Raining Stones, as unemployed Bob's (Bruce Jones) desperate attempts to afford a communion dress for his daughter results in a succession of disasters. Inspired by real events, Ladybird Ladybird is an emotional and harrowing story of a woman's fight to keep her children and relationship intact in the face of bureaucratic interference. Special Features: Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film and full credits Other extras TBC UK | 1991 - 1994 | colour | 90 + 90 + 102 mins | English language, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles | cert 18

• Raining Stones | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Bob Williams is a survivor. He supplements his dole by becoming embroiled in whatever scam is on offer from rustling sheep to rotting drains. But now life has dealt him a bitter blow. His van has been stolen and his daughter Colleen is approaching her first communion. She needs the traditional white dress shoes veil and gloves. Where on earth is the money going to come from? Raining Stones is a funny and essentially human story of survival in the nineties and people's aspirations for a better way of life.

• Land And Freedom | DVD | (10/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ian Hart stars as David Carr an idealistic young member of the British Communist Party who decides to join the leftist forces fighting fascism in 1936 Spain in this drama from director Ken Loach. The story is told in long flashbacks framed by the perspective of Carr's granddaughter who has found her recently deceased grandfather's diaries that detail his wartime experiences.

• Carla's Song | DVD | (11/04/2005) from £6.26   |  Saving you £13.73 (219.33%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A bus driver falls for a refugee from Nicaragua and eventually she succumbs to his charms. But she remains haunted by what happened to her boyfriend during the Nicaraguan revolution. They decide to travel to the South American country and put the ghosts to rest....

• My Name Is Joe | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Can we talk? Everybody is pretty well agreed that Great Britain's Ken Loach is one of our most important filmmakers. On the basis of his work with actors alone--often actors who are unknown until showcased in his films--he commands a place in the modern Pantheon. The problem is that he sounds terminally "worthy"; his films invariably reflect a commitment to framing harsh sociopolitical realities and steeping us in the fight for justice, a square deal or a square meal. They sound, in short, as if they're "good for you"--whereas the fact is that they are almost always damned good, period.My Name Is Joe makes for an excellent introduction to Loach country--partly because it's just a tad more immediate in its basic viewer appeal. Joe Kavanagh (Peter Mullan), out-of-work Glasgow housepainter, is a terrifically attractive fellow, and though he is also a recovering alcoholic, he seems eminently pulled-together and ready for yeoman service as a movie leading man. The main story line concerns his encounter with and growing attraction to a smart social worker (Louise Goodall). There is nothing star-crossed about their potential love, but each is tough enough to set limits till they've travelled over a distance of mutual ground. Meanwhile, Joe's status as role model among his more emotionally and economically precarious neighbours--an extended family of man--is good for a surprising number of lusty laughs and one fatal, criminal complication that could jeopardise his future. Peter Mullan won a well-deserved Best Actor award at Cannes in 1998, and subsequently directed a family comedy-drama of his own, Orphans. --Richard T. Jameson, Amazon.com

• The Angels' Share | Blu Ray | (24/09/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  From award-winning director Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty comes a bitter sweet comedy caper which proves that sometimes all you need in life is a little spirit. Escaping a prison sentence by the skin of his teeth, the wayward and disillusioned Robbie is given one last chance to turn his life around. Together the four friends he embarks on an adventure and discovers that turning to drink might just change their lives - not cheap fortified wine, but the best malt whiskies in the world.

• Family Life | DVD | (25/06/2007) from £9.54   |  Saving you £8.45 (88.57%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The dramatic story of a young girl and her family, shattered by personal conflict. She suffers schizophrenia after a traumatic abortion. Her parents commit her to an asylum, believing they know what's best for her...

• Sweet Sixteen | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £10.60   |  Saving you £3.39 (31.98%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison, a Scottish teenager from a tough background sets out to raise the money for a home.

• Bread And Roses | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £5.19   |  Saving you £10.80 (208.09%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A powerful film, "Bread and Roses" sees acclaimed UK director Ken Loach take on the City of Angels in his first US-set effort, based around the true-life janitors strike that hit the city in 1999.

• Looking For Eric | Blu Ray | (12/10/2009) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  In desperate times it takes a spliff and a special friend to help a lost postman find his way, so Eric turns to his hero: footballing genius, philosopher and poster boy, Eric Cantona.

• Ladybird Ladybird | DVD | (12/05/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Ladybird Ladybird is Ken loach's harrowing story of a woman's fight to keep her children and her relationship intact. Maggie has had four children (by four different fathers) removed by Social services because of a previous violent relationship. When she meets Jorge a gentle Latin American refugee she gradually sees her chance of happiness but her history still haunts her. Once entangled with the social work bureaucracy she finds it difficult to break free.

