Wednesday 6th February
Film4 Listings for Wednesday 6th February
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11:00
Bullwhip (Film)
When cowboy Steve Daley faces hanging for a murder he didn't commit, he has one way out: if he marries firebrand Cheyenne to save her inheritance he'll walk free. After the ceremony, she wants nothing to do with him but he's intrigued and sets about wooing her for real. Harmon Jones's western mirrors Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and was an influence on the 1975 comedy western Goin' South, which starred Jack Nicholson.
Director: Harmon Jones
Starring: Guy Madison, Rhonda Fleming, James Griffith, Peter Adams, Don Beddoe, Dan Sheridan
(Subtitles, 1958, 12, 2 Star)
12:40
The History of Mr Polly (Film)
In Anthony Pelissier's adaptation of the HG Wells novel, John Mills plays the eponymous Mr Polly who, disillusioned by the constant nagging of his wife and his dull life, torches his shop and takes to the open road. He e$$$ up in the heart of the countryside where, after a few hitches, he begins a new life with a jovial innkeeper. But can this idyllic existence last for ever, and what of the family he left behind?
Director: Anthony Pelissier
Starring: John Mills, Betty Ann Davies, Megs Jenkins, Finlay Currie, Gladys Henson, Diana Churchill
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1949, U, 3 Star)
14:35
Saboteur (Film)
Alfred Hitchcock's wartime drama stars Robert Cummings as Barry Kane, a worker wrongly accused of sabotaging his factory with a fire that killed his best friend. On the run, trying to track down the real culprit, he teams up with Patricia Martin. They discover a nest of pro-Nazi sympathisers, led by Charles Tobin, who are determined to bring down the government. And so Kane becomes the main hope of foiling Tobin's plans. The dramatic climax takes place on the Statue of Liberty.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Otto Kruger, Alan Baxter, Clem Bevans, Norman Lloyd
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1942, PG, 4 Star)
16:45
The Professionals (Film)
Fast-moving, action-packed western starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode as soldiers of fortune hired by millionaire rancher Ralph Bellamy to rescue his wife Claudia Cardinale, who has been kidnapped by Mexican bandit Jack Palance.
Director: Richard Brooks
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Jack Palance, Claudia Cardinale
(Subtitles, 1966, PG, 4 Star)
19:05
The Honeymooners (Film)
Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps play Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton, two blue collar workers who dream of making a killing through get-rich-quick schemes, but always pick ones that fail. However, when their long-suffering wives Alice and Trixie come up with a plan for the down payment on a dream home, it's up to the men to come up with the money, which they aim to raise by investing all their savings in running an abandoned, broken-down greyhound at the track... John Schultz's comedy is based on the popular 50s comedy series of the same name, which starred Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. Edited for content.
Director: John Schultz
Starring: Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Epps, Gabrielle Union, Regina Hall, Eric Stoltz, Jon Polito
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2005, PG, 1 Star)
20:50
Hyde Park on Hudson Interview Special (Entertainment)
Director Roger Michell and actress Olivia Colman talk about the new period comedy-drama.
Starring: Bill Murray
21:00
Transporter 2 (Film)
In Louis Leterrier's all-action film, co-written by Luc Besson, Frank Martin is back as the Transporter, who'll take anything anywhere, no questions asked, for the right money. This time, he's earning what should be easy money guarding the son of government drugs czar Billings. But when the boy is kidnapped by drugs lord Gianni, Martin takes it as a professional slur and sets out to find the boy and the baddies.
Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Jason Statham, Alessandro Gassman, Amber Valletta, Kate Nauta, Matthew Modine, Jason Flemyng
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2005, 15, 3 Star)
22:40
Olivia Colman Interview Special (Entertainment)
The popular British actress talks about her TV and film career, from Peep Show to Tyrannosaur and the new release Hyde Park on Hudson.
22:50
Tyrannosaur (Film)
Actor Paddy Considine's multi-award-winning directorial debut is as assured and compelling as its subject matter is bleakly grim. Peter Mullan plays Joseph, a bitter man who seeks to ease his pain via betting, drinking and raging at anyone unfortunate enough to come into his ambit. One day, Joseph stumbles in to a charity shop, where he is greeted with respect and care by its Christian manager Hannah; he respo$$$ with typical vitriol. However, the two gradually form a bond of frie$$$hip as they get to know one another - but it's one that may not survive the deeper, darker revelations each is yet to disclose.
Director: Paddy Considine
Starring: Peter Mullan, Archie Lal, Jag Sanghera, Mike Fearnley, Paul Conway, Lee Rufford
(Subtitles, 2011, 18, 4 Star)
00:40
See Me (Drama)
This explosive Film4-funded short drama is the directorial debut of actor and writer Catherine Shepherd. Three 16-year-old schoolgirls are stuck in a boring summertime detention with their teacher. They're all frustrated and waiting for something to happen... and then it does. Starring Olivia Colman, Sophie Wu, Scarlett Marshall and Tahirah Sharif.
(Black and White, Subtitles, 2011)
01:10
Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee (Film)
Shane Meadows' mockumentary about an ageing roadie vicariously seeking fame may be played straight, but is frequently hilarious, and has its touching moments too. Paddy Considine stars as Nottingham roadie Le Donk, a muso-turned-promoter who's aiming to propel his protege, local white rapper Scor-zay-zee, to stardom via a support slot to the Arctic Monkeys. Le Donk also has to sort out his personal life; his pregnant girlfriend Olivia has had enough of him and is seeking comfort in the arms of a new beau. And is Scor-zay-zee really happy to have a Grade A idiot as his manager?
Director: Shane Meadows
Starring: Paddy Considine, Dean Palinczuk, Olivia Colman, Richard Graham, Seamus O'Neill, Nigel Reeks
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2009, 15, 3 Star)
02:25
Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl (Film)
A romantic drama from Portugal's prolific director Manoel de Oliveira, who was born in 1908. Adapted from a story by the 19th-century Portuguese novelist Jose Maria de Ela de Quieroz, this brief tale of love's rocky road is leisurely recounted to a stranger by its main protagonist while they share a train journey down to the Algarve. Machrio, a young accountant working in Lisbon, is captivated by a beautiful woman he can see in the apartment opposite his office window. The more he sees her from afar, the more his infatuation grows. But, as he reveals to his fellow passenger, his path to romantic fulfilment proved not to be an easy one.
Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Starring: Ricardo Trêpa, Catarina Wallenstein, Diogo Dória, Júlia Buisel, Leonor Silveira, LuÃs Miguel Cintra
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In Portuguese with English Subtitles, 2009, U, 3 Star)