Edward Fox Movies
The brother of film star James Fox, British actor Edward Fox spent the first few years of his career in the shadow of his longer-established younger sibling. All this changed when Edward was cast as the charismatic but cold-blooded international assassin The Jackal in 1973's Day of the Jackal; so determined was Fox's character to go through with his assignment to kill Charles De Gaulle that at times the audience believed he was actually going to get away with it! Never a major box-office attraction, Fox has aged into a dynamic character player, busy throughout the 1980s in such films as Never Say Never Again (1983), The Shooting Party (1984) and Wild Geese II. In 1991, Fox could be seen by TV fans as King Richard in Robin Hood, the "rival" production to Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
It's late 1944, and the Allied armies are confident they'll win the World War II and be home in time for Christmas. What's needed, says British general Bernard Law Montgomery, is a knockout punch, a bold strike through Holland, where German troops are spread thin, that will put the Allies into Germany. Paratroops led by British major general Robert Urquhart (Sean Connery) and American brigadier general James Gavin (Ryan O'Neal) will seize a thin road and five bridges through Holland into Germany, with paratroops led by Lieutenant Col. John Frost (Sir Anthony Hopkins) holding the most critical bridge at a small town called Arnhem. Over this road shall pass combined forces led by British Lieutenant Gen. Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox) and British Lieutenant Col. Joe Vandeleur (Michael Caine). The plan requires precise timing, so much so that one planner tells Lieutenant Gen. Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde), "Sir, I think we may be going a bridge too far." The plan also has one critical flaw: Instead of a smattering of German soldiers, the area around Arnhem is loaded with crack SS troops. Disaster ensues. Based on a book by historian Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far is reminiscent of another movie based on a Ryan book, The Longest Day. Like that movie, it is loaded with more than 15 international stars, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Hardy Krueger, Gene Hackman, Maximilian Schell, and Liv Ullman. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, (more)
Author Anthony Powell's wildly popular series tomes are translated for the small screen in this sweeping miniseries starring Sir John Gielgud and James Purefoy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- G
This Joseph Losey-directed 1973 version of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House marks one of two cinematizations of the story released during the same year. Here, Jane Fonda plays Nora Helmer, the mousy Norwegian wife who eventually turns on her insensitive husband Torvald (David Warner). At the time of its release, A Doll's House was castigated for allowing Ms. Fonda to espouse her "feminist dogma" in the role. In truth, what Losey and Fonda give us is not the traditional mindless "hothouse rose" who finally comes to her senses in Act Three, but instead a woman who knows she is trapped in a stereotype, but is willing to play along as long as her husband loves and trusts her. Only when Torvald proves to be a thick-headed jerk by condescendingly forgiving his wife for entering into a potentially scandalous but household-saving financial arrangement, does Nora reject his values and slam the door on him. Trevor Howard plays the slimy Dr. Rank, who assumes that his monetary hold over Nora grants him certain intimate privileges. A Doll's House was exquisitely photographed on location in Norway by Gerry Fisher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, David Warner, (more)
- 1995
- PG
This British comedy is set within the confines of the snooty Dryden Park boarding school in rural England. The story centers on a lonely 10-year old boy, Magnus, whose parents are staying in Paris and cannot even be bothered to take him to the school themselves; instead, he arrives by cab. Once at the school, Magnus must endure all sorts of humiliations and torments at the hands of the other boys and from the staff. Later when Magnus organizes a secret gourmet club to help counteract the horribly healthy food foisted upon them by the headmaster, he begins making friends. The club members, using recipes from Magnus' father, make all kinds of delicacies. One of them is a homemade alcohol-laced chocolate cake that gets the students rip-roaring drunk. The inebriated chums begin splashing around in the school pool and have great fun until the Latin teacher's lovely daughter joins them, and all hell breaks loose when they are caught. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, Robert Hardy, (more)
- 1987
