Billion Dollar Brain was the third and final movie in the Harry Palmer spy series, starring Michael Caine. What started out in The Ipcress File as a grittier, more realistic take on international espionage than the James Bond series had by the time of this third instalment morphed into something approaching Bond-level of supervillain craziness….
The Dam Busters
The 1955 Dam Busters is one of the most famous of all classic British World War II movies. It tells the true story of how Barnes Wallis developed the famous ‘bouncing bomb’, and the pilots who (spoiler alert!) successfully flew at very low altitudes over water to use it to destroy a strategically vital German…
The Fly
The original 1958 version of The Fly starts with a wife crushing her husband’s head in a mechanical press and is told in flashback from there. The 1986 David Cronenberg version is better known today, but the concept is essentially the same: an over-dedicated scientist attempts to teleport himself, only unknown to him a fly…
The Hunger
If you like your vampires stylish and sexy, you probably like The Hunger. This was the directorial debut of Tony Scott, and its very much a case of style over substance – all billowing curtains, slow motion and expressionistic lighting. The ho-hum plot involves centuries-old modern-day vampire Catherine Deneuve and her partner David Bowie, who…
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…
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…
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…
Violent Playground
I’ve never seen 1958 British crime drama Violent Playground. (Ok, frankly I’d never heard of it either before finding this poster…) However, that didn’t stop me buying this Spanish one-sheet on a whim. Its a great image, I think, and the film also boasts a fantastic cast: Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing and, in an early…