Saturday September 30
Shout At The Devil
(Peter Hunt, 1976)
1pm, Five
Old-fashioned comedy adventure with bourbon and claret pairing of boozy Lee Marvin and Old Etonian Roger Moore sinking the Hun in first world war action scenes, and Moore looks seriously out of his league alongside Marvin.
How To Steal A Million
(William Wyler, 1966)
3.40pm, BBC2
Effervescent comedy in the style of Rififi and other capers. It's set in 1960s Paris, amid the wealthy art collecting set; twinkly, sophisticated Audrey Hepburn is completely at home as forger Hugh Griffith's daughter, engaging private detective Peter O'Toole to steal dad's version of the Cellini Venus from a gallery before he is exposed as a fraudster.
The Haunted Mansion
(Rob Minkoff, 2003)
6.10pm, BBC1
Eddie Murphy stars as a workaholic estate agent who drags the family from their holiday to make a sale - only to find themselves stuck in a creepy old house haunted by a ghost (Nathaniel Parker) with otherworldly longings for Murphy's wife (Marsha Thomason), as she's the spitting image of his long-lost love. This Disney production is strictly for the kids.
The Fifth Element
(Luc Besson, 1997)
9.10pm, C4
This extraordinary sci-fi comedy has earth 250 years hence threatened by an ancient intergalactic menace. Red-headed mutant Milla Jovovich, looking like a renegade from Blade Runner, is a talismanic life essence; Gary Oldman is the evil Zorg, and Bruce Willis your heroic local flying taxi driver. A mesmerising future world, a dog's dinner of techno clutter.
Striptease
(Andrew Bergman, 1996)
11.10pm, Five
One of those films you have to watch to see if it's as bad as they say. It is. Based on Carl Hiassen's novel of the same name, it's a chance for Demi Moore to emote as loving mum working as a stripper to pay for a custody battle over her daughter. The box office appeal was about naked curiosity: would she bare all? But the highlights, such as they are, come from Ving Rhames (Marsellus in Pulp Fiction) as a wise thug, and Burt Reynolds as a horny congressman.
American Friends
(Michael Palin, 1990)
11.40pm, BBC2
A gentle and delicate Victorian romance, co-written and starring Michael Palin. His great-grandfather, Edward, inspired his Francis Ashby, a middle-aged Oxford don whose bookish life is thrown into confusion by sudden love for an American woman (Connie Booth) he meets while touring in Switzerland - dangerous things, these holiday flings. A light and poignant tale.
Bully
(Larry Clark, 2001)
2.30am, C4
A typically grim and uncompromising tale of teenage terror from the director of Kids and the new Destricted. Based on a true story, it has a group of Florida youngsters (among them Brad Renfro and Rachel Miner) deciding to murder one of the gang - sadistic Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl). A shockingly powerful film that at times rings all too true.
Sunday October 1
The Longest Day
(Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F Zanuck, Gerd Oswald, 1962)
1.45pm, Five
A whole army of film stars hits the Normandy beaches in this re-enactment of the June 1944 D-Day landings: Wayne, Mitchum, Fonda, Ryan, Steiger, plus Brits such as Burton, (Kenneth) More and Connery, all bear down on poor old Curt Jurgens and Gert Frobe.
Jackie Chan's Who Am I?
(Bennie Chan and Jackie Chan, 1998)
6.55pm, Five
A minor adventure from the master of martial arts comedy, but it's hard to beat for sheer Chan chutzpah. The creaky plot has Chan's crack commando Whoami pursued by killers; he doesn't know why, because he's suffering from amnesia. It doesn't matter. Scenes such as the clog stall fight and the rooftop battle - with Chan's incredible descent of the high-rise block - are staggering.
XXX
(Rob Cohen, 2002)
9pm, Five
Vin Diesel stars as musclebound, shaven-headed Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiast who has a problem with authority: he's recruited by Samuel L Jackson of the National Security Agency to make like James Bond and tackle a gang of renegade Russkies. A truly brainless, fun-filled action movie.
JFK
(Oliver Stone, 1991)
10.55pm, BBC1
Stone's long and gruelling investigation into the assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963 ripped up the Warren Commission findings and made a hero of New Orleans prosecutor Jim Garrison. Stone's sheer cinematic verve makes a meaty movie, aided by Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Sissy Spacek.
Monday October 2
Dog Day Afternoon
(Sidney Lumet, 1975)
11.45pm, BBC1
An offbeat thriller based on a true New York story: Al Pacino is an unlikely bank-robber, doing the job to pay for lover Chris Sarandon's sex change. It all goes horribly wrong (the heist, that is) and he and slow-witted henchman John Cazale are holed up in the bank, besieged by police. A tense and sweaty drama, teasing out unexpected comedy.
