Chaplin, Sir Richard Attenborough's biographical film of the life and times of the famous comic, is a little thin as a narrative, but it is so charmingly creative and ultimately moving that it's hard to worry about the deficits. Robert Downey Jr does an excellent job re-creating Chaplin's graceful slapstick and getting inside the silent-film superstar's head over the years of triumph, defeat, scandal, official persecution, exile and inner peace. A huge cast portray the allies, friends, lovers and enemies in Chaplin's life, including Moira Kelly as his final, long-time wife Oona, Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks, Geraldine Chaplin as Charlie's mother and James Woods as a prosecutor working hard to nail Chaplin for anti-American sentiments. Attenborough declines to tell the story in a flat, linear way, employing such clever techniques as detailing one chapter in Chaplin's life as a silent comedy. The climactic scene set at an Oscar tribute for Chaplin will get the tears flowing. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
Abracadabra I sit on his knee. Presto change-o and now he's me! Hocus Pocus we take her to bed. Magic is fun...we're dead. Anthony Hopkins is Corky a painfully shy failed magician who finds overnight success as a ventriloquist. His brash foul-mouthed dummy Fats becomes a huge nightclub hit. With his star on the rise talent agent Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) arranges an important shot at national TV. But the pressure of failing the network's required physical sends Corky into a panic. With Fats in tow he flees the city to a nearly-deserted resort in the Catskills run by the love of his youth Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret). Peg's spent years trapped in a loveless marriage with her high-school sweetheart Duke (Ed Lauter). In Corky she sees the chance for a loving relationship and accepts an offer to run away with him. However when Corky confides to Fats that he may leave show business altogether Fats becomes furious and lashes out at him playing on his guilt and insecurity. Now under Fats' control Corky is manipulated into a series of violent and unexpected confrontations. Based on the novel by William Goldman writer of the Marathon Man and Butch Cssidy And The Sundance Kid novels and screenplays who had previously collaborated with Richard Attenborough in supplying the script for epic war film A Bridge Too Far.
This great DVD collection contains the following titles: 1. Attack! (dir. Robert Aldrich 1956) 2. 633 Squadron (dir. Walter Grauman 1964) 3. The Bridge At Remagen (dir. John Guillermin 1969) 4. A Bridge Too Far (dir. Richard Attenborough 1977) 5. The Great Escape (dir. John Sturges 1963) 6. Hart's War (dir. Gregory Hoblit 2002) 7. Platoon (dir. Oliver Stone 1986) 8. Windtalkers (dir. John Woo 2002) 9. The Dogs Of War (dir. John Irvin 1981) 10. Under Fire (dir. Roger Spottiswoode 1983)
A Bridge Too Far: In September 1944 flush with success after the Normandy Invasion the Allies confidently launched Operation Market Garden a wild scheme intended to put an early end to the fighting by invading Germany and smashing the Reich's war plants. But a combination of battlefield politics faulty intelligence bad luck and even worse weather led to the disaster beyond the Allies' darkest fear. The Great Escape: One of the most ingenious and suspenseful adventure films of all time The Great Escape is a masterful collaboration between director John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven) screenwriters James Clavell ('Shogun') and W.R. Burnett and composer Elmer Bernstein. Based on a true story. The Battle Of Britain: This is a spectacular retelling of a true story that shows courage at its inspiring best. Few defining moments can change the outcome of war . But when the outnumbered Royal Air Force defied unsurmountable odds in engaging the German Luftwaffe they may well have altered the course of history!