Hazard of Hearts was adapted for television from a 1948 bodice-ripper by Barbara Cartland. Set (where else?) in 1810 England, the film stars Helena Bonham Carter as the obligatory innocent young lass with a dynamite figure. Falling in love with a Rochester-like Marquis (Marcus Gilbert), Helena is whisked off to the mysterious Castle Mandrake ("played" by England's Belvoir Castle and Burghley House). Here, our heroine is menaced by Diana Rigg, the Marquis' evil, possessive mother. First broadcast December 27, 1987, Hazard of Hearts was buried in the ratings by NBC's repeat showing of Terms of Endearment (1983) and ABC's telecast of Stir Crazy (1980). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helena Bonham Carter
This romantic comedy is set upon Italy's beautiful Lake Como just before WW II erupted in Europe. British, middle-aged, but still-attractive Miss Bentley has come to the lake to visit the family resort. She has not been there since her father died and since her 14-year relationship with a married man broke up. The place has changed since she was there last and there is only one other Britisher there, the single, handsome Major Winslow, a wealthy industrialist. He and she engage in a few rounds of tennis, and begin a tentative romance that is interrupted when flirtatious American-upstart Miss Beaumont shows up and begins toying catlike, with the affections of the vulnerable major. Meanwhile, Miss Bentley finds herself dallying with a handsome young Italian. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox, (more)
A few good men are sent on a secret mission as a few good women in this comic tale of wartime espionage, loosely based upon a true story. Steven O'Rourke (Matt LeBlanc) is an American intelligence agent who, during World War II, has been assigned to obtain an Enigma machine, a special encoding-and-decoding device that Axis forces have developed to transmit their most sensitive secret information. A working Enigma machine would be invaluable to the Allied cause; O'Rourke is able to obtain a machine, but Col. Aiken (Edward Fox), a British officer whose stiff upper lip sometimes overwhelms his common sense, mistakes O'Rourke for a plunderer and destroys the previous gadget, which is hidden in a typewriter. An altercation with Aiken lands O'Rourke in military prison, but he's released in time to carry out a new plan to obtain an Enigma for Allied use. A small factory has been set up in rural Germany to build the machines, which is entirely staffed by women, so O'Rourke, communications expert Johnno (David Birkin), and veteran intelligence man Archie (James Cosmo) are to infiltrate the plant disguised as women, with Tony (Eddie Izzard), an agent who moonlights as a drag performer, giving the men a crash course in looking and acting like women. All the Queen's Men also features Nicolette Krebitz as Romy, a double agent working at the Enigma plant, and Udo Kier as Lansdorf, a Nazi general. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt LeBlanc, Eddie Izzard, (more)
This two-part TV movie recounts the life of Anna Anderson, who until the day she died at age 82 insisted that she was really Anastasia Romanov, daughter of Czar Nicholas. Anna first makes her claim in 1920, when she is an inmate in a Berlin asylum. Her story of escape from the Bolsheviks who killed the rest of her family in 1918 seems so vivid that many Russian expatriates are willing to believe her. The film concludes in 1928, with Anna restating her claim before the surviving Romanovs living in New York. Amy Irving plays the leading character in a lady-or-the-tiger fashion, so that we never know if she truly swallows her own tale or if she's merely a clever charlatan. Olivia DeHavilland, Rex Harrison, Claire Bloom, Omar Sharif and Susan Lucci co-star in this opulent, location-filmed production, which originally aired on December 7 and 8, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving
- 1969
Several board members of the Acme Precision Corporation are murdered, and Steed is on hand to witness each killing. The culprit appears to be a sleepwalker, but that's only part of the story. Investigating, Steed and Tara trace the clues to a demented psychologist -- who, in yet another twist, may not be the principal villain. Written by Philip Levene, "My Wildest Dream" first aired in America on January 6, 1969, and was subsequently seen in England on April 9 of that year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
James Bond-flick director Guy Hamilton helmed this episodic, all-star World War II film. With Sir Laurence Olivier heading up an ensemble cast as flight commander Sir Hugh Dowdling, The Battle of Britain pays tribute to other nationalities instrumental in fending off the waves of Luftwaffe planes, notably the expatriate Polish and Czech pilots. Trevor Howard, Michael Caine, and Michael Redgrave also populate the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Andrews, Trevor Howard, (more)
