Sir Hilary Bray

not too bad indeed, especially the pilloring of Escape to Victory which I've only ever seen the end of and features Rent-a-German (to borrow an Ed Bishop phrase and para-that phrase) Anton Diffring. I should...change my username, Blunters

Hunt for Red October, expanded got to love "Kabooooooom!!!" "Ryan, not everything reacts well to bullets."

A Bridge Too Far both through the coming 70th anniversary of the actual event and with Lord Attenborough's passing comes the seemingly annual viewing of this, an epic in the old sense. Recently debated by such luminaries as Dan Snow and Al Murray as perhaps the greatest British war film, it remains a classic in this reporters book. The key roles for me remain Sean Connery, Hardy Kruger, Anthony Hopkins and Gene Hackman. Connery gets to play someone for whom his accent doesn't matter or would be noticed (Untouchables, Red October etc), Major General Roy Urquhart. Urquhart seemed pleased with the job Connery did remarking on his build (Urquhart was no shorty put it one way) and indeed, to me, Connery was quite good -especially in moments as the battle turns but assuredly versus Browning at the end looking somewhat jaded and shattered (Urquhart's post-battle trauma was deep and prolonged). Hardy Kruger purely for seemingly quite cool and unattached based upon SS General Harzer who was determined to blow Nijmegen even if Model wouldn't. The key moment is when of course XXX Corps blaze across and he watches stunned. Anthony Hopkins as Frost is quietly remarkable, Frost was no pushover it must be said Hopkins' portrayal perhaps lesser than the actual man but no less good. Frost's men held for five-six days to the two-three they were expected. A force of around 700 whittled down to less than half. And Gene Hackman, perhaps the best performance in the film as Sosabowski who'd been used as a scapegoat afterwards amongst others. Mocked by Murray for his accent, Hackman does the job and then so conveying the cynicism and disbelief in Market-Garden ("The Germans, General, the Germans!"/ "God bless Field Marshal Mont-gom-ery!"), the expression on his face when the messenger comes to get the Poles over the river and then after the massacre of his men. "One day men said, let's play a war game." If they had done around the same time a film based on Sosabowski's memoirs, Hackman would surely have done well. Can only wonder what Hackman thought of the film. Michael Caine for example appears...disinterested like in Battle of Britain probably a film to plug the gaps and build the house. True of many of the cast members (only perhaps Connery and Hopkins appear for the majority) like Caan and Redford who are mere cameos. Dickie Attenborough did a good job. Brave perhaps to do a film where for the Allies it goes balls up. Where effectively, the Germans win (Allied casualties double that of D-Day). Yet can't help but wonder what if there had been seperate directors for the respective nations like in the Longest Day or Tora Tora Tora. Or a different composer. John Addison's score I quite like and always have done but sometimes depending on my mood it doesn't feel right for certain scenes or scenes go without music that perhaps a touch of music would do. Anyway, gang, it's a fine film with some flaws yes but fine film all the same. Here's to Dickie.

Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far what with the 70th anniversary of Market-Garden approaching. Though perhaps superseded by subsequent works based on archive materials and whatnot, this is the work to go. Ryan's research was immaculate and of course benefits from the people themselves contributing such as Eisenhower, Urquhart, etc. At once the worst episode of the war perhaps for the Allies but also a strong hour in the courage shown.

On my own, probably Star Trek III through multiple early viewings but through my dad playing his music downstairs of an evening probably John Barry's great body of work. Mostly James Bond.

I don't quite mind it, I tend to be drawn to the tracks towards the end -The Sinking, Death of Titanic and from Back to Titanic, A Building Panic. For the most part it's typical Horner.

Hard to say. I have a feeling it might've been Superman as a kid. Memory blurs as I remember watching Return of the Jedi and Hook around a similar time but we seemed to see Superman a lot so I'll plug for that.

One of the best. Here's to the old dame. RIP

the Thunderbirds Are Go/Thunderbird 6 CD revisited. The former just feels too brief even though that seems to be all there's ever been from the film. If it misses anything is the Shadows stuff but I guess you can do without. Love the Zero-X theme, more-so it's use in "Rock Snakes/Escape from Mars". Thunderbird 6's highlights are the theme amd climax music, which mostly involves the 'Fast Music' from the series. Dare I say...Gray is underappreciated. Never to be included on the great composer lists but what a master.

As a Portsmouth fan, minus ten points is nothing new

Trouble is I've only heard Lincoln. Time to do some rummaging methinks.

In all senses. Film/series...Basehart and the rest.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea -Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter. Like the sound on much of it, particularly the music as Seaview first appears, bursting from the water.

Watch He plays necrophile strangler and it's as far removed from the Santa image as you can imagine. Indeed, a fantastically creepy performance. Not too bad a film. -- since this morning tended to forget films that memory slipped briefly -Great Escape, Flight of the Phoenix even Dunkirk and In Which We Serve. Such a broad range in some ways. Remarkable man.

He tends to be. Clarkson's PQ17 programme at Christmas was good. Hammond just fails unfortunately.

Simply horrific.

watched the last episode of James May's Cars of the People. May's programmes are always enjoyable and this was no exception.

Hinx Hordan.

Sad news, a great loss but as above, a fine long life. On one hand I liked him for A Bridge Too Far but on the other, perhaps more so seeing him on screen -notably The League of Gentlemen (of whom none are left now), Brighton Rock, I'm Alright Jack and the rest. RIP indeed.

Hard to say, Hook/Jurassic Park, maybe JFK or even Presumed Innocent. I'll plump for Jurassic Park.

Been giving the expanded Clear & Present Danger a spin. Puts the original release in the shade. My favourite track remains The Ambush but of the 'new' tracks "Woodroom/Finale" is a favourite. The way it climbs towards a climax with Jack fighting Cortez then getting into the helicopter. My La-La-Land CDs -Thunderbirds Are Go/Thunderbird 6 and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea arrived so...off we go. Looks like Thunderbirds Are Go has much sparser music than T6 and is sans the song, Shooting Star. Not a bad thing I suppose.

I thought of the similarity with Across the Stars last week...at least trying to hum it ends up with ATS. Both have their merit.

the second Intrada, Star Trek VI Complete Score. Didn't realise that from the original album so much had been chopped, merged or what have you. Though not my favourite Trek score it's a top 3-5. Still love however many times I listen to it, Battle for Peace. "I'm as constant as the northern star!"

well, at home, last night I watched The Last Crusade grew up with this as a favourite but that has likely switched to Raiders and with Temple of Doom seemingly bubbling into second place Crusade runs it close...sort of one foot off the podium. The Connery/Ford partnership is good, is funny and there's Denholm Elliot to boot. Got to love Michael Byrne ("And this is how we say goodbye in Germany...") and of course the music. And it had the perfect ending, our heroes riding off into the sunset with the Raiders March.

Laurence Rosenthal's Meteor. The first of the three Intrada's I ordered from the sale. At 40mins quite brief but it's not bad, remember watching the film a lot as a kid and the score was probably what I remember best of it. Well, that and Sean Connery's "blanket of shit" line. Thumbs up for the main title/Challenger Two and Russian theme.