Capote (Dir. Bennett Miller) (2005): In 1959 Truman Capote a popular writer for The New Yorker learns about the horrific and senseless murder of a family of four in Halcomb Kansas. Inspired by the story material Capote and his partner Harper Lee travel to the town to research for an article. However as Capote digs deeper into the story he is inspired to expand the project into what would be his greatest work 'In Cold Blood'. To that end he arranges extensive interviews with the prisoners especially with Perry Smith a quiet and articulate man with a troubled history. As he works on his book Capote feels some compassion for Perry which in part prompts him to help the prisoners to some degree. However that feeling deeply conflicts with his need for closure for the book which only an execution can provide. The conflict and mixed motives for both interviewer and subject make for a troubling experience that would produce a literary account that redefined modern non-fiction.... All The Kings Men (Dir. Steven Zaillian) (2006): Absolute power corrupts absolutely in writer-director Steven Zaillian's (Schindler's List) adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's classic novel ""All the King's Men"" featuring an all-star cast led by Sean Penn Jude Law Kate Winslet Patricia Clarkson James Gandolfini Mark Ruffalo Anthony Hopkins. All the King's Men charts the spectacular rise and fall of a charismatic Southern politician ""Boss"" Willie Stark (Penn). Law co-stars as Jack Burden the once idealistic now embittered ex-reporter who unwittingly fuels Stark's corrupt political ambitions. Gandhi (Dir. Richard Attenborough) (1982): In South Africa a young Indian lawyer is booted off a train for refusing to ride second-class. Upon his return to his native India and fed up with the unjust political system he joins the Indian Congress Party which encourages social change through passive resistance. When his ""subversive"" activities land him in jail masses of low-skilled workers strike to support his non-violent yet revolutionary position. Back in India Gandhi renounces the Western way of life and struggles to organize Indian labor against British colonialism. A strike costs many British soldiers their lives so the crown responds by slaughtering 1 500 Indians. Enraged the ascetic spiritual leader continues to preach pacifism until he has lead India out from under the tyranny of British imperialism.
This box set features the following films: Gandhi (Dir. Richard Attenborough) (1982): In South Africa a young Indian lawyer is booted off a train for refusing to ride second-class. Upon his return to his native India and fed up with the unjust political system he joins the Indian Congress Party which encourages social change through passive resistance. When his subversive activities land him in jail masses of low-skilled workers strike to support his non-violent yet revolutionary position. Back in India Gandhi renounces the Western way of life and struggles to organize Indian labor against British colonialism. A strike costs many British soldiers their lives so the crown responds by slaughtering 1 500 Indians. Enraged the ascetic spiritual leader continues to preach pacifism until he has lead India out from under the tyranny of British imperialism. Out Of Africa (Dir. Sydney Pollack) (1985): Sydney Pollack directs this sweeping romantic drama based on the memoirs of Danish writer Isak Dinesen. Meryl Streep stars as Karen Blixen the restless wife of European aristocrat and plantation owner Baron Bror Blixen (Brandauer). When Bror departs to hunt big game and chase women the running of their East African coffee plantation falls to Karen. She throws herself into this task with the same determination and spirit she brings to her passionate but sporadic affair with free-spirited British hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford). While enduring her husband's infidelities and the eventual destruction of their beloved land she entertains Denys and befriends the workers. Hatton shares Karen's profound love for the African landscape but is unwilling to sacrifice his independence for their relationship...
In South Africa a young Indian lawyer is booted off a train for refusing to ride second-class. Upon his return to his native India and fed up with the unjust political system he joins the Indian Congress Party which encourages social change through passive resistance. When his subversive activities land him in jail masses of low-skilled workers strike to support his non-violent yet revolutionary position. Back in India Gandhi renounces the Western way of life and struggles to organize Indian labor against British colonialism. A strike costs many British soldiers their lives so the crown responds by slaughtering 1 500 Indians. Enraged the ascetic spiritual leader continues to preach pacifism until he has lead India out from under the tyranny of British imperialism.
This massive 1977 adaptation by director Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) of Cornelius Ryan's novel features an all-star cast in an epic rendering of a daring but ultimately disastrous raid behind enemy lines in Holland during the Second World War. A lengthy and exhaustive look at the mechanics of warfare and the price and futility of war, the film is almost too large for its aims but manages to be both picaresque and affecting, particularly in the performance of James Caan. The impressive cast includes Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery, and Liv Ullmann among others. While not a classic war film, it nevertheless manages to be a consistently interesting and exciting adventure. --Robert Lane, Amazon.com
Young Winston tells one of the greatest stories in English politics - the rise to power of Winston Churchill from childhood to the age of 26 when he made his first speech in the House of Commons. Directed by Richard Attenborough the film covers Churchill's time as a war correspondent in India his involvement in Kitchener's Sudan expedition and his capture and subsequent thrilling escape during the Boer War in South Africa... Based on Churchill's own book 'My Early Lif
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