• My Name Is Joe | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-14.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  'My Name Is Joe' is a slice of life so raw that you can see the blood dripping off it and as in real life it mixes humour passion tragedy and violence in equal measure. Joe is a recovering alcoholic and has done a few things in his past which he'd rather forget. Like most people he knows he's out of work but he keeps sane by coaching the self-styled worst football team in Glasgow. When one of Joe's players Liam gets involved with some local gangsters a chain of events is set in motion which not only threatens the lives of those concerned but also comes between Joe's budding love affair with social worker Sarah.

• Ae Fond Kiss | DVD | (16/07/2007) from £7.21   |  Saving you £5.78 (80.17%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a second generation Pakistani falls in love with a Catholic girl in his home town of Glasgow, sparks fly as cultures clash in the new movie from "Sweet Sixteen" director Ken Loach.

• Route Irish | DVD | (23/05/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Fergus (Mark Womack) returns to his native Liverpool for the funeral of his childhood friend Frankie, a fellow private security contractor who has been killed on Route Irish, the deadly and now infamous stretch of road between Baghdad airport and the Green Zone. Route Irish is a fast-paced conspiracy thriller that delivers a fresh insight into the moral and political corruption at play in Iraq.

• Poor Cow | DVD | (13/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Young mother Joy (Carol White) is forced to fend for herself when her brutal and uncaring husband Tom (John Bindon) is put in jail. Joy finds brief happiness with Tom's criminal associate Dave (Terence Stamp) who proves kind and gentle when she moves in with him but this relationship ends when he is also jailed and Joy is left to raise her young son alone in squalid circumstances. Poor Cow is a poignant controversial slice of raw social realism and in true Loach style is an imaginative exploration of the thin line separating fiction and real-life.

• My Name Is Joe | DVD | (18/03/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The second of many collaborations between acclaimed director Ken Loach and award-winning screenwriter Paul Laverty, My Name Is Joe is a typically hard-hitting drama with humour, passion, tragedy and violence in equal measure. Peter Mullan (Orphans) stars as Joe, a recovering alcoholic who has done a few things in his past which he'd rather forget. Out of work and on the dole, he keeps sane by coaching a local football team largely made up of delinquents. When one of Joe's players, Liam, gets involved with some local gangsters a chain of events is set in motion which not only threatens the lives of those concerned but also impacts on Joe's budding love affair with social worker, Sarah. Set in the stark surroundings of a socially deprived Glasgow, My Name Is Joe is another masterful social-realist work from Loach supplemented by an arresting performance from Peter Mullan (who won Best Actor at Cannes for this performance).

• Cathy Come Home | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Cathy Come Home is probably the most famous British television play ever - watched by a quarter of the population both on its first broadcast in 1966 and on its repeat in 1967. Its impact was enormous provoking questions in the Houses of Parliament and helping launch the new housing charity 'Shelter'. Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett also ushered in a new style of television drama taking the cameras onto the streets and fusing documentary and drama styles to give the story an extra sense of reality and a devastating emotional impact.

• Jimmy's Hall | Blu Ray | (29/09/2014) from £9.61   |  Saving you £13.38 (139.23%)   |  RRP £22.99

  In the 1920s political activist and free-thinker Jimmy Gralton built a dance hall in rural Ireland as a place for young people dance play music and learn. As the hall grew in popularity its socialist and free-spirited reputation brought it to the attention of the church and politicians who forced Jimmy to flee and the hall to close. A decade later at the height of the Depression Jimmy returns to Co. Leitrim from the US and vows to live the quiet life. The hall stands abandoned but as Jimmy sees the poverty and growing cultural oppression within the community the leader and activist within him is stirred. He makes the decision to reopen the hall and in doing makes himself an enemy of the establishment.

• Raining Stones | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Raining Stones is classic Ken Loach--an overtly bleak piece of drama shot through with defiant humour, a story of life beyond the edge of society. Bob (Bruce Jones in a role that foreshadows his more ludicrous Coronation Street character) is unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, especially with the added pressure of his young daughter's first communion and the expense involved. And that's it really--one man's struggle to maintain his dignity and provide for his family. Despite the film's frequent moments of comedy (more often than not provided by Loach regular Ricky Tomlinson), Raining Stones is ultimately more than a little disheartening. The film is in many ways similar to Loach's previous film, Riff Raff (1991), but here the examples of a community pulling together are countered with backstabbing and exploitation. In the end, there are no winners or losers in Loach's world, only those who survive and those who don't. --Phil Udell