It is quite remarkable that Fitzcarraldo (a story of one man’s crazy obsession) got made at all. It is a story of a man determined to drag a steamship over a mountain in Peru. To film it, director Werner Herzog (himself known as a crazy obsessive) chose to drag a full size steamship over a…
Magnum Force
Magnum Force was the second (and narrowly second best) of the Dirty Harry movies. Clint Eastwood is on great form as Harry, this time facing down vigilante motorcycle cops who (spoiler alert) turn out to be led by his own uptight boss (Hal Holbrook). A young David Soul plays one of the cops, pre Starsky…
New York New York
I was hugely disappointed when I finally saw Martin Scorcese’s New York New York on DVD last year. Scorcese’ reputation proceeds him, and a combination of Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli, plus the show-stopping title track had to be a winner, right? Turns out its all a hot mess, with many lengthy (and seemingly…
First Blood
Whilst I intensely dislike the jingoistic and increasingly ridiculous sequels, I have a soft spot for Sly Stallone’s original Rambo movie (before he became an indestructible one-man army). Here, he is portrayed more as a vulnerable and disturbed Vietnam veteran – not so much fighting to try rewrite the result of the Vietnam war as…
Le Mans
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen this iconic Steve McQueen movie. If I have, I remember nothing of it. McQueen was a renowned petrol-head, and having done many of his own driving stunts in Bullitt, having him star in a movie about the famous 24-hour race seems like a natural fit. For added realism,…
The Italian Job
The Italian Job has so many great moments, its one of the most memorable British films of the 60s, I reckon. Who doesn’t love the endlessly quotable dialogue (“You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!”), or cheeky thief Michael Caine and his gang’s escape from a gridlocked Turin in a fleet of Mini…
The Way Of The Dragon
I’ve never been much of a fan of . It seems there are zillions of them, all very same-y, and I’ve struggled to sit through any of them. Enter The Dragon is still perhaps the best known from the entire genre, and that’s the only one I recall seeing in its entirety. I didn’t like…
Theatre Of Blood
Theatre Of Blood is my all-time favourite horror comedy and my favourite Vincent Price movie by a mile. The movie has a delightfully vicious premise. Price (so often over the top) is perfect as the hammy stage actor humiliated after being denied a best actor gong by the Critic’s Circle. Presumed dead from suicide, he…