Programme Notes

BFI Southbank

Matewan

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Ever since he made his directing debut with Return of the Secaucus Seven in 1979, John Sayles’s reputation has rested largely on bo...

August 10, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

I’m Your Man
(Ich bin dein Mensch)

When Ira Levin wrote The Stepford Wives the world was a very different place. The 1972 society he satirised wasn’t reliant on pocket-sized technology and patriarchal hierarchies were woefully rigid...

August 9, 2021 | PREVIEWS

Days of Heaven

Despite being second choice after guitarist Leo Kottke opted to write songs rather than the entire score, Morricone received his first Oscar nomination for Terrence Malick’s elegiac tale of the Tex...

August 9, 2021 | MORRICONE

Once upon a Time in the West

Reflecting Morricone’s admiration for the Second Viennese School, this remains among his peak achievements. His score is tightly bound into the pitiless study of frontier greed and depravity concoc...

August 8, 2021 | MORRICONE

The Mission

Having crafted what many consider his masterpiece, Morricone was rightly dismayed by the fact that Herbie Hancock received the Oscar for best original score for essentially arranging the work of ot...

August 8, 2021 | MORRICONE

Flame in the Streets

Flame in the Streets originated in a stage play, Hot Summer Night, which Ted Willis wrote in 1958 and adapted for television the following year as part of ABC’s Armchair Theatre, which also provide...

August 8, 2021 | EARL CAMERON

A Farewell to Arms

Ernest Hemingway’s story of a doomed love affair between an American ambulance driver and a nurse is turned into a full-blown tearjerker by Frank Borzage. With luminous close-ups of Gary Cooper and...

August 8, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

White Dog

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. White Dog opens, like Kieslowski’s Three Colours: Red, with a young woman – Julie Sawyer, an actress (played by Kristy McNichol) – ...

August 7, 2021 | MORRICONE

Welcome to Whicker's World

Born in Cairo a century ago on 2 August 1921, household name Alan Whicker was famed for his daring and insightful interviews as an investigative television reporter. Innovative and adventurous, cro...

August 7, 2021 | THE ALAN WHICKER CENTENARY

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

This fictional take on the tempestuous and troubled relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and the Duke of Essex chronicles the rise and fall of a privileged and popular member of the royal court. ...

August 7, 2021 | BETTE DAVIS – HOLLYWOOD REBEL

The Life and Legacy of
Alan Whicker

Jane Ray, Whicker’s radio producer – now Artistic Director of The Whickers, Alan’s charitable Foundation funding the next generation of documentary makers – is joined by Michael Palin, Michael Park...

August 7, 2021 | THE ALAN WHICKER CENTENARY

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I know you don’t like being asked what your favourite piece of your own music is, but mine is ‘The Ecstasy of Gold’ from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly , with Tuco running round and round Sad Hill ...

August 7, 2021 | MORRICONE

For a Few Dollars More

Morricone grew to resent the focus on his collaboration with Leone, despite his contribution to the ‘Dollars trilogy’ affording him creative freedom. Moreover, it helped shape the tone of the seque...

August 7, 2021 | MORRICONE

The Untouchables

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Perhaps the most remarkable moment in Morricone’s collaboration with Brian De Palma is the panpipe air accompanying the death plun...

August 6, 2021 | MORRICONE

Dark Victory

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. A Long Island socialite (Davis) who lives life to the full is unaware of an unwelcome medical diagnosis while becoming close to the...

August 6, 2021 | BETTE DAVIS – HOLLYWOOD REBEL

The Big Lebowski

The success of Fargo put to rest a long-held myth about the Coen Brothers: that their films were strictly esoteric or enigmatic. This belief seems to be based partly on the way their earlier films ...

August 6, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Sparks Brothers

There aren’t many bands who arrive at their 50th anniversary on a creative roll, still luring in new generations of fans, making Top 10 albums, and doing so by releasing music every bit as challeng...

August 6, 2021 | NEW RELEASES

Salò or The 120 Days of Sodom

Morricone and Pasolini One of the first CDs I ever bought was a 1993 compilation of film themes by Ennio Morricone. I remember the cover being pretty uninspiring – five film reels seen through a p...

August 5, 2021 | MORRICONE

Now, Voyager

Nervous spinster Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is stunted from growing up under the heel of her puritanical Boston Brahmin mother (My Fair Lady’s Gladys Cooper), and remains convinced of her own unw...

August 5, 2021 | RE-RELEASES

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Following the unexpected success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Robert Aldrich didn’t look far for a follow-up. Henry Farrell, author of the Baby Jane source novel had an unpublished s...

August 5, 2021 | BETTE DAVIS – HOLLYWOOD REBEL

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