Film Favourites

Here are my lunatic ravings on what I believe are the greatest movies ever made. Beware, these views are 100% biased!

Ten Classic Thrillers I Love (in no particular order...)!

Bruce Willis stranded in a skyscraper that has been taken over by terrorists. By keeping the story confined to a single location, director John McTiernan let the tension (and action) build as cop John McClane (Willis) and his German nemesis Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) try to outwit each other.

Arguably Alfred Hitchcock's best, this is a glorious British chase movie as innocent Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) is forced to go on the run after being framed for the murder of a secret agent. Twists galore, atmospheric Scottish scenery and some good humour too once Hannay gets handcuffed to a reluctant woman (Madeleine Carroll). Classic.

Another Hitchcock classic, and every bit as good as The 39 Steps. Cary Grant is the innocent man on the run this time, mistaken for an assassin at the United Nations. The epic chase that follows as he tries to convince people of his innocence, whilst trying to keep one step ahead of the baddies, is memorable set-piece after memorable set-piece.

Spielberg's recreation of vintage 1930s Saturday morning serials is a fantastic ripping yarn in its own right. This old fashioned escapist adventure has had many imitations but never been bettered. Harrison Ford became an action hero icon.

Everyone has their favourite James Bond film, and this list wouldn't be complete without one. My personal fave is this fifth Sean Connery outing, when the mixture of action, intrigue, exotic locations, cool technology and dastardly plots was at its undeniable peak.

Fantastic WW2 'men-on-a-mission' tale has all the ingredients for a classic wartime thriller. A British team of paratroopers led by Richard Burton, together with American agent Clint Eastwood, is sent into Austria to recover a captured General. Triple crosses galore, plus Clint wiping out half the German army with his machine gun.

Orson Welles is unforgettable in this truly excellent British thriller set in post-war Vienna. Harry Lime (Welles) has seemingly died in a car crash; his friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) investigates. Classic photography, script and score.

Thoroughly engrossing tale showing the seedier side of 1950s Los Angeles, amidst femmes fatales and corrupt cops. Dense plot winds up with a thrilling shootout between the bad guys and Bud (Russell Crowe) and Ed (Guy Pearce).

Before Indy, Spielberg had left his mark already with this scary tale of a rogue white shark menacing the small town of Amity Island. The chair-gripping start is unforgettable, but it really kicks into gear once we're shark-hunting on the high seas with the 3 R's (Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss).

Straying slightly into sci-fi territory here, but James Cameron's tale of the relentless cyborg from the future tracking down the woman who will give birth to the future saviour of mankind is one of the great thrillers. Schwarzenegger's powerful presence and minimal acting ability is put to fantastic use.

To see my ten favourite films of all time, click here.
To see my top ten most memorable scenes from the 90s, click here.