The cinematic spin-off from the popular TV series, sweeney! Sees hard-bitten, womanising Flying Squad officer Jack Regan (John Thaw, Inspector Morse) embroiled in a deadly political plot when an old friend asks him to investigate the death of his girlfriend. Framed on a drunk-drive charge and suspended from the force, with his partner and his best mate George Carter (Dennis Waterman, Minder) unable to help, Jack must rely on his wits to evade deadly government hit-men and expose the real villain of the piece.
Amidst the mud and blood of Passchendaele in 1917 Private Hamp (Tom Courtenay) awaits Court Martial for desertion. His crime? Simply walking away from the slaughter after three solid years at the front during which all his mates have been killed. Captain Hargreaves (Dirk Bogard) the officer detailed to defend him is initially unsympathetic. However as he learns the facts of the case he becomes increasingly determined to save Hamp from the firing squad. But his superiors are equally keen to make an example of the unfortunate Private...
As a producer, Roger Corman has always loved to make low-budget rip-offs of hit movies, and Piranha is his typically cheeky take on Jaws--and, as so often with Corman, in many ways it's funnier and more entertaining than the original. Directed with gusto by schlock-horror specialist Joe Dante and sharply scripted by John Sayles, it replaces one huge underwater toothy monster with dozens of little ones and ups the body count by a factor of 10 or so. Two hapless teenagers, hiking in a remote mountain region, stumble on a secret US military research lab. They don't last long, but their intrusion leads to the release into the local river system of a huge shoal of super-intelligent piranha, originally specially bred for use in Vietnam. Downstream from the virulent little munchers lie a kiddies' holiday camp and a tacky new waterfront theme park. Lunch time, fellas! Sayles, with his staunch left-wing credentials, slips in some mordant political satire at the expense of the military-industrial complex, and authority figures of any kind come off pretty badly, but the satire never gets in the way of the gleeful black humour. The two leads, Bradford Dillman and Heather Menzies, are fairly pallid, but there are ripe cameos from such cult horror-movie icons as Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller and Barbara Steele. Pino Donaggio's score impudently borrows aspects of John Williams' famous Jaws theme while never quite infringing copyright. The movie was successful enough to spawn a much-inferior sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), which marked the inauspicious directing debut of one James Cameron. On the DVD: Piranha on disc comes with just the theatrical trailer as an extra. The transfer is a respectable job, reproducing the original's full-screen ratio. --Philip Kemp
Scanned from a 4K masters - Limited to 3000 copies with a host of brand new extras. One of the greatest British horror films of all time! A human skull is unearthed in a small, isolated 18th century English village and the children of the village form themselves into a secret, murderous coven. Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden and Wendy Padbury star.
Nothing is as it seems behind the well-trimmed hedges of the picturesque cottages in the idyllic English county of Midsomer. Beneath the tranquil surface of sleepy village life exist dark secrets scandals and downright evil. John Nettles stars as the humorous thoughtful and methodical Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. This Christmas Collection includes four fantastic episodes! Ghosts Of Christmas Past: It is Christmas in Midsomer. A shot rings out from Draycott House. Nine years later the whole Villiers family come together again. At the police station DCI Barnaby heads home and asks Sgt Scott to contact him if anything happens warning him that: 'Things have a habit of happening around Christmas time.' Death Of A Stranger: Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy investigate a murder. DCI Barnaby returns from a winter holiday to discover an unidentified tramp has been beaten to death in the woods near the village of Marshwood. While he was away Supt Ronald Pringle just before his retirement quickly arrested a local young man. But Barnaby suspects that he is innocent which is only reinforced when there is an apparent suicide at the same spot. A Talent For Life: In Malham Bridge former socialite and feisty pensioner Isobel Hewitt is accused of assault by fellow fly fisher Margaret Seagrove. When Barnaby and Troy investigate the allegations they discover that all is not well on the Midsomer riverbanks. The investigation takes a more serious turn when two bodies are discovered in the river. Are they the victims of an uncalculated attack by poachers or was there a more sinister motive? Shot At Dawn: The Court Marshall and execution of Tommy Hicks for desertion during World War I ignites a feud between the Hammonds and the Hicks which lasts for 90 years. Duggie Hammond always felt guilty about his forced involvement in Tommy's unjust death. During a ceremony at the village war memorial Tommy's son Lionel unveils a plaque for his father. Colonel Henry Hammond who supported the execution finds the ceremony farcical and lets his feelings be known. When Henry is later executed Barnaby and Jones investigate.
