DRACULA

1958, Terence Fisher, 82 mins.

An evil vampire directs his attentions to a bourgeois family.

Bringing colour and sex to the vampire movie, Terence Fisher’s Dracula is a riveting horror film directed with immense economy and acted with visceral ferocity by the iconic, although surprisingly rarely used by Hammer, team of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Jimmy Sangster’s screenplay streamlines Bram Stoker’s novel - for budgetary reasons – but keeps the atmosphere and much of the horror while focusing on the sexual subtext which, according to Christopher Frayling, went largely unnoticed until this screen version. Numerous memorable images – none more so than Lee’s Count appearing in a doorway like a wild animal, fangs dripping with blood – and technical credits which typify the very best of Hammer; Jack Asher’s rich colour photography; James Needs’ pacy editing; Bernard Robinson’s lush production design; and Fisher’s direction which never puts a foot wrong in an incredibly fast-paced eighty two minutes. 

SITTING TARGET

1972, Douglas Hickox, 92 mins.

A convict escapes to get revenge on his unfaithful wife.

Sitting Target is a violent, grim, and compelling thriller which offers a sensational performance from Oliver Reed as an escaped convict obsessed with getting revenge on his cheating wife. Reed was always a powerful actor but here he turns the intensity up to eleven and keeps you compelled even while you’re appalled at his brutality. He’s well supported by Ian McShane as his more cheerful accomplice and there are effective cameo turns from a typically colourful Freddie Jones, Frank Finlay, and Edward Woodward as the copper on the case. The London locations are a delight and there’s one particularly good chase through the sheets and knickers of some tower block washing lines. It’s dated in some respects, particularly a lot of casual misogyny which sees the women uniformally treated like dirt. But it’s constantly riveting with an effective plot twist. 

JEREMIAH JOHNSON

1972, Sydney Pollack, 116 mins.

A mountain man becomes a legendary Indian fighter.

Robert Redford’s iconic presence dominates Sydney Pollack’s Jeremiah Johnson, a mountain-man Western, and adds immeasurably to its success. Johnson is a man of few words and only an actor with Redford’s charisma could carry off this decidedly oblique character.  The narrative, told against the backdrop of epic vistas, proceeds largely through encounters with Indians and various eccentrics, including the great Will Geer as an old-timer. John Milius wrote the screenplay for the film and although it was revised, it still contains numerous Milius touches – notably the nature of myth and the primal need for man to prove himself against nature. The attitude to the Indians is ambiguous and this was apparently deliberate on the part of the filmmakers. Sometimes the film becomes sentimental, particularly in the scenes with the squaw wife, but on the whole it’s compelling, entertaining and memorable.

HITCHCOCK

2012, Sacha Gervasi, 98 mins.

An engaging but fanciful account of a year in the life of the Hitchcocks

Based on Stephen Rebello’s book about the making of Psycho, Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock is most successful as a portrait of a marriage between two creative individuals, one of whom is renowned as a genius while the other is, mostly, content to stay in the background. Alma and Alfred Hitchcock were devoted to each other and the film plays around dangerously with fact in suggesting that there might have been rifts in the relationship, particularly as regards the possibility of Alma nearly having an affair because s she feels neglected. But Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren are delicious with Hopkins, as in Nixon, capturing Hitch’s essence rather than doing a straight impersonation. The stuff about making Psycho is fun, if not always particularly accurate, and the best scenes involve Hitch’s sly ability to dance nimbly round the studio and the censor..

TRADING PLACES

1983, John Landis, 117 mins.

A film about life-swapping.

John Landis’s comedy is an interesting example of how a film can change personality during its running time. The first two-thirds is an elegantly structured satirical comedy which charts the parallel rise and fall of Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. Then, during the final forty minutes, it changes into a screwball farce complete with disguises, silly costumes and a gorilla. Most people frown upon this development but I find it thoroughly satisfying, and its firmly in the tradition of the 1930s comedies which obviously served as the model for Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod’s script. The two stars are marvellous – this is before Murphy’s self-indulgence got the better of him – and there's great backup from Jamie Lee Curtis, Denholm Elliott, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche. One thing though – it’s one of the most badly photographed studio films I’ve ever seen.

MILLER'S CROSSING

1990, Joel and Ethan Coen, 115 mins.

A complex tale of love and betrayal among gangsters.

The peculiar talents of the Coen brothers were in evidence right from the start in Blood Simple but they were refined to perfection in Miller’s Crossing. It’s a period gangster movie which crackles with their characteristic style of dialogue   – slightly over-literary, self-conscious, unfailingly witty – and looks sensational thanks to Barry Sonnenfeld’s autumnal, achingly nostalgic cinematography. The plot twists and turns in a most satisfying manner but what makes this distinctive is that it’s not merely clever, it has a genuine emotional pull captured beautifully by Carter Burwell’s rich orchestral score. Great set-pieces abound but the one you’ll remember involves Albert Finney, a machine gun and a recording of “Danny Boy”. Gabriel Byrne and Marcia Gay Harden are memorable leads but the fun is had by the supporting talents of Finney, Jon Polito, J. E. Freeman and a weaselly John Turturro.

THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE

1974, Jorge Grau, 93 mins.

Zombies bring chaos to the North of England.

A smashingly effective zombie movie which is distinguished not only by an intelligent screenplay and strong characterisations but also by atmospheric location filming in Manchester, the Peak District and the Lake District – although the Manchester Morgue sadly doesn’t make an appearance. It’s slower paced that some genre films and takes more time to establish characters which gives strong opportunities for a good cast amongst which Arthur Kennedy really shines as an extremely right-wing policeman less concerned with the living dead than the long-haired hero who keeps getting in  the way. Director Grau’s insistence on an ecological subtext is, at the very least, distinctive with much emphasis on various kinds of pollution. The horror takes a while to get going but once the zombies are on the loose, Gianetto De Rossi’s make-up effects come into their own to utterly stunning effect.