"Actor: Gavin MacLeod"

• Kelly's Heroes | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.35   |  Saving you £7.64 (120.31%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Kelly's Heroes reunited Clint Eastwood with his Where Eagles Dare director Brian G Hutton, then added The Dirty Dozen star Telly Savalas in MGM's quest to turn WWII movie celluloid into box office gold three times running. The result, a sprawling adventure about a group of soldiers led by Kelly (Eastwood) on a private mission behind enemy lines to recover a cache of Nazi treasure, echoed its predecessors but wasn't as successful. While Where Eagle's Dare was somewhat tongue in cheek, Kelly's Heroes went for a cynical comic amorality with many plot parallels to 1969's The Italian Job, written by screenwriter Troy Kennedy-Martin the year before. Donald Sutherland, who also starred in the big-screen M*A*S*H (1970), plays a hippie tank commander decades before his time, and it's hard not to see both movies as more commentaries on Vietnam than on the wars in which they were ostensibly set. Though it is intermittently very funny, and despite some expertly staged action, Kelly's Heroes never really convinces as satire or adventure. On the DVD: Kelly's Heroes is presented on disc in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer which is immaculate and taken from a virtually perfect master. The images are so clean and sharp they look brand new, outclassing many current theatrical prints. The three-channel sound concentrates most of the action to the centre speaker but does an excellent job of capturing the often turbulent soundtrack. The only real extra is the original trailer, presented anamorphically at 1.77:1.--Gary S Dalkin

• Operation Petticoat | DVD | (05/01/2010) from £11.47   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• War Hunt | DVD | (07/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  No one is a better soldier than Pvt. Raymond Endore (John Saxon) at least in his own mind. Stationed in Korea as the conflict between the United States and the divided peninsula is coming to an end Endore sleeps while his platoon works to gear up for his nightly patrols of the area. These patrols used to bring vital information but now they have become a nightly ritual for Endore to slash the throats of suspected enemies tolerated by a Captain (Charles Aidman) who fears Endore's unstable nature. A Korean war orphan (Tommy Matsuda) befriends Endore as well as an idealistic soldier (Robert Redford) and these two soldiers must decide the fate of the child as the ceasefire is announced.... Madness in men during their tour of duty a subject also at the heart of Hell Is For Heroes and Attack! is the focus of this brutal 1961 war drama. Redford in his film debut offers a strong counterpart to the criminally underrated John Saxon (who would go on to a career of character work) who gives a stunning performance as a killer who only seems at peace after taking the life of another victim.

• The Secrets Of Jonathan Sperry | DVD | (30/08/2010) from £16.52   |  Saving you £4.73 (31.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Dustin and his two best friends are twelve year olds just looking forward to a summer of fun in 1970. When Dustin mows the lawn of seventy-five-year-old Jonathan Sperry a local man he has seen at church a unique friendship develops. Plagued by a bully Dustin and his pals experience a lesson in faith endure the pain of losing their dear friend and witness incredible forgiveness deeper than any of them could ever have imagined.

• The Sand Pebbles | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £14.68   |  Saving you £-1.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  'The Sand Pebbles' tell many stories. It's the story of China a slumbering giant that rouses itself to the cries of its people - and of the Americans who are caught in its bloody awakening. It's the story of Frenchy (Richard Attenborough) a crewman on the USS San Pablo who kidnaps his Chinese bride from the auction block. Most of all it's the story of Jake Holman (Steve McQueen) a sailor who had given up trying to make peace with anything: including himself. Nominated for nine A

• The Sand Pebbles | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £5.38   |  Saving you £7.61 (58.60%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Director Robert Wise chose to film Robert McKenna's award-winning novel The Sand Pebbles as his follow-up to the success of The Sound of Music. Shot in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the film combines historical sweep and intimate human drama in several parallel stories, all revolving around US Navy machinist's mate Jake Holman (Steve McQueen), a skilful but fiercely independent sailor who joins the "sand pebble" crew of the USS San Pablo, a Navy gunboat patrolling the Yangtze River on the eve of the Chinese revolution in 1926. The San Pablo's inexperienced captain (Richard Crenna) obsessively defends the Navy's mission-however unnecessary or unwanted--to protect American missionaries and businessmen, blind to the more dangerous implications of American involvement with China's opposing political factions. Holman is a defiant voice of humanity in this clash between outmoded values and inevitable change; his final line of dialogue ("What the hell happened?") is a tragic summation of misguided policy, expressing the film's criticism of the Vietnam War. Rather than preach, however, Wise lets McKenna's potent drama emerge from finely drawn relationships: between Holman and a young American teacher (19-year-old Candice Bergen, in her second film); between Holman and the Chinese "coolie" (Mako), whose heart-breaking fate transcends all issues of racial or political difference; and between crewmate "Frenchy" Burgoyne (Richard Attenborough) and the Chinese woman he's sworn to love and protect at all costs. Combined with the film's colourful supporting cast, adventurous scope, and climactic battle scenes, these personal dynamics bring substance and spirit to a complex story of good intentions gone awry. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Love Boat - Series 1 | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  It's time to set sail on the high larious seas with Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLeod) Doc (Bernie Kopell) Gopher (Fred Grandy) Isaac the bartender (Ted Lange) Julie your Cruise Director (Lauren Tewes) and a boatload of memorable guest stars that will keep you laughing from port to port on their search for romance.

• Peter Sellers | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Peter Sellers Collection

• Operation Petticoat | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The U.S.S. Sea Tiger is on its last legs until the dapper skipper and his ingenious (if slightly unethical) junior officer scavenge the parts and supplies needed to put the sub back into action. Forced out to sea prematurely by an enemy air attack the sub leaks and limps along its path until five stranded army nurses come aboard and take over its renovation... and the sub ends up a blushing pink! Cary Grant Tony Curtis and a star-filled supporting cast keep the laughs afloat in on