Director - Sidney Lumet
Gritty British cop drama staring Sean Connery as a cop that kills a suspect during an interrogation. Not quite up there with Lumet’s greatest films (Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men), but for a taught itchy '70s drama you could do far worse.
Director - Quentin Lawrence
Peter Cushing stars as a bank manager duped into helping a villain rob his bank. Worth watching just to see Cushing sweating his way through the brief running time (80 minutes). Very good.
Director - Val Guest
Hammer always churned out more than just horror films and this twisty psychodrama is one of their better '60s efforts. Famous racing driver has a road accent and needs to unlock what happened with the help of a weird French psychoanalyst. Overlong, but worth sticking with as the last half hour is the business.
Director - Stuart Cooper
One of those ‘adapted from the stage’ films that struggles to get away from its theatre roots. John Hurt is on fire as perma-angry Malcolm, who having been thrown out of art school is determined to get back at his teacher by kidnapping him. Suffers from the usual stage adaptation problem of being very talky and trundling along quite slowly. Despite some great actors (Hurt and David Warner are both up to their usual standard), you can’t help but think they they were already way to old to be playing angry teens. The humour feels ever so dated too, the analogy between Malcolm not being able to get an erection and not being much of a political leader quickly becomes tiresome. All a bit ho-hum really, only worth a watch if you really want to see John Hurt acting his young socks off.
Director - Chris Morris
Black comedy about a hapless group of Islamic extremists determined to make their mark for Allah. Shouldn’t work, but does so by not reverting to caricature, and making the main characters into human beings instead. Very good.
Director - Michael Winterbottom
Michael Nyman scored, Altmanesque London set drama in which we follow various people over the course of a weekend, through highs and lows, drama and comedy all filmed in a spectacularly low-budget but beautifully grainy way. A British cast to die for (Gina McKee, Shirley Henderson, Ian Hart, John Simm) all act their socks off as things fall apart around them. We’re all alone. A must see.
Director - David Wickes
Big screen debut of the superb British ‘70s police TV series. All the swagger that made the TV show so essential is present and correct with the added bonus of swearing and nudity. Barry Foster plays a corrupt American power broker out to influence an OPEC conference. Collin Welland is an angry journo who has caught whiff of what's going on, while Jack and George (John Thaw and Dennis Waterman) are left to try and figure out a string of murders that will eventually lead them to Foster's door. The whole cast look like they spent the time they're not on screen down the local, Thaw in particular. Wickes is a veteran from the show and directs the whole thing as an extended episode. If you love your gritty London '70s films then this is a must see.
Director - Guy Myhill
This superb coming of age flick is Guy Myhill's feature debut. The Goob (Liam Walpole) is our title character, a wild-card kid who we first meet on the last day of school, his whole life ahead of him, the world is his oyster except for the fact that he’s stuck in rural Norfolk with his brother, mum and her nasty bastard boyfriend, Womack (Sean Harris). It’s crop picking season, the Goob meets a foreign girl, makes friends with a flamboyant homosexual and constantly winds up Womack. Making this the film equivalent of kicking a wasps nest just to see what happens. Great acting, unfussy direction and refreshingly gritty take on this type of story mark it out as one of the years best films, and Myhill as someone to keep an eye open for in future.
Director - Stephen La Rivière
Aces documentary about Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s groundbreaking puppet shows (Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds etc). If you’re a fan then this is essential viewing since just about every name you can remember from the end credits of those shows is interviewed. From the steamboat Mickey like beginnings of Torchy, the Battery Boy right the way up to the disastrous The Secret Service, pretty much everything is covered in as much detail as you’ll ever need. If you’re not a fan then stay away as this will probably bore you rigid.
Director - David Lean
Four years after Brief Encounter David Lean made this companion piece about a doomed romance. A couple (Trevor Howard & Ann Todd) were head-over-heels about each other when they were young but ended up with other people. Fast forward a few years and they have a chance encounter in Switzerland, what will happen, will they get it on or do the stiff upper lip thing and ignore their feelings for each other? This is prime Lean, from the period when he was able to bring a film in around the 90 minute mark. Worth hunting down for a rainy Sunday.
Director - Joan Littlewood
The film that gave Babs Windsor her big break is this odd little London set drama. Maggie's (Windsor) husband Charlie (James Booth) returns home after a few years at sea to find that the London he left behind has changed almost beyond recognition. That’s not all that's changed while he's been away though, since Maggie has shacked up with a new bloke. The majority of the running time is given over to the cast trying to prevent Charlie from finding about Maggie's new situation. Cor blimey, luv-a-duck etc. This is good in a time capsule sort of way, but suffers from an uneven mix of bawdy comedy and kitchen sink style drama. Great cast including Roy Kinnear, Arthur Mullard and Murray Melvin make this well worth a look if you have any interest in '60s British films.
Director - Asif Kapadia
Kapadia proves that his superb Senna documentary was no fluke with this look at the rise and fall of singer Amy Winehouse. Rising above the tabloid tittle-tattle, Kapadia shows through a mixture of home video footage and interviews with those closest to Winehouse the woman behind the headlines. At it's heart this is a doomed romance tale worthy of Shakespeare. Well worth your time.