Produced for British television, Daniel Deronda was adapted from George Eliot's final novel, written in 1874 (and first filmed in 1921). As was her habit, Eliot laid bare the hypocrisy and venality of Victorian-era "class culture," at the same time admitting that a certain amount of conformity was necessary if one hoped to survive in a world where nonconformity was not only looked down upon but actively suppressed. Essentially, both the novel and the TV presentation are comprised of two separate stories, linked together by the titular Daniel Deronda (Hugh Dancy), a young man of Jewish heritage. In the main narrative, Daniel is attracted to the spoiled, headstrong Gwendolen Harleth (Romola Garai), who is reluctantly poised to enter into a marriage of convenience with the wealthy, snobbish, and intensely anti-Semitic Henleigh Grancourt (Hugh Bonneville). This romantic intrigue is played against the curious relationship between Daniel and the Zionist visionary Mordecai (Daniel Evans), who tirelessly proselytizes in favor of a permanent homeland for the Jewish people. Things come to a head when Daniel finds himself falling in love with Mordecai's sister Mirah (Jodhi May). Originally telecast in three parts on the BBC beginning December 7, 2002, Daniel Deronda was re-edited as a two-parter for the PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre, where it first aired on March 30, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- R
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At the time this made-for-TV historical drama first aired on ABC, critics praised the fact that it was more accurate than the 1939 Spencer Tracy vehicle Stanley and Livingstone; while this is generally true (unlike the earlier film, this one was lensed on location in England and Kenya), the pop-psychology sensibilities depicted in the TV movie smack more of the late 20th than the late 19th century. In 1871, young American reporter Henry Morton Stanley (Aidan Quinn) sets out to prove that Scottish-born missionary David Livingstone (Nigel Hawthorne), who years earlier had disappeared somewhere in Central Africa, was still alive, and not "cooked in a stew" as was generally believed. The film is divided into three parts: the search for Livingstone, Stanley's spiritual odyssey after finding his quarry, and Stanley's seemingly futile efforts to prove that he actually found Livingstone to the skeptical and downright hostile members of the Royal Geographic Society in London. Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone debuted December 7, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Nigel Hawthorne, (more)
Force 10 From Navarone was a sequel to the 1961 blockbuster The Guns of Navarone and tells the tale of ten widely divergent WW II troubleshooters who attempt to blow up a crucial bridge in Yugoslavia. As in the first Navarone film, one of the guerillas is a traitor: group leader Mallory (Robert Shaw) knows the identity of the turncoat, but can't prove it until it's almost too late. The beautiful female resistance leader is played by Barbara Bach, while Harrison Ford, fresh from his Star Wars success, is the romantic lead. Others in the cast include Edward Fox, Franco Nero and Alan Badel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, (more)
Filmed in England, Galileo is based on Charles Laughton's 1947 adaptation of the play by Bertolt Brecht, which, like this 1975 film, was directed by Joseph Losey. Israeli film-star Topol plays the 17th century Italian astronomer, whose theories run contrary to the edicts of the Catholic Church. Forced to renounce his ideas about planetary movement, Galileo nonetheless holds fast to those beliefs to the end of his days, certain that time will vindicate him. Brecht's trademarked "alienation" technique, wherein the audience is constantly reminded that it is watching a play, is muted by Losey's cerebral direction. Galileo was one of producer Ely Landau's American Film Theatre presentations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Topol, Colin Blakely, (more)
It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, (more)
- 1988
Directed by Jan Kaplan, Glittering Crowns profiles over 40 European monarchial figures from the mid-1800's until present day. Narrated by Edward Fox, this television documentary features rare photgraphs and film footage ranging from crowning ceremonies to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubillee.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
Strange as it seems, the 1977 adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times was the first full-scale adaptation of this work ever seen on British television. Set (of course!) during the Industrial Revolution, the multiplotted story line was held together by the travails of Louisa Gradgrind (Jacqueline Tong), a former circus employee who was adopted by a stern businessman and whisked off to a bleak industrial village called Coketown. With four-hour-long episodes at its disposal, this TV version managed to retain most of the characters and incidents of the Dickens original, and also kept sight of the author's indictment of the iniquitous social conditions which determined the behavior and the destinies of the main figures. Produced by Granada Television, Hard Times later aired in America via PBS. The 1994 BBC TV version, sometimes also referred to as a "miniseries," was actually intended to be seen in a single showing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Allen, Timothy West, (more)
- 2002
