“Flash – aha! – saviour of the universe!” Even if you’ve never seen the 1980 version of Flash Gordon you’ve probably heard Queen’s bombastic title song. Its a knowingly ludicrous movie, which somehow manages to be both respectful (sort of) of the original 1940s movie serials and at at the same time firmly tongue in…
City Heat
City Heat is undeniably a very stupid, throwaway movie. Its all instantly forgettable, and ended up being a box office disappointment, but it has some fun moments. Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds co-star as, respectively, a cop and a private eye in 1930s Kansas City. The plot is irrelevant, though. Its all about the chemistry…
Foreign Correspondent
1940s Foreign Correspondent isn’t one of the best known Hitchcocks but it’s one of my favourites of all his movies. Joel McCrea stars as the wise-cracking US correspondent sent to Europe in the days before World War II who encounters kidnapping, murder and treachery across the continent. There is also fine and funny support from…
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is perhaps the most famous the late 60s/early 70s wave of American counter-culture movies. Dennis Hopper’s movie was both hugely successful and influential. I saw it at the cinema years ago, but I must admit I didn’t really “dig” it. Hopper and Peter Fonda play two hippie bikers taking a road trip through…
Robin And The 7 Hoods
The Rat Pack are in full swing in this 1964 musical comedy. Starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, the movie takes as its inspiration the Robin Hood legend, transposed to 1920s Chicago. Sinatra and pals play gangsters with the names of Robby, Little John and Will. Bing Crosby also pops up as…
Dr Who And The Daleks / Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD
For any British kid growing up in the 70s, Dr Who was a TV touchstone. I first came across the Jon Pertwee iteration of the Doctor, then Tom Baker’s flamboyant, scarf-wearing version. Some of the episodes I remember as being relatively scary for young kids, not least those featuring the Doctor’s most famous adversaries –…
Rio Bravo
Howard Hawks’ 1959 Western Rio Bravo was made as a riposte to the (allegedly) left-leaning High Noon. John Wayne stars as the decidedly un-conflicted, courageous sheriff, and Dean Martin hardly stretches his acting abilities to play the town drunk who helps him heroically defend the town from a gang of ranchers. Hawks liked the story…
The Phantom Of The Opera
The 1943 version of The Phantom Of The Opera is perhaps a bit unfairly overlooked. Its one of the original run of Universal Studios classic horrors, but there’s no Karloff or Lugosi this time around. The Phantom is played by Claude Rains, who is third billed behind crooner Nelson Eddy. His disfiguration is just a…
All About My Mother
I’m not a huge follower or fan of Spanish director Pedro Almadovar. The only one of his movies I remember definitely seeing is his very strange thriller The Skin I Live In (heavily inspired by Eyes Without A Face). I don’t think I’ve ever seen 1999 comedy-drama All About My Mother. It deals with some…
Aces High
British war film Aces High, from 1976, is an airborne version of 1920s play Journey’s End. The story once again centres on a week in the lives and (mostly) deaths of a First World War battalion, with the action moved from the trenches to the skies. The cast is a veritable who’s who of…