Mar 30th
Dog Day Afternoon**
(US 1975)
Warner Bros/Artists Entertainment Complex. 125m.

In August 1972, a bungled bank robbery in Brooklyn is even more incompetently handled by the police, and the resultant siege becomes a TV event.
Farcical enough to be a comedy but actually a semi-documentary adaptation of a real event in Lumet's sharpest observational dramatic style, if only slightly imbalanced by its two stars from The Godfather who don't look the sort that would mess up a bank robbery.

Written by: Frank Pierson, from an article by P.F. Kluge, Thomas Moore.
Producers: Martin Bregman, Martin Elfland.
Director: Sidney Lumet.
Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, James Broderick, Chris Sarandon, Carol Kane, Lance Henriksen, Susan Peretz.
Photography: Victor J. Kemper.
Music: Elton John (source music).

Mar 27th  
Ooh, You Are Awful*   
(GB 1972)    
British Lion/NFFC. 97m.

A conman searches for his amorous best friend's hidden loot whilst also dodging vengeful crooks and the Mafia.
Slightly cheap and crude basis for a star vehicle for Dick Emery to play his many TV incarnations as conman's disguises: some funny individual gags and scenes, and a fair sample of British comedy humour of the time.

Written by: John Warren, John Singer.
Producer: E.M. Smedley-Aston.
Director: Cliff Owen.
Starring: Dick Emery, Ronald Fraser, Pat Coombs, Derren Nesbitt, Cheryl Kennedy, Liza Goddard, William Franklyn, Phil Brown, Tucker McGuire, Sheila Keith.
Photography: Ernest Steward.
Music: Christopher Gunning.

+ US title: Get Charlie Tully

Mar 18th 
Escape from New York*   
(US 1981)     
Avco Embassy/International Film Investors/Goldcrest/City Films. 99m. Panavision

In a totalitarian US of 1997, New York is rendered a detention island where the President is abducted and a rogue soldier is forced to rescue him.                            
Workmanlike urban sci-fi which looks less ambitious than it sounds (with St. Louis gamely trying to resemble New York), not as unlikely or as improbable now as it seemed at the time, which moves along at a measured pace with some unexpected star cameos.

Written by: John Carpenter, Nick Castle.
Producers: Larry Franco, Debra Hill.
Director: John Carpenter.
Starring: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, Season Hubley, Nick Castle.
Photography: Dean Cundey.
Music: John Carpenter, Alan Howarth.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Kurt Russell shows all the style and casual machismo that would have made him an excellent alternative Han Solo.

Mar13th  
Situation Hopeless But Not Serious*    
(US 1965)                     
Paramount/Castle. 97m. bw

Two American pilots parachute down during a raid but are protected by a lonely German who neglects to tell them when the war is over.
Scrappily made (and titled) comedy with notable names involved - who almost manage to carry off the implausibility. Guinness is pleasant but not hilarious, and Redford overacts in an earlier stage of his career. Both are nonetheless interesting to watch.

Written by: Silvia Reinhardt, Jan Lustig, from the novel "The Hiding Place" by Robert Shaw.
Producer/Director: Gottfried Reinhardt.
Starring: Robert Redford, Mike Connors, Alec Guinness, Paul Dahlke, Anita Hofer, Mady Rahl, Elisabeth von Mola.
Photography: Hurt Hasse.
Music: Harold Byrne, Leon Carr.

Preceded by:

Tom and Jerry in

The Midnight Snack***

(US 1941. 8m.; d: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Fred Quimby.)

Mar 4th  
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom*      
(GB 1968)                                   
Paramount. 93m.

A bra manufacturer's wife has an affair with a meek employee that she keeps in the attic, and the relationship proves to have fruitful consequences for her husband too.
A slight story expanded out unnecessarily with satirical pretensions and mostly over-the-top comic cameos. Quite pacy and pleasant rather than funny.

Written by: Denis Norden, Alec Coppel, based on his play.
Producer: Josef Shaftel.
Director: Joseph McGrath.
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Richard Attenborough, James Booth, Freddie Jones, Willie Rushton, Bob Monkhouse, Clive Dunn, John Cleese.
Photography: Geoffrey Unsworth.
Music: Riz Ortolani.
Production Design: Assheton Gordon.