"Actor: Rod Sterling"

• Conspiracy Theory | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £12.94   |  Saving you £1.05 (8.11%)   |  RRP £13.99

  What is it about director Richard Donner that Mel Gibson enjoys so much that he's appeared in five of Donner's films? Is it the on-set pranks? Could it be the big-budget perks and $20 million paychecks? Or is it just a well-stocked catering table? Whatever the case, the Lethal Weapon star and director teamed up again, along with fellow superstar Julia Roberts, for this typically glossy, entertaining but ultimately hokey thriller. Gibson plays New York cab driver Jerry Fletcher, whose wacky belief in conspiracies finally hits on a coincidental truth involving an evil figure named Jonas (Patrick Stewart) and a secret program of government-funded mind control. Roberts plays the Justice Department attorney who finally believes in Jerry's paranoid ramblings. With a plot (from LA Confidential co-writer Brian Helgeland) that's a lot of fun as long as you don't think about it too critically, Conspiracy Theory benefits immeasurably from the charisma of its high-magnitude stars. --Jeff Shannon

• The Harder They Fall | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £7.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (62.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A movie that proved a fine swansong for Humphrey Bogart, The Harder They Fall is a gripping drama set against a background of fixed boxing matches. Not so much about the fights as the exploitation of the sport, the film is based on a novel by Budd Schulberg, whose Oscar-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront (1954) helped turn Rod Steiger into a star. Here Steiger delivers an equally bravura performance as the chillingly corrupt manager, Nick Benko, a man who will do anything to turn a buck. Bogart meanwhile is outstanding as unemployed sports writer Eddie Willis, hired against his better judgement to promote a no-hope Argentinean boxer, Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). Powerfully written, if built around the unlikely premise of building a 10th-rate fighter into a world-class contender, the drama is essentially a battle for Willis's soul as he is torn between money and conscience. Though the scenes with Bogart and Steiger facing off are the strongest and a veritable masterclass of hardboiled characterisation, Mark Robson, who also helmed the Kirk Douglas boxing classic Champion (1949), directs with a convincingly dirty realism, the final punishing and bloody match a clear influence on Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980). On the DVD: The Harder They Fall's anamorphic 1.77:1 transfer is excellent with only one brief scene showing any significant print damage. Burnett Guffey's noir-ish black-and-white cinematography looks sharp and fresh as the day it was shot, with only minimal grain. The mono sound is strong and clear, without a hint of distortion or compression. The only extra is a scored gallery of posters and lobby cards from other Bogart films available on Columbia. There are dubbed versions in French, German, Spanish and Italian, and a plethora of subtitle options. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Harder They Fall (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (22/04/2024) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Humphrey Bogart (Knock on Any Door), Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night), and Mike Lane (The New Centurions) star in The Harder They Fall, a tough-as-nails film noir exposé of corruption in the boxing world that would be Bogart's final film. Boxing promoter Nick Benko (Steiger) employs down-on-his-luck journalist Eddie Willis (Bogart) to promote his new signing, Toro Moreno (Lane), fixing fights across the country to ensure Toro appears to be a contender. But, when tragedy strikes, Willis threatens to expose the entire racket... Adapted by Philip Yordan (Johnny Guitar) from a novel by Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront), and directed by Mark Robson (The Seventh Victim), The Harder They Fall is a classic of Hollywood cinema, and a fitting swan song to Humprey Bogart's career. Product Features 4K restoration Original mono audio Audio commentary with critics and writers Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme (2022) The Final Bout (2022, 11 mins): critic and writer Christina Newland examines the making of the film, and its relationship to the original novel Bertrand Tavernier on 'The Harder They Fall' (2017, 30 mins): archival appreciation by the celebrated filmmaker and critic Max Baer Super 8s (6 mins): footage of two famous bouts from the 1930s, featuring the boxer and, later, actor fighting against Max Schmeling, then Primo Carnera That Justice Be Done (1945, 11 mins): George Stevens' short on the Nuremberg trials, made by the Office of War Information and written by Budd Schulberg Image gallery: promotional and publicity material New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Night Gallery - Season 1 | DVD | (11/01/2016) from £14.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (66.71%)   |  RRP £24.99

  14 TERRIFYING STORIES PLUS THE ORIGINAL PILOT MOVIE! Prepare for the chill of a lifetime as the master of suspense, Rod Serling, hosts 17 episodes of terror in this classic series, featuring the original pilot movie and every spine-tingling episode from the complete First Season of Night Gallery. Be thrilled by stories adapted from short stories by such legendary writes as H.P. Lovecraft and Conrad Aiken, starring Hollywood greats including Diane Keaton, Joan Crawford and Roddy McDowall, and directed by cinematic masters like Steven Spielberg in this unforgettable series.

• Sirocco / Dead Reckoning / The Harder They Fall / In A Lonely Place | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £24.28   |  Saving you £-1.29 (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  This box set features a collection of some of Bogie's finest efforts in the 'film noir' genre. Sirocco (Dir. Curtis Bernhardt 1951): In 1925 Damascus Harry Smith (Bogart) runs guns to the rebels under Emir Hassan. The French arrest him along with others and force him to sell weapons to them where hHe develops an dangerous interest in French intelligence officer Feroud's mistress Violette... Dead Reckoning (Dir. John Cromwell 1947): Rip Murdock (Bogart) and Johnny