"Actor: Hal Holbrook"

• Haven | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £4.95   |  Saving you £-2.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  For 1000 survivors of the Holocaust Ruth Gruber was their only hope. During WW2 in Nazi occupied Europe Ruth risked her life to help the Jewish victims escape to the United States. Based on a true story.

• Capricorn One | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?" scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O J Simpson star as three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid in his attempt rescue the hoax mission's sole survivor. --Jeff Shannon

• Waking The Dead | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £12.45   |  Saving you £-6.46 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Waking the Dead, like director-writer Keith Gordon's earlier films (The Chocolate War, A Midnight Clear, Mother Night), is based on a well-regarded modern novel (by Scott Spencer) and has a great many quiet virtues: a genuine engagement with near-contemporary America, complicated characters well-played by a cast of perfectly selected not-quite-star performers and a questioning approach that sits ill with the too-easy answers of most contemporary films. The complex story opens in 1974 with the death in a car bomb explosion of Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly), a radical working with a faction of left-wing Catholics to rescue dissidents from Chile. This has a devastating effect on her straighter boyfriend, Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup), who is working within the system with an eye on rising in the Democratic Party through the patronage of a senior figure (Hal Holbrook), the man who is eventually to become the President. We flash back to 1972 and Fielding's intense relationship with Sarah, marked by romantic and political differences that feel far more real than the contrived oppositional arguments in most political movies. Then skip 10 years forward to find a sleeker, hollow-faced Fielding running for Congress, tormented not only by memories of Sarah but her actual or phantasmal appearances. Another film might play this as a paranoid mystery thriller, but this goes for psychology, and Crudup delivers an intense portrait of a man cracking up by the loss of his ideals as much as his life's love--climaxing in a terrific restaurant outburst to his needy, congratulatory family. Unreleased theatrically in the UK, this outstanding film has award-quality performances from Crudup and Connelly, both doing their best screen work to date. On the DVD: The picture is presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital sound. You get the usual trailer, filmographies and puff piece featurette, but also three superb extras: a commentary from Gordon that passionately and intelligently addresses the thematic material and production circumstances of the film; a package of deleted scenes that goes well beyond the usual irrelevant snippets--everything here offers additional insights into the plot and character; tracks from the composers Tomandandy which play over the menus--a rare feature that's liable to become more common. --Kim Newman

• Judas Kiss | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £13.21   |  Saving you £-4.23 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson star in this stylish New Orlean thriller about a kidnapping that goes wrong - or was it planned that way all along?

• A Killing In A Small Town | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £6.96   |  Saving you £-0.97 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In a small town a woman is found brutally murdered by an axe. There are no suspects or witnesses to the killing. Based on the novel 'Evidence Of Love' by John Bloom who based the story on the actual events in a small American town.

• Creepshow | DVD | (27/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Two macabre masters - writer Stephen King and director George A. Romero - conjure up five shocking yarns each a virtuoso exercise in the ghouls-and-gags style of classic '50s horror comics. A murdered man emerges from the grave for Father's Day cake. A meteor's ooze makes everything... grow. A professor selects his wife as a snack for a crated creature. A scheming husband plants two lovers up to their necks in terror. A malevolent millionaire with an insect phobia becomes the prey of a cockroach army. Add the spirited performances of a fine cast (Hal Holbrook Adrienne Barbeau Leslie Nielsen Ted Danson E.G. Marshall and King himself) and the ghoulish makeup wizardry of Tom Savini. Let the Creepshow begin!

• Acts Of Love | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Available for the first time on DVD! No love is safe from desire. Joseph (Dennis Hopper) is a small town teacher who has given up on both life and his tentative relationship with his childhood sweetheart Rosealee (Amy Irving). That is until he becomes caught up in a passionate affair with Catherine (Amy Locane) the vivacious 17 year old daughter of a gruff retired major (Gary Busey) and an alcoholic mother. As his steamy liasion with Catherine develops Joseph begins to realise tha

• Hiroshima | DVD | (20/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This story is true... a nightmarish decision had to be made. A handful of men had to take the lives of thousands of Japanese civilians with a single bomb to end World War 2 or send a million American soldiers to almost certain death on foreign soil. The decision was made... The Atomic bomb was dropped and Hiroshima became part of world history. This powerful thought provoking presentation features the physicist who discovers the method of splitting the Atom and Brian Dennehy as the hard driving abrasive general who spearheads the making of the bomb. A gripping tale which features an all star cast it chronicles the monumental effort and diverse personalities suspicion rivalries and moral conflicts surrounding the development of the weapon that changed history of the world.

• Water for Elephants - Triple Play (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) | Blu Ray | (05/09/2011) from £7.64   |  Saving you £20.34 (437.42%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Sara Gruen's bestselling novel comes to glossy life in this period romance. A sparkle-free Robert Pattinson plays Jacob Jankowski, who studies veterinary medicine during the Great Depression. After a family tragedy, he loses everything, including the chance to graduate from prestigious Cornell, so he hops a train, where he finds himself part of the struggling Benzini Brothers Circus. Ringleader August (Christoph Waltz, echoing his Oscar®-winning Inglourious Basterds performance) has doubts about the softhearted lad, but a fellow Pole smoothes the way, and Jacob becomes the company vet, which leads him to platinum-blonde equestrian Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), August's wife. The two make eyes at each other, but an affair would surely end badly, so they concentrate on their work. When Marlena's prize steed falls ill, August purchases an elephant, hoping Rosie will turn their fortunes around, and enlists Jacob to train her. Unfortunately, she's slow to respond to commands until Jankowski unlocks her secret--and after August has beaten the poor thing into submission. After that, things start to look up until Jacob steals a kiss from his dream girl. As in The Notebook, the film it most closely resembles, an elderly version of the central character (Hal Holbrook, touching) narrates in the present day (screenwriter Richard LaGravenese also adapted The Bridges of Madison County). He tells an interesting tale, so it's too bad the leads strike so few sparks. For those who find big-top classics like Nightmare Alley too dark, however, Francis Lawrence's feel-better variant may be just the ticket. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Hush | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £2.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In the tradition of Die! Die! My Darling comes this tale of a young heroine made miserable by a lover's eccentric relations. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a New Yorker who marries a handsome boyfriend (Jonathon Schaech) and--following a confidence-shattering encounter with Manhattan crime--moves to his family's thoroughbred ranch. There, the young man's dominating mother (a hammy, Blanche DuBois-like role for Jessica Lange) goes to war with new bride's claim on mama's Oedipal turf. A stock thriller ensues and while one has a sense of déjà vu about the whole thing, the film is fun for its audacity, its underpinnings of dime-store psychology and some gothic stereotypes. (Hal Holbrook is perfect as one's fantasy of a country doctor.) --Tom Keogh

• Hush | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £5.38   |  Saving you £14.61 (73.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the tradition of Die! Die! My Darling comes this tale of a young heroine made miserable by a lover's eccentric relations. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a New Yorker who marries a handsome boyfriend (Jonathon Schaech) and--following a confidence-shattering encounter with Manhattan crime--moves to his family's thoroughbred ranch. There, the young man's dominating mother (a hammy, Blanche DuBois-like role for Jessica Lange) goes to war with new bride's claim on mama's Oedipal turf. A stock thriller ensues and while one has a sense of déjà vu about the whole thing, the film is fun for its audacity, its underpinnings of dime-store psychology and some gothic stereotypes. (Hal Holbrook is perfect as one's fantasy of a country doctor.) --Tom Keogh

• Rusty: The Great Rescue | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £5.00   |  Saving you £7.99 (159.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Loyal and lovable Rusty the beagle is not about to let anyone mess with his recently orphaned ""humans "" Jory and Tess. So when some greedy cousins try to get their paws on the kids' trust fund Rusty enlists the help of a mad menagerie of animals to show the trouble-makers that they're barking up the wrong tree!

• Magnum Force | Blu Ray | (09/06/2008) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A group of renegade San Francisco law enforcers are using policing methods which even hardened Detective Harry Callahan considers to be beyond the pale. As drugs bosses pimps and other street low-life drop like flies Callahan is assigned to track down the loose cannon cops who have decided to take the law into their own hands. The sequel to Dirty Harry with a script co-written by a young Michael Cimino (director of 'The Deer Hunter' and 'Heaven's Gate').

• The Unholy | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £12.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  More controversial than The Exorcist; more terrifying than The Omen... Ben Cross Hal Holbrook Ned Beatty and the legendary Trevor Howard star in 'The Unholy' a supernatural thriller of demonic proportions. After a miraculous recovery from a seventeen-storey fall Father Michael (Cross) is appointed pastor of St. Agnes church which has been closed for three years following the mysterious and violent deaths of his predecessors. When the young priest is told he is the Chosen One Father Michael sets out on a search for the answer to these mysteries... but what he encounters is a life and death battle with the demon of desire The Unholy.

