steveh's - Steve's rental picks List
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Rififi (1955)Du rififi chez les hommes
Jean Servais is Tony le Stephanois, a master thief with a battered face and a tubercular cough, souvenirs of a recent stint in the pen. The ageing Tony is reluctant to return to a life of crime, but when he realizes his girlfriend has thrown him over for a rival gangster, he agrees to attempt one last job. Together with three collaborators – a young father, a boisterous Franco-Italian and a sentimental Milanese safecracker – Tony meticulously engineers his biggest heist yet: robbing the most heavily guarded jewelry store in Paris. - Director:
- Jules Dassin
- Cast:
- Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel
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The first television project from Academy Award and BAFTA-winner Steve McQueen, this collection of films for television is based on the real-life experiences of London's West Indian community. Set between 1968 and 1982, these standalone stories celebrate courage and community. From a group of activists taking on a seemingly hopeless battle against police persecution, to a teenager experiencing a blues party full of dance, danger and romance, they're a powerful reminder of how brave individuals can spark change. 'Small Axe' delivers a message our divided world needs to hear: even the most marginalised voices can challenge the most powerful. - Director:
- Steve McQueen
- Cast:
- John Boyega, Sheyi Cole, Shaun Parkes
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When grad student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) begins working on a thesis about urban legends, she comes across the terrifying tale of the Candyman - a vengeful, hook-handed spirit who can be summoned by saying his name five times in the mirror. As her research leads her into the bowels of Chicago's deprived housing projects and deeper into the Candyman's world, Helen learns that some legends are best left well alone. - Director:
- Bernard Rose
- Cast:
- Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd
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The Vietnam War (2017)The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series. 'The Vietnam War', tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides - Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. 'The Vietnam War' features more than 100 iconic musical recordings from the greatest artists of the era and haunting original music from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross as well as the Silk Road Ensemble featuring Yo-Vo Ma. - Director:
- Ken Burns
- Cast:
- Huy Duc, Duong Van Mai Elliott, Karl Marlantes
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Stella Street is a British comedy series about a group of celebrities who all move into the same house as they join a faux documentary about the lives they lead and the exciting things celebrities see. The series follows a group of repulsive, childish and oftentimes idiotic famous people as they try to cohabitate but their differing personalities and opinions get in the way as they fight and argue and show the world that they really aren’t as great as people think they are. - Director:
- Peter Richardson
- Cast:
- John Sessions, Phil Cornwell, Ronni Acona
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The complete fourth series of the British television comedy, the first to be broadcast in colour, about the racist and reactionary Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell) and his ever-suffering family. In this series, a trip to Bournemouth gives Alf another excuse to moan, even while his first grandson is on the way.
Episodes Comprise:
1. To Garnett a Grandson
2. Pigeon Racing
3. Holiday in Bournemouth
4. Dock Pilfering
5. Alf Takes the Baby
6. Alf's Broken Leg- Director:
- Dennis Main-Wilson
- Cast:
- Warren Mitchell, Dandy Nichols, Anthony Booth
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Gene Hackman reprises his Oscar-winning role as Popeye Doyle, the hard-nosed New York detective determined to break a French narcotics ring. Kidnapped by heroin kingpin Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) in Marseilles, Doyle is mercilessly forced to become a junkie himself. Upon his release, Doyle must kick his habit and join forces with his French police counterpart (Bernard Fresson) to hunt down Charnier. - Director:
- John Frankenheimer
- Cast:
- Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Bernard Fresson
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Lee Marvin portrays a tough-as-nails major volunteered in the Army way to command a squad of misfits on a suicide mission against Nazi Brass. Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Trini Lopez, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Clint Walker are among the 12 jailbirds who will earn their freedom if they survive. - Director:
- Robert Aldrich
- Cast:
- Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson
