Director Fred Zinnemann's 1953 Oscar-winning best picture From Here To Eternity is a powerful portrait of a peacetime military camp stationed in Hawaii just before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Montgomery Clift is superlative in the major role of Robert Prewitt, while Frank Sinatra delivers an electrifying Academy Award-winning (1953, Best Supporting Actor) performance as Clift's buddy. Deborah Kerr's love scene in the Hawaiian surf with Burt Lancaster is enshrined as one of the most famous moments in cinema history.
No relation to the 1992 Clint Eastwood film of almost the same name, 1959's The Unforgiven is based--like John Ford's The Searchers--on a novel by Alan LeMay. Again the story focuses on a frontier family divided by racism. But instead of the complex, endlessly resonant demonology of the Ford picture, here John Huston aims for a pat, civil-rights-era allegory of loving solidarity triumphing over societal prejudice--and, to be sure, some noble but dangerous Kiowas. Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn costar as, respectively, the eldest son of a ranching family and the beloved sister who's not his sister at all, but an Indian. However, the film's dark heart belongs to Joseph Wiseman as an avenging ghost who materialises out of the wind and Lillian Gish as the matriarch who will do whatever she must to protect her clan. --Richard T Jameson
Titles Comprise: Gunfight At The O.K Corral: Acclaimed actors Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas team up to rid Tombstone Arizona of the murderous Clanton gang in this all-star action-packed classic. When lawman Wyatt Earp (Lancaster) and gunfighter ""Doc"" Holiday (Douglas) ride into town they find themselves pitted against one of the biggest foes ever encountered in the form of Ike Clanton (Lyle Bettger) and his ruthless gang. It isn't long before the confrontation explodes into a survival-at-all-costs battle with Rhonda Fleming Jo Van Fleet John Ireland Dennis Hopper Deforest Kelley Martin Milner and Lee Van Cleef among those swept into the drama and excitement of one of the Wild West's most legendary events! Hud: Paul Newman is Hud a man at odds with his father tradition and himself. Hud's only interests are fighting drinking hot-rodding his Cadillac and womanising. Melvyn Douglas is the father an old-line cattle rancher and Patricia Neal is the understanding and appealing housekeeper. Academy Awards went to Patricia Neal Melvyn Douglas and James Wong Howe's brilliant cinematography. Once Upon A Time In The West: Sergio Leone's monumental epic 'Once Upon A Time In The West' ranks among the five or six all-time Western masterpieces. The picture itself is as big as its Monument Valley locations as grand as its fine distinguished cast. Henry Fonda plays the blackest character of his long career. He's Frank the ruthless murderous psychopath who suffers conscience pangs after annihilating an entire family. Jason Robards is the half-breed falsely accused of the terrible slaughter. Charles Bronson plays the harmonica playing man who remembers how his brother was savagely tortured. Brilliantly directed by Leone and accompanied by one of Ennio Morriconne's greatest scores this glorious picture helped re-establish the Western's significance. Watch out for that lengthy opening titles sequence...
Long before The Full Monty there was this lovely fish-out-of-water comedy by deft Scots writer-director Bill Forsyth (Gregory's Girl). Set in the 1980s during a period of controversy over North Sea oil drilling, Local Hero follows a likeable, woolly American junior executive (Peter Riegert) dispatched from Texas by his blustering boss (a high-spirited Burt Lancaster) to a small fishing village on the coast of Scotland for the purpose of swindling the presumably simple-minded locals out of their drilling rights. The surprise isn't that the villagers turn the tables on the American schemers, but that they do so without displaying a hint of malice. They get a kick out of flummoxing the city slickers. Even Lancaster's greed-head Felix Happer eventually has a change of heart. In outline, this may sound more ordinary than it feels as you're watching it. The fine young British actor Denis Lawson, who had a tiny role as one of the fighter pilots in Star Wars plays Riegert's UK contact, Gordon Urquhart, a sad sack with a noble soul. --David Chute
Sydney Pollack's Gothic war drama stars the great Burt Lancaster as the brutal, one-eyed army major in charge of a small group of American GIs fighting to save the castle they're stationed in during World War II. INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES: High Definition remaster Original mono audio New interview with actor Tony Bill (2017, tbc mins) Archival Interview with author William Eastlake (1968, 30 mins) Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by critic Brad Stevens, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and historic articles on the film World premiere on Blu-ray Limited Dual Format Edition of 3,000 copies