Midsomer Murders
Entertaining drama set in the fast-paced world of London's high-end divorce circuit. From Emmy and Bafta winner Abi Morgan, the third season continues to follow the messy lives of the Defoe sisters, Hannah (Nicola Walker), Nina (Annabel Scholey) and Rose (Fiona Button) return alongside their formidable mother Ruth (Deborah Findley). Hannah and Nathan are facing their own divorce amicably, until shock revelations prompt a painful showdown. Meanwhile Ruth is spending more time with lover Prof Ronnie than being a helpful grandmother, Nina is juggling life as a single mum and an unexpected event turns Rose and James' lives upside down. Throughout it all this messy, blended, authentic family of lawyers and lovers prove that divorce doesn't have to mean failure, and that there is great hope after The Split.
One of the very best films by the uncompromising American director Samuel Fuller ( also: one of the very best, and most iconoclastic, Westerns ever conceived) was also a mid-career triumph for the brilliant Barbara Stanwyck. Forty Guns finds Fuller at the height of his game. Jessica Drummond (Stanwyck, with her iconic night-nurse babyface) is avatar of the consummate Brooklynite, transplanted here to the dusty crags of the West Cochise County, Arizona, to be precise where as a wealthy landowner she exerts a powerful influence over town affairs and commands a league of some forty gunsĀ to enact her will. The appearance of interloper Griff (a character name that recurs throughout all of Fuller's body of work, embodied this time by Barry Sullivan) precipitates Jessica's domain's slide into chaos... Originally intended by Fuller to be titled The Woman with a Whip, Forty Guns represents an apex of 20th Century Fox's filmmaking while the studio era still shone. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Forty Guns on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the UK in a special Dual Format edition.
30 Live Musicians. 24 Top Hits. One Amazing Night. Barry Manilow is a master showman who makes each lyrical passage an intimate gift to his fans. His sold-out performance in the heart of Nashville proves why this performer's 25-year career has been so exceptional. From the first standing ovation to the last Barry Manilow's diverse style will enchant any music enthusiast. Tracklisting includes; Could It Be Magic? Somewhere In The Night Tryin' To Get The Feeling Can't Smile Wit
Only one swashbuckling man of mystery can deliver Royalist rebels from Napoleon's clutches! Paris, 1803: as Napoleon is set to declare himself as leader of the freshly instituted French Empire, an underground movement of Royalist rebels is fired up by the daring deeds of the mysterious Purple Mask. The unknown swordsman boldly rescues noblemen from the guillotine and kidnaps Napoleon's cronies to extort ransom money for the Royalist cause. Laurette de Latour (Colleen Miller), the niece of a jailed marquis, hatches a scheme in which the foppish Count Rene de Traviere (Tony Curtis) imitates the Purple Mask and allows himself to be captured to encourage the release of her uncle. Little does Laurette realise she has engaged the Purple Mask himself! Continuing the charade, and attracting amused ridicule, Rene is swiftly imprisoned alongside the marquis. But the intrepid one has a trick or two up his lacey sleeve, and as the two men are marched towards the guillotine, at an agreed signal rebels spring from the Paris sewers, swords at the ready.
Set on Death Row in a Southern prison in 1935, The Green Mile is the remarkable story of the cell block's head guard, who develops a poignant, unusual relationship with one inmate who possesses a magical gift that is both mysterious and miraculous.
With just 28 days until before his impending execution young attorney Adam Hall sets out to trace the events of a grisly event in an effort to prevent his grandfather from going to the gas chamber for a racist murder... Chris O'Donnell and Gene Hackman star in this electrifying thriller based on the novel by John Grisham with a screenplay from Oscar winner William Goldman.
