“A fast ride to ruin – on a one-way track of terror!” This is one of those film noir B movies that I’ve never seen, and quite likely never will, but I love the OTT way they market it, which is why I bought the poster. Robert Young stars as a doomed anti-hero on trial…
The Graduate
“Here’s to you, Mrs Robinson….” Simon and Garfunkel’s famous song is one of the many delights of this 1967 classic. It is the movie that made a star of Dustin Hoffman, and earned director Mike Nichols an Oscar. Hoffman plays an aimless 21 year old college graduate who is seduced Ann Bancroft’s older married woman,…
Escape from Alcatraz
Escape from Alcatraz is one of the grittier movies Clint Eastwood has starred in. It was the fifth and final collaboration between him and director Don Siegal. There’s no Dirty Harry-style catchphrases here in this true(ish) story of allegedly the only convicts to ever escape from Alcatraz island. Its a fairly dour affair, as Clint…
Brazil
Terry Gilliam’ famously fought a public battle against studio meddling over Brazil, particularly regarding an enforced happy ending. Heavily influenced by both Orwell’s 1984 and Kafka, the movie stars Jonathan Pryce as a low level bureaucrat, who becomes lost between his dreams and reality in a hyper-stylised city, somewhere between film noir and Lang’s Metropolis….
Dead Of Night
British film studio Ealing is famous for making many classic comedies (Whisky Galore, Passport To Pimlico etc) in the 40s. They also, strangely, made one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Dead Of Night is a ‘portmanteau’ style horror – later popularised in the 60s by another British studio, Amicus (Tales From The…