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aka The Hijackers.
Terry (Antony Booth) is a self-employed lorry driver. On a job he meets Shirley (Jacqueline Ellis) at a cafe and gives her a lift. Unfortunately he's held up and his shipment of whiskey is hijacked. But how did the hijackers know that he had a valuable cargo and that he was going that route? Suspicion falls onto Terry's partner, who was conveniently ill for this trip.
A rather nice little crime flick from Butchers, which boasts some great performances by Booth and Derek Francis as the gang leader with a penchant for fine cooking.
Professor Hasdane (Tony Quinn) is an absent minded inventor who works for the Ministry of Defense. He's developed a bomb housed within a pen. A bomb that is set off by the sound of bells. On his way home from a demonstration he manages to leave a suitcase in a taxi which is found by cheeky cockney wideboy Sammy (Harry Fowler). Unfortunately the suitcase has a live pen bomb in it. Sammy offloads the case to a fence, before he's approached by the professor who is trying to find the case. Sammy tries to help the prof to find it once he learns there's a reward, but in the sort of co-incidence that only happens in films, Sammy's employer is Hunter (Sydney Tafler) a dodgy club owner and who sells drugs which are hidden inside pens! No chance of a mix up happening there then is there?
A likable little film that is carried by the charm of the comical Harry Fowler as he pursues the pen through a variety of bizarre circumstances.
aka Per un pugno di dollari.
An anonymous man (Clint Eastwood) rides into a New Mexican town on a mule, and decides to stay when he finds out that it is torn in two by a gang war between the Baxter's and the Rojo's. He schemes to make money from both sides by playing them off against each other, but his plans are complicated when he gets involved with Marisol (Marianne Koch) and decides to reunite her with her husband and child, despite one of the Rojo's taking her for himself.
From the opening titles you know this is going to be a classic and served to popularise the spaghetti western genre. From the music, the script, and the cinematography, all add to make a classic western. And even though it is a thinly disguised remake of Yojimbo (1961), it takes the basics of that film and makes it all its own.
aka Sparrers Can't Sing.
Cheeky Cockney Charlie (James Booth) returns from sea after two years away, to pick up his life again. But he finds everything has changed, his old home has been demolished and he hasn't a clue as to where his wife has gone. Being the East End of London everyone knows that Maggie (Barbara Windsor) is now living with Burt (George Sewell) and has a child, but Charlie is led a merry dance by everyone as he tries to get Maggie back. And she in turn tries to prevent Charlie and Burt from finding out about each other.
Here is a film that attempts to give a true to life representation of Cockney life in the East End at the time. Its an ensemble piece with a collection of characters congregating mainly in the pub as Charlie waits for Maggie. One of those films you either love or hate. Me I like the array of characters that flit around, in and out of the story, who prove more interesting than the main plot line. A snapshot of London life that doesn't normally get shown, but one that betrays its improvised theatre origins.
aka House of Usher.
Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) arrives at the House of Usher, to meet his fiance Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). On arrival he is made most unwelcome and told Madeline is ill. Her brother Roderick (Vincent Price) tells Philip that the marriage cannot take place as the Usher family is cursed and all their predecessors have descended into madness, and debauchery. He is determined that he and Madeline will be the last of the Ushers and opposes any thoughts of children. Philip's unease at Roderick, and the increasingly decrepit house, makes him desperate to take Madeline away. She agrees to leave with him, but will Roderick and the house allow her to leave?
This was the first of many Edgar Allan Poe films that Corman was to attempt. And as usual Price runs away with it, as all around him start as excentrics and rapidly descend into madness. A slow and brooding gothic horror masterpiece.
aka Ganheddo.
A post apocalyptic world in 2038, following a war between humans and computers and a smuggling team journeys into the computer complex of Kyron-5, searching for precious metals. One by one the team is killed, and those left realise that they need to destroy Kyron-5 in order to escape and save the human race. Something that is more achieveable when one finds a Gunhed combat robot.
A cyberpunk styled live-action Mecha film that makes little or no sense, but looks cool.
The American civil war is in full swing and Capt. Harding (Michael Craig) is a prisoner of war itching to escape, and escape he does, with the aid of an observation balloon. Capt Harding and a motley crew end up crashing on a deserted South Pacific island and are soon joined by two women whose ship has floundered in a storm. There they soon realise they are stranded and have to use their wits to survive. Then they spot a pirate ship and two others stumble on a submarine, the fabled Nautilus; Captain Nemo's sub that was reported sunk eight years previously.
A mix of Swiss Family Robinson with 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and featuring some of Ray Harryhausen's best stop motion animation makes for a great little adventure.
aka The Hijackers.