Based on the children's book by Philip Pullman, Laurie Lynd's I Was a Rat is a feature-length fable originally made as a three-part BBC miniseries. A reworking of a popular fairy tale, the story opens with a young abandoned pageboy (Calum Worthy) taken in by a childless couple: the aging cobbler Bob (Tom Conti) and domestic worker Joan (Brenda Fricker). Nicknamed Roger, the pageboy claims that he isn't human at all but a rat, which attracts the interest of the Daily Scourge newspaper, a mad scientist, and a carnival owner named Oliver Tapscrew (Don McKellar). The search for Roger's real home is accompanied by the story of Lady Aurelia (Katie Blake) and her prince (James Millard). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calum Worthy, Tom Conti, (more)
- 1967
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The imprisoning aspects of Success are humorously analyzed in this British-made film. Oliver Reed plays a wealthy advertising man who feels he has sold his soul and wishes to return to his happier earlier existence as a poor but swinging Londoner. Reed is goaded on by his boss, Orson Welles, who represents all the mercenary crassness that Reed despises. Handed a crucial commercial account, Reed plans to destroy himself by producing as offensive and confusing an ad campaign as possible. But Welles and the client are delighted by the "insult," and the disgruntled Reed is more successful than ever. Directed in the fragmentary "psychedelic" style typical of the late 1960s, I'll Never Forget What's'is Name gained notoriety upon its initial release by being the first mainstream British film in which the "F" word was spoken on-screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Oliver Reed, (more)
- 1968
Hammer recut and repackaged two installments of their popular television series Journey to the Unknown (one of the earliest projects of longtime Hammer director Roy Ward Baker) for this theatrical release. The first tale involves a guest at an unusual masquerade party at which he is given an unflattering look at his past misdeeds; the second installment stars The Haunting's Julie Harris as a rich woman pursued by a slimy, gold-digging potential suitor who meets his comeuppance thanks to an ancient Indian spirit. Though rather staid in comparison to Baker's flamboyant anthology work for Amicus, this is nevertheless a moody and stylish pair of tales, if not fully representative of the series' finer moments. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Everyone's favorite collie returns to the screen -- and to her native home back in Britain -- in director Charles Sturridge's faithful adaptation of author Eric Knight's sentimental kid and canine novel Lassie Come Home. When Lassie saves a fox from the hunting hounds of the duke of Rudling (Peter O'Toole), the captivated nobleman becomes obsessed with the idea of purchasing the collie for his adoring granddaughter Cilla (Hester Odgers). Unfortunately for Rudling, the pooch already has a loving family in the form of kindly miner Sam Carraclough (John Lynch), his wife, Sarah (Samantha Morton), and their young son, Joe (Jonathan Mason). When Sam is laid off from his job, however, he is forced to sell the loyal dog to the duke in order to put food on the family table. Incensed at the dog's repeated attempts to escape and seek out her original loving family, the villainous duke charges kennel-keeper Eddie Hynes (Steve Pemberton) with the task of teaching Lassie how to stay as World War II looms ever more heavy on the horizon. When the dogs of war finally stop barking and start biting, Rudling beats a hasty retreat to the safety of northern Scotland with both the child and the canine. Realizing that her newfound companion is far from the people she cares about most, Cilla later helps her ever-loyal four-legged friend escape from the family's heavily fortified compound so that she may begin the 500-mile journey back home to Yorkshire. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Samantha Morton, (more)
This $90 million science fiction adventure is adapted from the television series, created by Irwin Allen, which originally ran on CBS from 1965 to 1968. The original series employed a Swiss Family Robinson in outer space premise; sent to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, the Robinson family was thrown off course by a stowaway and was left wandering from planet to planet (and changing along the way from a black-and-white series to a color series). The 1998 remake is set in the year 2058, when the United Global Space Force sends Professor John Robinson (William Hurt) and family -- wife Maureen (Mimi Rogers), daughter Judy (Heather Graham), teen Penny (Lacey Chabert), and 10-year-old Will (Jack Johnson) -- on a promotional space jaunt to herald the "offshore" future for the human race (now saddled with eco problems on Earth). Major Don West (Matt LeBlanc), more accustomed to fighting menacing Global Sedition forces, is reluctant to sign on as the Jupiter II pilot but quickly changes his mind after he gets a good look at Judy in her fetish-fashioned space togs. Space spy Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman), hired to sabotage the mission, programs in problems but winds up aboard the craft unconscious. Once awake, he summons the Robinsons from suspended animation, and they save the ship just in time, passing through hyperspace to arrive near an Earth ship where they encounter space-pet Blawp and hordes of teethy spiders. A spider bite makes the villainous Smith mutate, one of some 750 special effects, from animatronics (Jim Henson Creature Shop) to CGI, and other adventures await throughout the galaxy. Cameos include actors from the original series, including June Lockhart and Robot Voice Dick Tufeld. In a curious coincidence, the TV series took place in the future of 1997, the year this movie was produced. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, (more)