• Men Of Honour | DVD | (27/05/2013) from £9.43   |  Saving you £0.56 (5.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A military drama starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr that tells the true story of Carl Bashear who combated racism to become the US Navy's first African-American deep-sea diver.

• The Unholy | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £9.43   |  Saving you £6.56 (69.57%)   |  RRP £15.99

  More controversial than The Exorcist; more terrifying than The Omen... Ben Cross Hal Holbrook Ned Beatty and the legendary Trevor Howard star in The Unholy a supernatural thriller of demonic proportions. After a miraculous recovery from a seventeen-storey fall Father Michael (Cross) is appointed pastor of St. Agnes church which has been closed for three years following the mysterious and violent deaths of his predecessors. When the young priest is told he is the ""Chosen One"" Father Michael sets out on a search for the answer to these mysteries... but what he encounters is a life and death battle with the demon of desire The Unholy.

• Bonds Of Love | DVD | (28/05/2007) from £3.80   |  Saving you £2.19 (57.63%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Robby Smith and Rose Parks are two lost souls. Mentally disabled Robby still lives with his over-protective family and ex-alcoholic Rose is regarded as a `bad woman so Robby's parents react with predictable horror when the two fall in love. But they have failed to gauge the strength and purity of Robby and Rose's feelings for each other - a situation complicated by their secret marriage. As Robby's parents launch a legal battle to reclaim their son can Rose prove that her bad reputation is far from merited? And can Robby prove that he can be an independent and valued member of society?

• Operation Delta Force | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  They're armed they're ready and they're very very dangerous. They're the gung ho shock troops whos mission it is to blast their way into any of the world's 'hot zones' and dish out their own special brand of deadly justice. They're the Delta Force and every one of them would make Rambo look like a dress wearing sissy when it comes to sorting out the bad guys!

• Antwone Fisher / Men Of Honour | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £13.93   |  Saving you £6.06 (43.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Autobiographical movies rarely get more truthfully moving than Antwone Fisher. The title is also the name of this fine drama's first-time screenwriter, a former Navy seaman who was working as a film-studio security guard when his life-inspired script was developed as Denzel Washington's directorial debut. This Hollywood dream gets better: unbeknown to the filmmakers, Derek Luke--a newcomer who won the title role over a throng of famous contenders--was also a friend of Fisher's, and the whole film seems blessed by this fortunate coincidence. Washington's sharp instincts as an actor serve him well, as both a subtle-handed director and Luke's costar playing Jerome Davenport, a Navy psychologist assigned to assess Fisher's chronic violent temper. Their therapy sessions prove mutually beneficial, as this touching true story addresses painful memories, broken desires, and heartfelt reunions without resorting to a contrived happy ending. Fisher's good life is worth celebrating, and Washington brings a delicate touch to the party. --Jeff Shannon Originally, Men of Honour was simply called Navy Diver and no doubt all involved held high hopes that it would be an award-winning biopic. Unfortunately, Carl Brashear's life as the first African-American Master Diver went through that vaguely distasteful contemporary Hollywood Marketing makeover and the result is not quite so worthy of its subject and intentions. The film's hopelessly clichéd tagline reads, "History is made by those who break the rules"; the direction is shot through with sunsets 'n' slow-mo; and the script is peppered with foreshadowing dialogue ("don't end up like me, son"). The plot devices follow a predictable arc: family poverty, a swiftly sweet romance, a shock accident, court hearing and, naturally, a grisly antagonist. It's with the last of these that the movie comes to life. We may have seen DeNiro spit nails countless times before, but his saltily intractable Master Chief is a terrific screen creation. Next to him, Cuba Gooding Jr really does shine as the endlessly persecuted Brashear. All-too brief cameos from Charlise Theron and Michael Rapaport lend sparkle too. But the film's message about how social attitudes toward race have changed is lost in a murky haze of Hollywoodisation. As one character declares, "some things just don't mix". --Paul Tonks

• Capricorn One / Saturn 3 | DVD | (17/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?" scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O J Simpson star as three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid in his attempt rescue the hoax mission's sole survivor. --Jeff Shannon