Nicholas Gecks Movies

Michael Winner directed this British comedy-thriller about the disappointing life of wedding photographer Harry Sterndale (singer-actor Chris Rea). Betrayed by his wife, Harry had his ideas stolen by his best friend Maurice Walpole (John Cleese), was fleeced by shady businessman Gerd Layton (Bob Hoskins), and is told he has less than two months to live. To get revenge on everyone who did him in, Harry purchases a gun from barmaid Fred (Joanna Lumley) and sets off to carry out his most outrageous fantasies, with lots of twist and turns along the way. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Daryl Duke directed this epic adventure, based on James Clavell's best-selling novel, concerning the battle for control of the China trade in early 19th-century Hong Kong. The film takes place in 1842 on the China Coast, where the Chinese object to the British imperialist policy of buying opium from the Chinese and then selling it back to them at a higher price. As a result, British warships arrive to pound the recalcitrant Chinese into submission. The outcome of the assault is a treaty giving England the right to operate Hong Kong as a free-port. The problem is who will become the Tai-Pan, or British merchant ruler of Hong Kong? The battle lines for the position are drawn between two swashbucklers -- Dirk Struan (Bryan Brown), a skipping and jumping buccaneer, and Tyler Brock (John Stanton), a weaselly cheat. Brock makes the first move by forcing Straun into bankruptcy, but, thanks to the help of the local prostitute May-May (Joan Chen), who has a score to settle with Brock, Straun is able to raise the money at the last minute. This enrages Brock, who remains bitter through the years and finally confronts Straun in a climactic sword fight. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Filmed several times since its publication in 1897 (most memorably by producer David O. Selznick in 1937), Anthony Hope's quintessential swashbuckler The Prisoner of Zenda also served as the basis for a lively, six-part British TV series. Diligently faithful to its source material, the series detailed the adventures of British tourist Rudolph Rassendyl (Malcolm Sinclair) after he was pressed into service as a substitute for his lookalike cousin, King Rudolph of Ruritania. Determined to gain the throne for himself, the King's brother Michael (Jonathan Morris), in concert with that lovable but lethal scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau (Jonathan Harris), plotted to dispose of both the monarch and his impostor. Meanwhile, Rudolph fell genuinely in love with his cousin's consort Princess Flavia (Victoria Wicks). "Sometimes destiny makes the wrong man king." This version of The Prisoner of Zenda debuted in the U.K. on November 15, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like the Virginia Woolf novel which it interprets, this 1983 BBC production has three parts: "The Window," "Time Passes," and "The Lighthouse." The first focuses on one day in the life of the Ramsay family -- the father and mother, their eight children, and four guests -- while they vacation on the Cornwall peninsula in remote southwestern England. In conversations in the summer house, at the beach, during strolls, and at cricket and wrestling matches, the characters reveal their beliefs, their prejudices, and their longings in an era when old traditions are dying and new traditions are quickening. James, six -- a brat to his father but a dear to his mother -- repeatedly asserts his wish to visit a lighthouse on an island within easy rowing distance. His father Michael Gough refuses to go (and, thus, no one goes) because the weather isn't right. In a moment of dramatic irony, the self-centered father scolds the boy for always thinking only of himself. Self-effacing Mrs. Ramsay (Rosemary Harris) comforts the child. She also sees to the needs of other family members and guests, who have lighthouses of their own -- metaphorical ones -- to preoccupy them. Her daughter, Prue, for example, anticipates her coming marriage while visitor Lily Briscoe looks forward to her career as a painter. In defiance of social convention, Briscoe chooses to remain unmarried. The film depicts the second part of the novel, "Time Passes," with transitional scenes showing changes of season over ten years. During this period, Mrs. Ramsey dies, and Mr. Ramsey laments her death in a weeping spell, saying she never really understood that he loved her. In the final part, "The Lighthouse," James finally gets his wish when he, his father, and other members of the family row out to the towering beacon. On the shore, meanwhile, Lily Briscoe finishes a painting of Mrs. Ramsey. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide