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…
Rebel Without A Cause
Rebel Without A Cause was James Dean’s second and arguably most iconic leading movie role. Nicolas Ray’s classic 1955 film was a social commentary on disaffected middle class teenagers, going through emotional trauma, and the generation gap to their parents. It was shot in the new widescreen Cinemascope format and released a month after Dean’s…
High Noon
High Noon is one of the the most famous Westerns of all time. Gary Cooper (who won as Oscar for the role) stars as the upright sheriff awaiting a posse of bad guys to arrive on the noon train. The cowardly townspeople refuse to help him so he (and ultimately his new wife, played by…
Jekyll’s Inferno
Jekyll’s Inferno (aka The Two Faces Of Dr Jekyll aka House Of Fright) is one of the very few early Hammer horrors I’ve never seen, despite it featuring Christopher Lee in a supporting role and being directed by Terence Fisher. The twist on the old Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde formula in this 1960 release…
The Terminator
“I’ll be back…!” It is one of the most famous line in cinema history, as endlessly recycled by star Arnold Schwarzenegger in his subsequent movies. James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi was made on a limited budget compared to its sequels, but it remains for me by far the best of the Terminator series. Before Arnie started…
Horror Express
Horror Express is one of my favourite 1970s horror movies. This Spanish-British co-production stars both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as friendly rivals (plus Telly Savalas as a Cossack) and is set in 1906 aboard the Trans-Siberian express train. An alien monster who can move between bodies by possessing its host is on the loose….
The Heroes of Telemark
This 1965 WWII “men on a mission” film is based on the real-life exploits of a small team of Norwegian saboteurs, who were tasked with preventing the Nazis from manufacturing ‘heavy water’, essential for production of an atomic bomb. Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris offer strong chins and a miso-mash of accents as the leads….
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…
They won’t believe me!
“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,…