And behind door number 22... a guide to some music of the more traditional kind
Catherine Munn and Jacob Martin list their Top 5 programmes to watch over the festive period.
And behind door number nine... some dazzling musical delights
The complete arts guide, for week 9
10. A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Richard Attenborough’s depiction of Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne operation ever executed. Parachuting behind enemy lines in the occupied Netherlands, we’ve got Connery, Caine, Caan, Hopkins, Redford, Gould, Hackman, and Olivier trying to capture enemy bridges to catalyse the Allied army’s march towards Berlin. But they can’t shake the feeling they may have gone a bridge too far.
9. The Great Escape (1963)
A staple of Christmas-time television, this is the story of the great POW escape from Stalag Luft III. Bronson, Attenborough et al. decide to stage a massive break-out and harass their Nazi captors, but not all make it out alive. McQueen also shows off some bike skills.
8. Zulu (1964)
The Battle of Rorke’s Drift, where a small British regiment led by Michael Caine and Stanley Baker defend an outpost against thousands of Zulu warriors. It includes possibly the greatest ever line spoken about war: “Why us?” “…Because we’re here, lad. Nobody else.”
7. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Alec Guinness goes nutty in the jungle as the commanding officer of a group of captured British soldiers in the Far East. Deciding it would be good for his men’s morale, he orders them to build a bridge across the river at the behest of their Japanese captors. But does he take the construction work to the point of obsession?
6. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Gregory Peck & Co. are on a mission to blow up two enormous guns which prevent the rescue of British sailors trapped on a Greek island that's soon to be carpet-bombed by the Luftwaffe. Can Peck, Niven, and Quayle pull off the impossible by infiltrating enemy territory, evading hordes of Nazi soldiers and climbing treacherous cliffs in the middle of the night, all the while being sabotaged by a double-agent?
5. In Which We Serve (1942)
Propaganda can be art, too. Richard Attenborough (again!) learns to control his fear and maintain dignity under stress in his first film, which depicts the sinking of a British destroyer in the Second World War. Stranded in a life-boat, the survivors have got nothing to do but reminisce, be strafed by German aeroplanes and wait for help.
4. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
There has never been, and will never be, anyone more macho than Lee Marvin, so when he rounds up a gang of disposable and hardened criminals to take on the Nazis, you know there’s going to be fireworks. And fireworks there are.
3. Henry V (1989)
Kenneth Brannagh’s re-adaption of Shakespeare’s play sees King Henry leading his band of brothers to victory over seemingly overwhelming odds. Re-interpreted as an anti-war film, the untrained peasant soldiers slug it out in the dirt and mud and rain, the kids in the baggage train are murdered, and those who break discipline are mercilessly hanged. Worth a watch.
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
David Lean’s greatest film, and one of the greatest films ever made. Lawrence travels through the brutal landscape of Arabia, where drinking from the wrong well is punishable by death, and is brutalised in turn by the Turkish army. Despite his accomplishments, Lawrence departs feeling the whole thing was less than pointless.
1. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Let’s be honest, the only good war film is an anti-war film, and they don’t get much more anti-war than this. Francis Ford Coppola’s reworking of Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness has Martin Sheen’s assassin travelling up a river, on a mission to kill the insane Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). But the further he travels, the more he and his comrades sink into surrealist brutality and madness. Probably the definitive statement on why wars should be avoided.
Good list, but it upsets me that 'Where Eagles Dare' didn't make it in!
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