The first televisual adaptation of the P.D. James mysteries featuring Detective Adam Dagliesh.... Scotland Yard's senior murder detective Adam Dalgliesh is called to an isolated chalk quarry to investigate the murder of a young girl in the back of a derelict car. Could she be a victim of the back seat strangler? On his return to London Dalgliesh is called to another suspicious death at Hoggatt's government controlled forensic science laboratory. He soon discovers that the laboratory is a hot-bed of intrigue and jealousy making almost everyone a possible suspect. Whilst focusing on his investigations Dalgliesh battles to set aside the personal tragedy of losing his wife and their first baby in childbirth.
Barry Foster stars as Van der Valk - the no-nonsense Dutch detective who delighted audiences for three decades on television. As head of Amsterdam CID he is aided by the young CID Inspector Johnny Kroon (Michael Latimer) as they work their way through murders blackmail missing persons and the more tricky cases that come the way of the Dutch police. Supported by his wife Arlette (Susan Travers/Joanna Dunham/Meg Davies) and Hoofd-Commisaris Samson (Nigel Stock/Barry Hines) it's no wonder that this entertaining and absorbing drama series topped the ratings and is well-remembered to this day. This complete box set of all Van der Valk's adventures contains all five series including the feature-length specials that were made in the early 1990s.
A huge man with an equally huge talent Barry White was rarely out of the top twenty sellers in the late 70s delivering hit after colossal hit with a unique style and tone. His rich bass voice combined with lush string arrangements produced classic love anthems that topped the charts across the globe and a disco-funk sound that packed dance floors and still does. Tracklisting: 1. Never Never Gonna Give You Up 2. What Am I Gonna Do With You Baby 3. Playing Your Game Baby 4. Love Unlimited - Under The Influence Of Love 5. You See The Trouble With Me 6. You're The First The Last My Everything 7. I Wanna Do It Good To Ya 8. Love Unlimited - It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart It's Spring) 9. Just The Way You Are 10. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Babe 11. Let The Music Play 12. Love Unlimited - I Belong To You 13. I've Found Someone 14. I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Babe
The Trouble with Harry is a lark, the mischievous side of Hitchcock given free reign. A busman's holiday for Alfred Hitchcock, this 1955 black comedy concerns a pesky corpse that becomes a problem for a quiet, Vermont neighbourhood. Shirley MacLaine makes her film debut as one of several characters who keep burying the body and finding it unburied again. Hitchcock clearly enjoys conjuring the autumnal look and feel of the story, and he establishes an important, first-time alliance with composer Bernard Herrmann, whose music proved vital to the director's next half-dozen or so films. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
A drama based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer who became one of the youngest men ever to be on the FBI's most wanted list.
Island on Fire is, as the trailer says, "five films in one!". Despite the packaging headlining Jackie Chan this violent modern-day prison drama is an ensemble piece with Chan, a pool-player in prison for accidentally stabbing a man to death, on screen for no more than a quarter of the 92 minutes. Anyone buying this as a Chan movie may be seriously disappointed, for apart from the brevity of his role there is no trademark Chan humour. Also in the brutal and corrupt prison is Andy Lau, an undercover cop searching for the murderer of his professor, and Sammo Hung offering comedy and pathos as an inmate who keeps escaping to visit his son. There are many more characters, together with one subplot involving a mouse which anticipates The Green Mile (1999) and another concerning an assassination conspiracy which parallels Nikita, also released in 1990. Island of Fire is an uneven, always entertaining, sometimes moving film which packs an incredible amount of incident into its running time. However, it should be noted that it is an imitation of, rather than an official entry in, Ringo Lam's Fire series, which includes Prison on Fire (1987) and City on Fire (1987). On the DVD: The anamorphically enhanced 1.77-1 picture is a very good transfer of a rather grainy print, though given the many darkly lit scenes, this grain is probably part of the original film. The mono sound is fine. The film can be watched with the original Mandarin soundtrack and English subtitles, or with a much better than average English dub. The packaging claims there are over 60 minutes of extras. In fact there are nine deleted/extended scenes of variable quality, the best of which give more emotional depth to Sammo Hung's character, together with video interviews with Sammo Hung, Jimmy Wong Yu and director Chu Yen Ping. These total around 20 minutes and are interesting but not specific to the film. Also included is the theatrical trailer, Hong Kong Legends' own "music promo" trailer and eight trailers for further releases. There is also a six-page "animated" biography of Jackie Chan. --Gary S Dalkin
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