The title of the 1983 James Bond adventure Never Say Never Again is a self-mocking reference to star Sean Connery's insistence back in 1971 that he would never play Bond again. Reportedly, the huge salary offered Connery was but one consideration that brought him back to the 007 fold; the other was the producers' assurance that Connery would have full control over all aspects of production, a promise that was not kept often enough to the star's liking. Essentially, this film is a remake of the 1965 Bond flick Thunderball (the producers were able to get away with this due to a legal tangle involving the original 1961 Ian Fleming novel). Bond emerges from cozy retirement to cross swords with Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), a megalomaniacal business exec who steals several nuclear missiles, intending to bring the World Powers to their knees. Kim Basinger plays Domino, Largo's mistress, whose loyalty Bond secures when she learns that Largo was responsible for the death of her brother. In addition to Basinger, the film boasts a toothsome villainess by the name of Fatima Blush (played by Barbara Carrera). After wrapping Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery swore that this was his absolutely final performance as James Bond; thus far, he's kept his word. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Klaus Maria Brandauer, (more)
One of Charles Dickens' best-loved (and most complex) stories receives its fourth feature film adaptation in this lively historical comedy-drama. Nicholas Nickleby (Charlie Hunnam) is a 19-year-old who becomes the head of the family when his father dies unexpectedly. Keeping watch over his mother (Stella Gonet) and his sister Kate (Romola Garai) becomes an even greater challenge when Nicholas discovers that his father lost the family fortune due to ill-advised investments. Without a shilling to his name, Nicholas turns to his wealthy but unforgiving Uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer) for help; Uncle Ralph offers to find work for all three, and Nicholas becomes a teacher at a school for unfortunate boys run by Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent) and his wife (Juliet Stevenson). Squeers and his wife are cruel and frequently violent toward their charges, and when Wackford, without cause, beats a weak and timid student, Smike (Jamie Bell), Nicholas decides he can take no more and runs away, with Smike in tow. The two young men fall in with a traveling theater troupe run by the genially eccentric Vincent Crummles (Nathan Lane) and his equally flamboyant spouse (Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna Everage). In time Nicholas returns to London to check in on his sister and mother. To his horror, he learns that Uncle Ralph has promised Kate's hand to Sir Mulberry Hawk (Edward Fox), a wealthy older man with a less-than-wholesome interest in young women. Both Kate and Nicholas are upset at the prospect of this union, and Nicholas attempts to tear his family away from Uncle Ralph's control, beginning with a job working for the warm-hearted Charles Cheeryble (Timothy Spall) and his brother (Gerard Horan). Nicholas also falls in love with the fair Madeline (Anne Hathaway), but when Uncle Ralph learns of Nicholas' plot to foil Kate's impending marriage, he strikes back by kidnapping Smike and attempting to force Madeline to wed Sir Hawk. Actor, writer, and filmmaker Douglas McGrath adapted Nicholas Nickleby into a screenplay, as well as directing the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, (more)
Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are New York police officers specially assigned to a special multi-national team dedicated to tracking down terrorist Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer). Wulfgar planted a bomb in a London department store, killing several children and he is now an outcast, hunted by both the police and his fellow gang members. He has extensive plastic surgery and resumes his activities aided by Shakka (Persis Khambutta), a completely psychotic fellow outcast. Soon DaSilva and Wulfgar are engaged in a violent battle of wits as Wulfgar resumes his terrorist activities and threatens New York . This very effective thriller features a chilling performance by Rutger Hauer as the handsome, ruthless cold-blooded killer who charms women into helping him and then kills them. Sylvester Stallone gives an unusually understated emotionally vulnerable performance as a man trying to save lives while he saves his own marriage. The film makes excellent use of New York locales, particularly during a terrifying hijacking of a cable car where Wulfgar coolly decides which of the hostages will live or die. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
