In post-Boer War South Africa, former Boer commando Pieter Brandt (Jack Hawkins) heads into the Veldt to retrieve ‘a fortune in diamonds’ (the film’s alternative title) he’s buried deep within bush country. With him are: expat English weasel Clive Hunter (Dennis Price), who’s stolen Brandt’s girl Anne (Siobhan McKenna); slime-ball saloon owner Dominic (Gregoire Aslan),... Read More
Writer and director Jonathan Lynn’s sprightly and inventive variation on the theme of Some Like It Hot was a deserved success in the United States, where it became the most successful British comedy since A Fish Called Wanda and was described as an ‘uproarious British import’ by The New York Times . The genre, smoothly... Read More
Keanu Reeves plays Jack Traven, a young cop working with the LAPD bomb squad. Thwarting mad bomber Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), who has wired up a lift to explode, Traven finds himself the object of revenge. Payne rigs a bomb to a bus which arms when the speed reaches above 50mph and explodes if it... Read More
As Christmas approaches, Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) is passing a Chinatown curio shop when he notices a curious pet for sale: a cute, furry Mogwai. Buying it for his son Billy (Zach Galligan), he’s warned that it must never get wet, be allowed into the sunlight or fed after midnight. Inevitably, all three happen and... Read More
George P Cosmatos’ wartime thriller is set on an unnamed Greek island where German officer Otto Hecht (Roger Moore) runs a slack PoW camp where prisoners include Stefanie Powers, David Niven, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono, and Elliott Gould. The prisoners are charged with identifying and gathering the island’s antique treasures for shipment to Germany but... Read More
Germany, 1989, and at an American army base, Private Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) survives the peacetime boredom by leading a thriving black market, trading everything from surplus detergent to hard drugs. A new commodity – weapons – falls into Elwood’s lap after a road accident, and he arranges a sale to Turkish gangsters in return... Read More
When the home of a political heavyweight is raided by top burglar Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood), he witnesses the owner’s wife in flagrante with the US President, Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman). As the seduction turns violent, Secret Service agents over-react and kill the woman but in the ensuing chaos Whitney is able to steal a... Read More
The third outing for the Star Trek crew on the big screen was with Leonard Nimoy at the helm, providing a safe pair of hands for a film that proved more philosophical and character-led than the first two, while still offering up enough SFX to satisfy the action buffs. The film opens with a flashback... Read More
Veteran director Henry Hathaway’s Arthurian adventure is based on the popular newspaper cartoon strip by Hal Foster. Robert Wagner plays the eponymous prince, a Viking invited to join King Arthur’s court. But the evil Sir Brack (James Mason) plans to oust the king and then invade Valiant’s Scandanavian home; only Valiant can stop him. Janet... Read More
Delmer Davies’ fascinating western stars Richard Widmark in one of his most underrated roles. He plays Todd, the orphaned son of white settlers bought up by the Comanche. When his wife and children are killed by three brothers, he exacts appropriate revenge. Caught and charged with murder, he’s sent by wagon train to face justice.... Read More
At a bus stop in the Deep South, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) recounts his role as witness to many of the century’s key moments. As a child in calipers and with no educational talent, he is cherished by his mother (Sally Field) and has one friend, his classmate Jenny. He’s also persecuted by bullies, but... Read More