Tuesday October 3
Moulin Rouge
(John Huston, 1952)
1.15pm, C4
The stunning opening 20 minutes is an exhilarating can-can show, after which this biopic of Toulouse-Lautrec starts running out of breath. Good performance by José Ferrer as the little artist, though. With Colette Marchand, Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Eye Of The Beholder
(Stephan Elliott, 1999)
11.05pm, BBC1
This messy but oddly fascinating tale stars Ewan McGregor as a British surveillance agent keeping an eye on blonde serial killer Ashley Judd. But since she reminds him of his long-lost daughter, his assignment becomes an obsession as he trails her round the world - for years. A surreal, Buñuelian blender.
Wednesday October 4
The Barefoot Contessa
(Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1954)
1.05pm, C4
One of those juicy, jaundiced acts of self-abasement that Hollywood occasionally indulges in. Ava Gardner is the contessa, a beautiful flamenco dancer discovered and catapulted to movie stardom by an unholy Tinseltown trio: Humphrey Bogart's alcoholic director, Edmond O'Brien's sweaty PR man, and Warren Stevens the wealthy producer.
The Count Of Monte Cristo
(Kevin Reynolds, 2001)
10.40pm, BBC1
Yet another screen version of the Alexandre Dumas classic - and Reynolds makes a handsome and enjoyable adventure out it. Jim Caviezel is both dashing and sympathetic as the count, escaping after years of incarceration at the Chateau d'If to wreak vengeance on Guy Pearce's splendidly sneery Mondego, the treacherous friend who put him there.
The Rules Of Attraction
(Roger Avary, 2003)
11.05pm, C4
It's hard to believe that Avary is the Oscar-winning co-writer of Pulp Fiction. This tedious tale of rich and spoilt New England college kids employs some of the Tarantino film's tricks - the circular, time play structure - but is nowhere near as witty or cogent. Adapted from Bret Easton Ellis's novel, it stars James Van Der Beek as predatory Sean Bateman who's entirely into sex, drugs and himself, until quirky Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon) skateboards into view.
Smoke Signals
(Chris Eyre, 1998)
3.30am, C4
Adapted by Sherman Alexie from his own stories, this award-winning road movie was the first feature directed and performed by native Americans. Tough guy Adam Beach and more sensitive Evan Adams are Coeur d'Alene Indians who travel from their Idaho reservation to Phoenix to recover the ashes of Beach's abusive father (Gary Farmer). Fresh, witty and enchanting.
Thursday October 5
The Devil At Four O'Clock
(Mervyn LeRoy, 1961)
1.05pm, C4
Hokey old drama starring Spencer Tracy as a priest on a South Seas island up to his ears in ailing children and flowing lava: will he be able to save the kids when the volcano erupts? He needs a little help from an ungodly trio of convicts led by Frank Sinatra.
Green Fire
(Andrew Marton, 1954)
2.05pm, BBC2
Stewart Granger reprises his King Solomon's Mines adventure as a prospector mining for emeralds in deep, dark South America. Paul Douglas is his dodgy partner, Murvyn Vye a beastly bandit and Grace Kelly the aromatic coffee plantation owner at the foot of the hill. Colourful and exciting.
Scream
(Wes Craven, 1996)
10pm, C4
A masked psycho-killer is stalking the teenies in a smalltown USA called Woodsboro. It looks like any teeny slasher venue from Elm Street to Halloween, but Craven and scriptwriter Kevin Williamson are too steeped in the black arts of horror movies to do it straight. As much knowing comedy as blood and guts fest.
Lamhe
(Yash Chopra, 1991)
12.50am, C4
Another epic romance from Chopra, and apparently the veteran director's favourite. It concerns the love of Anil Kapoor's Viren, who falls in love at first sight with Sridevi's impulsive Pallavi. But the path of love runs pretty bumpy: she marries another man, dies, and leaves a daughter, Pooja (also played by Sridevi), who falls for the lovelorn Viren. Will he find happiness second time around?
Friday October 6
Reach For The Sky
(Lewis Gilbert, 1957)
1pm, C4
One of the most famous film commemorations of the Battle of Britain. Kenneth More gives a spirited impersonation of flying ace Douglas Bader, who was grounded after losing both legs in 1931 but returned to aerial glory in the war. Far more interested in the myth than the man.
The Prisoner Of Zenda
(Richard Thorpe, 1952)
1.35pm, BBC2
Third version of the venerable swashbuckler. Stewart Granger makes a dashing replacement for the immortal Ronald Colman, as the Englishman on holiday in Ruritania who gets involved in a royal impersonation plot and a love affair with princess Deborah Kerr (typical Club 18-30 stuff, really).
Road Trip
(Todd Phillips, 2000)
11.35pm, BBC1
Student Josh (Breckin Meyer) grabs his pals and heads out of New York for Austin, Texas in a frantic attempt to intercept an incriminating videotape he's accidentally sent to his girlfriend. Pretty funny, in a sub-Farrelly brothers way.
