A young man with the power to time travel attempts to solve the mystery of his girlfriend's death.
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The Wild Geese (1978) Action film
Richard Burton,, Richard Harris, and Roger Moore star as leaders of a mercenary group hired to rescue a politician being held in a prison camp in Africa by a dictator. Only to be double-crossed. Then must battle their way to safety. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
From Allied Artists. Their last film before declaring bankruptcy.
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THE BEST OF BRITISH - THE LONG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL (1961 PG b/w)
The "Best of British" season, which will continue on both itv gold channels, now features
"The Long and the Short and the Tall",
a highly acclaimed war drama,
directed by Leslie Norman and starring
Laurence Harvey, Richard Todd,
Richard Harris and David McCallum.
In this movie, "a troop of British soldiers are out in the jungle to record jungle noises and troop noises, so that the recordings can be played back by other troops to divert the enemy to their whereabouts.
As they progress to what they think is closer to the base camp, they find themselves further and further from radio range, until the only channel they can get clearly is that of a Japanese broadcast.
They then realise that they are probably only 10 to 15 miles from a Japanese camp!
The tension is added to by rowdy and openly admitted "non-hero" Private Bamforth (Harvey) who has nothing good to say about anyone and especially not, Corporal Johnstone (Harris), who holds an equal dislike for Bamforth.
When a Japanese soldier is taken as their prisoner, the true colours of each man comes to the surface..." Producer Michael Balcon had wanted to cast Peter O'Toole, who had played the part on stage version (by Willis Hall), in the role of Bamforth. Another actor considered was Albert Finney. However, the American backers required a "name", and Laurence Harvey was cast - and a good choice too as along with his role as Joe Lampton, this soon became one of his most acclaimed films. Over on itv gold 1, you'll be able to see Dirk Bogarde and Sarah Miles in Joseph Losey's "The Servant" (1963) next, followed by the director's earlier work, "The Criminal" (1960) starring Stanley Baker and Sam Wanamaker. And, there are two "Appointments With Fear" for your delight late this Friday night: "Fear in the Night" (1972) here on itv gold 2 and the vampire sequel, "Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1970) on itv gold 1.
series began in July of that year, with production of the ABC
series being taking over by the new
London weekday franchise holder,
Thames Television in January 1969.
This film version from 1974
followed the series, which ran for four
seasons and is an extended re-make
of the same story presented in
"A Magnum for Schneider."
In it, "David Callan, top agent/assassin
for the S.I.S., was forced to retire
because he had lost his nerve.
Now, Callan is called back into service to handle the assassination of Schneider, a German businessman. His former boss promises Callan that he'll be returned to active status if he follows orders, but as always Callan refuses to act until he knows why Schneider has been marked for death. Starring Edward Woodward, the movie also features Russell Hunter again as Lonely, Eric Porter as Callan's boss, Hunter and Catherine Schell provides the female interest as Jenny. Callan came out of retirement again in 1981 in a not entirely successful TV movie, made by Central Films, "Wet Job".
From the days when so called "mainstream" movies were made for an intelligent audience. Today the half wit morons would get bored with a story without half the planet getting blown up so this sort of film is relegated to the "fringe" - perhaps it's just as well.
