"Actor: Robert Patten"

• Joe Kidd | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £9.39   |  Saving you £0.60 (6.39%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Joe Kidd which concerns a land war in New Mexico at the turn of the century marks Clint Eastwood at the top of his form as a western hero. Filmed in 1971 Kidd brings together a veteran western Director John Sturges the classic backdrop of the High Sierras the top notch acting skills of Robert Duvall and the rugged Eastwood as a ""hired gun"" who takes action based on his own particular sense of justice. And like a very classic western it has gunfights conflicts and a slam-bang f

• The Outer Limits - The Original Series - Vol. 1 | DVD | (12/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission... Surrender yourself to the mysterious world of 'The Outer Limits' as one of the creepiest and most provocative series in television history comes to DVD. This fantastic box set comprises every episode from the first season and a glut of eery extras. Featuring 32 original episodes on 8 discs! Episodes comprise: 1. Galaxy Being 2. Hundred Days of

• Zachariah | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Advertised in 1970 as "the first electric Western", Zachariah is an endearingly pretentious effort that prefigures such genre oddities as Jodorowsky's El Topo and Alex Cox's Straight to Hell. The story is the archetypal one about two friends who become gunslingers and must inevitably face off against each other in the finale, but it's treated here as if it Meant Something Deeper--which means that after enjoying 75 minutes of violence we can all agree that peace and love and harmony is on the whole better for children and other living things. Curly haired farmboy Zachariah (John Rubinstein) and eternally grinning apprentice blacksmith Matthew (Don Johnson) are the fast friends who run away from home to join up with a gang of outlaws known as the Crackers (played by hippie folk-rock collective Country Joe and the Fish). These apparent 19th-century Westerners tote electric guitars and are given to staging free festival freak-outs at one end of town to distract from the bank robbery at the other. The boys soon hook up with Job Cain (Elvin Jones), an all-in-black master gunfighter who is also an ace drummer (his solo is impressive), but then drift apart as Zachariah has a liaison with Old West madame Belle Starr (Pat Quinn) in a town that consists of fairground-style brightly painted wooden cut out buildings (a gag reused in Blazing Saddles), then gets rid of his outrageous all-white cowboy outfit to settle down on a homestead and grow his own dope and vegetables. Matthew, of course, goes for the black leather look after outdrawing Cain, and comes a gunning for the only man who might be faster than him, but the hippie-era message is once these kids have killed everyone else they can still make peace with each other and the desert or something, man. Aside from a Beatle-haired teenage Johnson making a fool of himself by over-emoting to contrast with Rubinstein's non-performance, the film offers a lot of beautiful "acid Western" scenery and excellent prog rock and bluegrass music from the James Gang, White Lightnin' and the New York Rock Ensemble. Comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre (huge on album in 1970) provided the script, which explains satirical touches like the horse-and-buggy salesman (Dick Van Patten) spieling like a used car dealer and the madame's claim to have had affairs with gunslingers from Billy the Kid to Marshal McLuhan. The DVD extras are skimpy, but the print quality is outstanding. --Kim Newman

• Joe Kidd | Blu Ray | (09/09/2016) from £10.11   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Clint Eastwood's stardom was supernova, thanks to Dirty Harry; John Sturges, the man behind The Magnificent Seven and a dozen other memorably leathery Westerns, was directing; and Elmore Leonard was the screenwriter. It just goes to show. Joe Kidd is a muddle and a drag, the shoddiest Eastwood vehicle since Rowdy Yates trod in his last cow flop. Kidd, first seen as a duded-up drunk sleeping one off in jail, is supposed to be a horse rancher and an expert tracker--just the fellow a rapacious land-grabber (Robert Duvall committing lazy villainy) needs to chase down the uppity Latino (John Saxon) who's trying to reclaim the grabbed land for its rightful owners. Neither the characters nor the overland pursuit makes any sense, thanks to chasms in the continuity and no direction to speak of. An absurdly arbitrary assault-by-locomotive provides the climax; as Eastwood observed, "Jesus, anything at this point--let's end it." --Richard T. Jameson

• Twelve O'Clock High | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £6.92   |  Saving you £6.07 (87.72%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This gritty World War II action drama starring Gregory Peck Oscar winner Dean Jagger Hugh Marlowe Gary Merrill and Millard Mitchell is seen as one of the most realistic portrayals of the heroics and perils of war. Convinced an Air Force Commander is at breaking point Brigadier General Savage (Gregory Peck) takes over his struggling bomber group. At first resentful and rebellious the flyers gradually change as Savage guides them to amazing feats. But the stress of command soon