Brothers and sisters, can we get a witness for Elmer Gantry, a woeful tale of saints and sinners? Burt Lancaster earned his only Oscar as the wide-smiling, glad-handing, soul-saving charlatan Gantry, a salesman who turns his gift for preaching into a career at the pulpit. Climbing on board the barnstorming evangelical tour of revivalist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), Gantry declaims, invokes, and sermonises his way to the top, until a former flame-turned-prostitute (Shirley Jones in an Oscar-winning performance) threatens to reveal his dark past as a womaniser and con man. Lancaster harnesses all his physical vigour and natural charisma for this role, literally throwing himself into his preaching with the suppleness of an acrobat and the sing-song delivery of a gospel singer--he even brays like a hound to show the Holy Spirit within him. Gantry is a showman, pure and simple, and while he doesn't fool true-believer Sister Sharon, he gives her a few object lessons in playing the crowd. Director Richard Brooks, who also took home an Oscar for his screenplay (adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel), creates a rousing drama both on and off the pulpit, and provides fine roles for an excellent supporting cast, including Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, John McIntire, and singer Patti Page. --Sean Axmaker
Times are hard for Lou (Burt Lancaster) an ageing petty crook. He glamorises his past by claiming he worked for the 'big time' gangsters like Al Capone. However his fantasies start to take on a new significance when he becomes involved with a young hippy couple who have stolen a consignment of cocaine from the Mob...
Burt Lancaster is an uncompromising lawman who defies the odds when he single-handedly confronts a gang of killers in this extraordinarily perceptive and action-packed tale of life and justice on the American frontier. When Sabbath town-boss Vincent Bronson and his drunken ranch hands unwittingly kill and old man in Bannack everyone knows it was an accident. Everyone that is except Bannack's marshal Jered Maddox. A tough no nonsense man of the law Maddox is determined to br
Delbert Mann's 1958 classic MGM drama Separate Tables, based on a Terence Rattigan play and co-scripted by Rattigan himself, is a star-studded character study of a group of residents at a small British seaside town. Lovely but vulnerable Anne Shankland (Rita Hayworth) travels to the hotel in hopes of starting over with her ex-husband, John (Burt Lancaster), but she does not know that he is already engaged to Pat Cooper (Wendy Hiller), the manager of the hotel. Meanwhile, Mrs Railton-bell (Gladys Cooper) discovers the hidden truth about war veteran Major Pollack (David Niven). Considered daring in its day due to its frank discussions of sexual topics, Separate Tables was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won for Best Actor (David Niven) and Best Supporting Actress (Wendy Hiller). Special features: Other extras TBC Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film and full film credits
Director John Sturges turns the west upside down in this rip-roaring Western comedy about the year Denver was nearly devastated by a drought (of whiskey) and had to have forty wagonloads imported through very harsh (and very thirsty) territory!
This gripping, provocative and powerful film sheds a controversial light on the darkest era in modern history. Nominated for eleven Oscars® including Best Picture, Judgment at Nuremberg contains searing performances by an all-star cast that includes Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland. American judge Daniel Haywood (Spencer Tracy) presides over the trial of four German jurists accused of 'legalising' Nazi atrocities. As graphic accounts of sterilisation and murder unfold in the courtroom, mounting political pressure for leniency forces Haywood into making the most harrowing and difficult decision of his career. Product Features Presented in High Definition Audio commentary by filmmaker and film historian Jim Hemphill (2019) The Guardian Interview: Maximillian Schell (1971, 86 mins, audio only): the award-winning actor and director talks about his career in this interview recorded at the National Film Theatre in London Original theatrical trailer Image gallery
One of the few bona fide counter-cultural films to be produced by a major studio, The Swimmer is a sun-scorched and surreal suburban satire that boasts a fine performance from Burt Lancaster (Castle Keep, Buffalo Bill and the Indians) as Ned Merrill, the all-American man who one day determines to swim home to his Connecticut mansion via a series of pools in his neighbourhood. Directed by Frank Perry (Diary of a Mad Housewife) imbues Eleanor Perry's (David and Lisa, Ladybug Ladybug) adaptation of John Cheever's short story with stunning expressionistic flourishes, creating a true masterpiece of cinema. Product Features High Definition remaster Original mono audio Audio commentary with Frank Perry biographer Justin Bozung (2022) The original New Yorker short story read by author John Cheever Original theatrical trailer Illeana Douglas trailer commentary (2019) Image gallery: promotional and publicity material New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Sophie Monks Kaufman, a profile of writer John Cheever, extracts from interviews with Frank Perry and Eleanor Perry on the making of the film, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits Limited edition exclusive poster UK premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 5,000 copies for the UK More extras to be announced All extras subject to change
Town constable Bob Valdez (Lancaster) must confront evil double-crossing rancher Frank Tanner (Cypher) after he's duped into leaving a widow penniless. After an attempt on his life Valdez summons the courage and strength he learned in the army to plan a righteous and bloody revenge. Tension mounts when after wounding one of Tanner's henchmen our hero sends him back to the land baron with the immortal message of the title ""Valdez is coming""...
