steveh's - Steve's rental picks List
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Two feature films based on the TV series.
Steptoe and Son (1972)All hell is let loose in the Steptoe household, when the quarrelling father and son rag-and-bone team are taken out of the confined world of the junkyard in the first feature film spin-off from the popular television series. When Harold tries to marry a glamorous stripper called Zita, Albert loses the wedding ring. There's more trouble when Albert, resentful and jealous, joins the newlyweds on their Spanish honeymoon with disastrous results!
Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973)
The best loved rag-and-bone men in the business are back in the second feature film based on the long-running television series. Harold is faced with an impression assault from buxom blonde Diana Dors while going on about his business trying to collect her late husband's clothes. Quite overcome by it all he flees, losing his horse in the escape. In the struggle to fund a replacement, the Steptoes invest in a greyhound that won't run and end up in debt to the Godfather of Shepherds Bush!- Director:
- Cliff Owen
- Cast:
- Mike Reid, Yootha Joyce, Wilfrid Brambell
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When a vivacious half-breed Indian girl named Pearl (Jennifer Jones) is sent to live with the Texas land baron Senator McCanles (Lionel Barrymore), conflict abruptly arises. Hot-blooded Pearl captures the attention of the Senator's sons: Jesse (Joseph Cotten) and fiery Lewt (Gregory Peck). Soon both of the brothers are vying for her affections, leading to betrayal, wild desert shoot-outs and a lustful but destructive love-hate relationship between Pearl and Lewt. - Director:
- King Vidor
- Cast:
- Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck
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It's Eddie Murphy in this gut-bustlingly funny movie that displays his comedic genius in multiple roles! Murphy stars as mild-mannered Norbit, who gets a second chance at love with his childhood sweetheart, Kate (Thandie Newton, The Pursuit of Happyness). But there's one huge obstacle: jealous, mean-tempered Rasputia (Murphy), who wants Norbit all to her sizeable self. Can Norbit win the heart of Kate ... before Rasputia puts the hurt on him? - Director:
- Brian Robbins
- Cast:
- Eddie Murphy, Charlie Murphy, Thandie Newton
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A Fistful of Dollars (1964)Per un pugno di dollari / For a Fistful of Dollars
The first of the spaghetti westerns', 'A Fistful of Dollars' became an instant cult hit. It also launched the film careers of Italian Writer-Director Sergio Leone, and a little known American television actor named Clint Eastwood. As the lean, cold-eyed cobra-quick gunfighter - Clint became the first of the 'anti-heroes'. The cynical, enigmatic loner with a clouded past is the same character Eastwood fans have been savouring ever since. 'A Fistful of Dollars' is the western taken to the extreme - with unremitting violence, gritty realism and tongue-in-cheek humour. Leone's direction is taut and stylish, and the visuals are striking - from the breathtaking panoramas (in Spain) to the extreme close-ups of quivering lips and darting eyes before the shoot-out begins. And all are accented by renowned film composer Ennio Morricone's quirky, haunting score. - Director:
- Sergio Leone
- Cast:
- Clint Eastwood, Peter Tevis, Gian Maria Volontè
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New York, 1929: a war rages between two rival gangsters, Fat Sam and Dandy Dan. Dan is in possession of a new and deadly weapon, the dreaded 'splurge gun'. As the custard pies fly, Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio), an all-round nice guy, falls for Blousey Brown, a singer at Fat Sam's speakeasy. His designs on her are disrupted by the seductive songstress Tallulah (Jodie Foster) who wants Bugsy for herself. - Director:
- Alan Parker
- Cast:
- Scott Baio, Florrie Dugger, Jodie Foster
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When British P.O.W.'s build a vital railway bridge in enemy-occupied Burma, Allied commandos are assigned to destroy it in David Lean's epic World War II adventure 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'. Spectacularly produced, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' captured the imagination of the public and won seven 1957 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Alec Guinness), and Best Director. Even it's the theme song, an old WWI whistling tune, the 'Colonel Bogey March', became a massive worldwide hit. 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' continues today as one of the most memorable cinematic experiences of all time. - Director:
- David Lean
- Cast:
- William Holden, Tsai Chin, Alec Guinness
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Silent comedy-star Harold Lloyd personally selected his funniest scenes for this hysterical compilation. Our bespectacled hero always seems to go from one set of troubles to another. Contains classic bits from gems such as 'Why Worry?' (1923), 'The Milky Way' (1936), 'Girl Shy' (1924), 'Movie Crazy' (1932), and 'Professor Beware' (1938). You will never forget poor Harold's daring antics on a skyscraper in his best loved film 'Safety Last!' (1923) or his daring climb down the side of a building in 'Feet First' (1930). - Director:
- Harold Lloyd
- Cast:
- Harold Lloyd, Willie Best, Bebe Daniels