• Charly | DVD | (02/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Released in 1968, Charly is a period-piece from the summer of love when "natural" was nirvana, the air hummed with the mantra "Everybody's beautiful", and all ills stemmed from institutional monoliths such as Science, Government, Education, and Religion. It is adapted from Daniel Keyes' novel Flowers for Algernon and its hero, Charly (Cliff Robertson), is 30 years old and mentally handicapped. His innocent sweetness makes him superior to most able-minded folk, whether they're the bigoted dolts he sweeps floors for or the ambitious scientists who see him as the human equivalent of Algernon, a mouse they've surgically (but impermanently) smartened up. Naturally, post-op Charly, sporting a genius IQ, "sees things as they are". Trotted out as the neurosurgeons' poster boy, he stands up to the "learned" audience--shot as faceless, inhuman interrogators. He's every 60s flower child, berating his "elders" for blighting their brave new world. The one reward Charly derives from his higher IQ is sex. In a lengthy montage resembling a retro TV commercial, he and his teacher (Claire Bloom, a madonna with an eternal Mona Lisa smile) romp through Edenic gardens, their embraces hallowed by sunlight glinting through leaves, moonlight glinting on water, and sappy Ravi Shankar music (stylistic clichés also include embarrassing outbreaks of split screens and multiple small screens within the frame, notably when rebellious Charly turns biker). Robertson's performance is well-meaning but mawkishly sentimental. Still, in the penultimate moments when Charly begins to slide back into mental illness, the actor achieves a genuine tragic gravity, and he became a surprise Oscar winner for his pains. --Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com

• Twelve O'Clock High | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £6.87   |  Saving you £6.12 (89.08%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The war-time memories of surviving World War II bomber squadrons were still crystal clear when this acclaimed drama was released in 1949--one of the first post-war films out of Hollywood to treat the war on emotionally complex terms. Framed by a post-war prologue and epilogue and told as a flashback appreciation of war-time valour and teamwork, the film stars Gregory Peck in one of his finest performances as a callous general who assumes command of a bomber squadron based in England. At first, the new commander has little rapport with the 918th Bomber Group, whose loyalties still belong with their previous commander. As they continue to fly dangerous mission over Germany, however, the group and their new leader develop mutual respect and admiration, until the once-alienated commander feels that his men are part of a family--men whose bravery transcends the rigours of rigid discipline and by-the-book leadership. The film's now-classic climax, in which the general waits patiently for his squad to return to base--painfully aware that they may not return at all--is one of the most subtle yet emotionally intense scenes of any World War II drama. With Peck in the lead and Dean Jagger doing Oscar-winning work in a crucial supporting role, this was one of veteran director Henry King's proudest achievements, and it still packs a strong dramatic punch. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The War Collection | DVD | (08/08/2005) from £23.90   |  Saving you £36.09 (151.00%)   |  RRP £59.99

  A collection of 10 all-time classic war films in one box set! Twelve O'Clock High (Dir. Henry King 1940): This gritty WWII action drama starring Gregory Peck Dean Jagger and Hugh Marlowe is seen as one of the most realistic portrayals of heroics at war. Behind Enemy Lines (Dir. John Moore 2001): Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson excel in this high flying action thriller with explosive excitement at every turn. Courage Under Fire (Dir. Edward Zwick 1996): Featuri

• To Heal A Nation | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  When Jan Scruggs returns from the Vietnam War he feels alienated from the world he left only two short years ago. Jan only feels comfortable when he is in the company of someone with whom he shares a common bond - another Vietnam veteran. Jan forms an idea to heal the wounds of a nation split apart by war and at a veterans' meeting he suggests a memorial to those who fought in vietnam. Jan's idea is met with angry disapproval and so he takes on the memorial as his personal goal determined to honour those who served.

• To Heal A Nation | DVD | (01/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  When Jan Scruggs return home from the Vietnam War he feels alienated from the world he left only two short years ago Jan only feels comfortable when he is in the company of someone with whom he shares a common bond - another Vietnam veteran.Jan forms an ideal to heal the wounds of a nation split apart by war; and at a veterans' meeting suggests a memorial to those who fought in Vietnam. Jan's idea is met with angry disapproval and so he takes on the memorial as his personal goal determined to honour those who served.