From Here to Eternity offers a much more heartfelt interpretation of the event that propelled the United States into World War II than any film made in recent years. Here there are no angst-ridden scenes where "true love" returns from the dead, no costly CGI and definitely no Hallmark happy ending. This is a film about illicit sex, military machismo and tragic loss of love, friendship and ultimately life. The filmmakers did, however, have to make some compromises when adapting James Jones's novel: Alma becomes a "hostess" rather than a prostitute and the very downbeat ending, where Captain Holmes is essentially rewarded for his brutality by the military, was replaced with the morally acceptable punishment of his actions by a more self-aware army. Although Private Robert E Lee Pruitt's story provides the meat of the film, there are other subplots woven into the narrative, including a couple of doomed love affairs, which explore themes of adultery and social acceptance. Sergeant Warden (Burt Lancaster) begins a torrid affair with the commander's wife Karen (Deborah Kerr) leading to one of the most famous moments in movie history--the "clinch in the surf". From then on everything is challenged. Love, honour and eventually whether you should conform or stand up for what you believe in. At the end the couples are left wondering about the future of their relationship, but fate decides for them as the Japanese launch their attack on Pearl Harbor, leaving us with one of the most dramatic and moving endings of any war film. On the DVD: The black and white film is not anamorphically enhanced but presented full frame in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, although the transfer is well done and the picture is pretty sharp. Sound is 2.0 mono rather than the standard 5.1 reworking of the audio track, and it works. The dialogue is clear without any noticeable hiss. There's a 22-minute "making of" documentary, which doesn't really do justice to the film and contains very little information of interest. Along with this is Fred Zinnemann's As I See It, an extract from the director's home video footage from the shoot. You also get the theatrical trailer, but the best feature is the audio commentary, by Fred Zinnemann's son Tim and screenwriter Alvin Sargent, which has some fantastic detail about the struggle between director and studio-head Harry Cohn over casting, along with the run-ins with the censor and US military over the "inflammatory nature" of the film.--Kristen Bowditch
As the private eye of private eyes Steve Martin is Rigby Reardon. He's tough rough and ready to take on anything when Juliet Forrest appears on the scene with a case: her father a noted scientist philanthropist and cheesemaker has died mysteriously. Reardon immediately smells a rat and follows a complex maze of clues that lead to the 'Carlotta Lists'. With a little help from his 'friends' Alan Ladd Barbara Stanwyck Ray Milland Burt Lancaster Humphrey Bogart Charles Laughton
Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas star as larger-than life heroes in this classic Western epic directed by John Sturges. Frontier lawman Wyatt Earp (Lancaster) joins his three brothers in their feud against the villainous Clanton gang, a local clan of cattle thieves in Tombstone, Arizona. When Earp defends the sickly gambler John Doc Holliday (Douglas) and puts a stop to the Clanton's lawlessness, the ruthless outlaws seek revenge and murder one of Earp's brothers. This leads the men into the most devastating showdown in Wild West history! Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a timeless, cinematic tale of good versus evil.
A Mexican-American sheriff must resort to violence against a powerful rancher in order to get just compensation for the pregnant Indian widow of a wrongly killed black man.
Presiding over the courtroom in which twenty one members of the Nazi High Command are accused of crimes against humanity is a small-town American judge who is determined to uphold justice and truth in the explosive conflict between freedom and tyranny...
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