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Cinema verite pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin's groundbreaking documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their 1969 U.S. tour. From New York to California in ten days, the filmmakers set out to record the raw sweat and swagger of the world's greatest rock band. By the time the tour ends at the infamous free concert at the Altamont Speedway, the filmmakers have chronicled a combustive mix of violence, chaos and counterculture that has since come to define the end of the Love Generation. - Director:
- Albert Maysles
- Cast:
- Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor
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Dave Allen was an alternative comedian before the phrase existed, an innovator who set the agenda for comedy and comedians for more than 30 years. Here is his personal choice of sketches, gags and monologues that wickedly target the foibles of our age. With suit, a stool and a glass of something he was in his element, reflecting laconically on such diverse subjects as sex, the Irish and God, traffic, smoking, the Bible, life, and death. It's a vintage display from unique raconteur, a man who observed our guilt, weaknesses and doubts and made us laugh at them and at ourselves. - Director:
- Not Available
- Cast:
- Dave Allen
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Brian De Palma's 'The Untouchables' is a must-see masterpiece - a glorious, fierce, larger-than-life depiction of the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago...and the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down. This classic confrontation between good and evil stars Kevin Costner as federal agent Eliot Ness, Robert De Niro as gangland kingpin Al Capone and Sean Connery as Malone, the cop who teaches Ness how to beat the mob: shoot fast and shoot first. - Director:
- Brian De Palma
- Cast:
- Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro
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Life with Cooper (1969)Tommy Cooper: Life with Cooper
With his uniquely chaotic blend of fluffed magic and lame jokes, Tommy Cooper was a constant and instantly recognisable presence on television for four decades. A firm favourite with the public, his variety shows were always eagerly awaited - Eric Sykes hailed Tommy Cooper as the "funniest man in the world", so it's hardly surprising that it was noted, "he only had to walk on stage to cause hysterics"! Unseen for fifty years, 'Life with Cooper' was the show that cemented Tommy's popularity with the viewing audience in the latter half of the 1960's. A sideways look at the some of the ridiculous things that happen to him on a daily basis shows the blundering comedian coping with, amongst other things, his horoscope, getting a passport, joining the army and the thundering calamity of a lack of cash! Guest stars include Stanley Unwin, Henry McGee, Warren Mitchell, Sheila Hancock, June Whitfield, Derek Guyler, Dandy Nichols and Patricia Hayes. - Director:
- Milo Lewis
- Cast:
- Tommy Cooper, Harry Davis, Neil Wilson
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Three chilling words, spoken repeatedly by a sadistic exiled Nazi war criminal (Laurence Olivier), become a nightmare catchphrase for Thomas "Babe" Levy (Dustin Hoffman), a Manhattan graduate student who is innocently swept into a deadly international conspiracy involving a renegade U.S. government agent and a fortune in stolen diamonds. Director John Schlesinger builds terror and suspense in this thrilling adaptation of William Goldman's best-selling novel. The film's acclaimed cast also includes Roy Scheider, William Devane and Marthe Keller; Olivier garnered a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination' for his terrifyingly unforgettable role of Christian Szell, a former concentration camp dentist. - Director:
- John Schlesinger
- Cast:
- Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider
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New York, 1955, Private Detective Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) has a new case on his hands. Washed up crooner Johnny Favorite has gone missing. Anybody that might be holding clues is being killed. Informants and witnesses are being murdered one by one. The bodies are piling up, time is running out and Harry Angel is being kept awake at night by strange satanic visions. From the mean streets of New York to the backwoods of New Orleans, Harry suddenly finds himself being dragged into a world of sex, murder, voodoo and death. This is no ordinary case, and Harry is no ordinary detective. - Director:
- Alan Parker
- Cast:
- Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet
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Kiss Me Deadly (1955)Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly
When callous thugs beat Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) senseless and viciously murder the gorgeous blonde he's been trying to help, the hard-boiled detective retaliates the only way he can: by hitting first and asking questions later. Cutting a brutal swathe through the city's sleazy underside, Hammer uncovers a mysterious black container whose deadly contents not only solve the murder...but trigger an apocalyptic climax as well! - Director:
- Robert Aldrich
- Cast:
- Nat 'King' Cole, Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker
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