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This dramatisation of John Le Carre's novel proved a landmark in British Television. It received supreme critical acclaim for the screenplay by Arthur Hopcraft, the star Alec Guiness and the camerawork of Tony Pierce-Roberts. In Alec Guiness's first major TV role he plays George Smiley, a retired agent who is secretly brought into 'the Circus' (the code name for British Secret Intelligence Service) to root out a top-level mole. Gradually piecing together the story, the weary but determined Smiley trawls through the murky waters of Cold War espionage and his own past. - Director:
- John Irvin
- Cast:
- Alec Guinness, Michael Jayston, Anthony Bate
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Inspired by the extraordinary true story of a brilliant young master of deception and the FBI agent hot on his trail, 'Catch Me If You Can' stars Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio and two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks in one of the year's most acclaimed hits! From Three-time Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg, 'Catch Me If You Can' follows Frank W. Abagnale Jr, as he successfully passes himself off as a pilot, a lawyer and a doctor - all before his 21st birthday! - Director:
- Steven Spielberg
- Cast:
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Jillian Clare, Tom Hanks
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For a Few Dollars More (1965)Per qualche dollaro in più
When two rival bounty hunters (Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef) learn they're both after the same murderous bandit, they join forces in hopes of bringing him to justice. But all is not as it seems in the hard-hitting second installment of Sergio Leone's trilogy starring Eastwood as the famed "Man with No Name". - Director:
- Sergio Leone
- Cast:
- Clint Eastwood, Maurizio Graf, Lee Van Cleef
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After his inevitable arrest (and almost immediate release), Michel (Martin LaSalle) reflects on the morality of crime, developing a vague theory that exceptional individuals are above the law. Lost in another world, he rejects his friends in favour of a life of crime and is seemingly set on finding his place in the world by engineering a head-on collision with society. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri
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"Little Caesar" is the tale of pugnacious Caesar Enrico Bandello (Edward G. Robinson), a hoodlum with a Chicago-sized chip on his shoulder, few attachments, fewer friends and no sense of underworld diplomacy. And Robinson - a genteel art collector who disdained guns (in the movie, his eyelids were taped to keep them from blinking when he fired a pistol) - was forever associated with the screen's archetypal gangster. - Director:
- Mervyn LeRoy
- Cast:
- Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell
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The sign outside the roadside diner says "Man Wanted." Drifter Frank Chambers knows the sign has more than one meaning when he eyes pouty, luminous Cora, the much-younger bride of the diner's proprietor. Based on the same-titled novel by James M. Cain (Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce), this quintessential film-noir classic combines studio-system gloss with Cain's hard-bitten tale of murderous attractions. John Garfield and Lana Turner give career-benchmark performances as Frank and Cora, illicit lovers who botch a first attempt to bump off Cora's hubby, pull it off, betray each other at trial and yet wriggle free. But their volatile tale does not end there. As the film's metaphorical title indicates, fate is sure to ring again. - Director:
- Tay Garnett
- Cast:
- Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
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Soul Power is a verite documentary - compiled entirely from footage shot in 1974 - of the astonishing back-to-Africa three-day music festival "Zaire 74", held in Kinshasa ahead of the biggest boxing event of all time: the Muhammad Ali-George Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle". Directed by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte Soul Power features a stunning line-up of African and African-diaspora musicians. - Director:
- Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte
- Cast:
- Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Don King
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In the 1950's. Elvis Presley led the rock Y roll revolution in music and pop culture. In the 1960's he concentrated mainly on his successful movie career. By 1968, it had been more than seven years since he had appeared on stage in front of a live audience. In his first television special, clad in his now-iconic black leather suit, Elvis performed classic hits both on stage alone and, in sequences generally regarded as the forerunner of today's popular "unplugged" jam sessions, with friends and original band-mates. The program also included splashy production numbers. Usually referred to as the '68 Comeback Special, the actual name of the program was Elvis. Taped in June 1968 in Burbank, it first aired that December 3rd on NBC and was the network's biggest ratings victory that year as well as the season's top-rated show. It stands today as one of the great moments in rock music history and as a stunningly brilliant milestone in Elvis Presley's career. After this triumph Elvis poured renewed creative vigor into his recording work, wrapped up his movie contract obligations and returned full-time to the concert stage, beginning a new and exciting era of the Elvis phenomenon. - Director:
- Not Available
- Cast:
- Elvis Presley
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