Jack Hedley Movies
British lead and supporting actor, onscreen from the '50s. ~ All Movie Guide- 1958
Distinguished British actress Vanessa Redgrave makes her feature film debut in this hospital-set drama that chronicles the deadly rivalry between two head surgeons. She is one of the surgeons. She and her competitor have radically different ideas about how the hospital should be run. The film features one of the first scenes of actual open-heart surgery being shown upon a closed-circuit TV screen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Redgrave, Tony Britton, (more)
- 1959
This rollicking political satire stars Ian Carmichael as an impressionable British TV personality. His vanity is stroked by a group of political managers who talk him into running on the Conservative ticket during a political campaign. The managers hope that Carmichael's name value will draw voters, but don't intend to permit him anything like actual legislative power. Carmichael suddenly develops an abiding interest in politics when he meets his Labour Party opponent--lovely Patricia Breden. Left, Right and Center is blessed with an abundance of supporting character comedians, headed by Alistair Sim as Carmichael's avaricious uncle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Bredin, Eric Barker, (more)
- 1960
Broadcast as a component of the ongoing BBC anthology Francis Durbridge Presents, this 18-episode series starred Jack Hedley as author Durbridge's famous protagonist Tim Frazer. A former engineer, Tim Frazer opted to use his knowledge in Her Majesty's Service as a secret agent. The series offered three serialized stories, each lasting six half-hour episodes: "The World of Tim Frazier," "The Salinger Affair," and "The Mellin Forrest Myster." Debuting November 15, 1960, the series remained on the air until mid-1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hedley
- 1960
Terry-Thomas plays the military-officer head of an amiable gang of amateur British thieves. He is recruited for this task by wealthy dowager Athene Seyler, who merely wants to retrieve stolen minks from genuine crooks. Any profits accrued by this undertaking are to be turned over to charity. Once we're aware that everyone's heart is in the right place, we can laugh freely at the film's collection of would-be reprobates, and vicariously hold out hopes for their success. Best bit: Terry-Thomas, backed by Anton Karas' "Third Man" theme, skulking into what appears to be a waterfront dive to make contact with a "fence," only to discover that he's stumbled into a Salvation Army mission. Make Mine Mink was based on Breath of Spring, a play by Peter Coke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry-Thomas, Athene Seyler, (more)
- 1960
Captain Gort (Bernard Lee) is an airline pilot who must answer to a Court of Inquiry after the crash of a Phoenix jet. Although he passes a battery of tests, pilot error is the determined cause of the accident. Sir Hobbes (George Sanders) is the Queen's council whose relentless prosecution helps blame Gort. When a second crash occurs, Gort is defended by Captain Judd (Peter Cushing), who is convinced that mechanical malfunctions, not the pilot, caused both crashes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Craig, Peter Cushing, (more)
- 1961
An insurance investigator looks into the mystery surrounding the "accidental" death of a jockey. He finds that the death was actually caused by a gambling ring and is able to save the life of another jockey who has already had a couple of "accidents." ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
This sweeping, highly literate historical epic covers the Allies' mideastern campaign during World War I as seen through the eyes of the enigmatic T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole, in the role that made him a star). After a prologue showing us Lawrence's ultimate fate, we flash back to Cairo in 1917. A bored general staffer, Lawrence talks his way into a transfer to Arabia. Once in the desert, he befriends Sherif Ali Ben El Kharish (Omar Sharif, making one of the most spectacular entrances in movie history) and draws up plans to aid the Arabs in their rebellion against the Turks. No one is ever able to discern Lawrence's motives in this matter: Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness) dismisses him as yet another "desert-loving Englishman," and his British superiors assume that he's either arrogant or mad. Using a combination of diplomacy and bribery, Lawrence unites the rival Arab factions of Feisal and Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn). After successfully completing his mission, Lawrence becomes an unwitting pawn of the Allies, as represented by Gen. Allenby (Jack Hawkins) and Dryden (Claude Rains), who decide to keep using Lawrence to secure Arab cooperation against the Imperial Powers. While on a spying mission to Deraa, Lawrence is captured and tortured by a sadistic Turkish Bey (Jose Ferrer). In the heat of the next battle, a wild-eyed Lawrence screams "No prisoners!" and fights more ruthlessly than ever. Screenwriters Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson used T. E. Lawrence's own self-published memoir The Seven Pillars of Wisdom as their principal source, although some of the characters are composites, and many of the "historical" incidents are of unconfirmed origin. Two years in the making (you can see O'Toole's weight fluctuate from scene to scene), the movie, lensed in Spain and Jordan, ended up costing a then-staggering $13 million and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The 1962 Royal Premiere in London was virtually the last time that David Lean's director's cut was seen: 20 minutes were edited from the film's general release, and 15 more from the 1971 reissue. This abbreviated version was all that was available for public exhibition until a massive 1989 restoration, at 216 minutes that returned several of Lean's favorite scenes while removing others with which he had never been satisfied. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, (more)
The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1963
Its the Cavaliers vs. the Copperheads in this costume drama set during the 17th-century British Civil War. Our sympathies are supposed to be with Oliver Cromwell's underground troops--and they are, since the arrogant Cromwell isn't around to comprise his followers' heroism. Lionel Jeffries, loyal to Cromwell, is confounded by his daughter June Thorburn's fidelity to the Throne. Oliver Reed co-stars as Jeffries' right-hand man and June's boyfriend. Crimson Blade does little to clarify the complex issues attending the war, but it delivers the goods in the action department. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Jeffries, Oliver Reed, (more)
- 1963
This melodramatic tale of a sexual assault on a married woman has a few implausible moments but is believably acted by Anne Heywood as Tracey, the victim, Richard Todd as her husband Lawrence, and Jack Hedley as the man from Scotland Yard sent to track down the violent attacker. Tracey is pregnant and happily married to Lawrence, an architect. She has few cares in the world until the day a maniac breaks into the house, rapes her, and ultimately causes her to miscarry. Tracey falls to pieces and is so affected by the encounter she finds men repulsive, including her husband. Her attitude does not soften with time, and sooner rather than later, her husband takes up with his secretary. But in the meantime, the Scotland Yard detective has still not been able to track down the psychotic rapist, and there is no guarantee that Tracey is safe. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Heywood, Richard Todd, (more)
- 1963
Author Irwin Shaw wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of two of his short stories set in Paris. Christina James (Jean Seberg) is a footloose American girl living in the City of Lights. She becomes involved with Guy (Philippe Forquet), who tells her that he's a student at the University studying engineering, but when they plan a rendezvous at a cheap hotel, he confesses to her that he's really only 16 years old. Christina breaks it off with him and goes through a series of brief and unsatisfying affairs with a variety of men until she meets Walter Beddoes (Stanley Baker), a journalist with an unfortunate appetite for alcohol. Despite the fact his work often forces him to travel abroad on a moment's notice, Christina is deeply in love with Walter, and when her father (Addison James) tries to persuade her to come back to the United States, she refuses, preferring to stay with Walter. In time, Christina realizes that Walter is away from her more often than he's with her, and when she meets John Haislip (James Leo Herlihy), an American doctor vacationing in France, she has to decide if her passion for Walter is more important than her feelings for John, who wants her to come to his home in San Francisco, where he'll always be there for her. In the French Style offered an appropriate role for actress Jean Seberg, who was born in Iowa but found most of her best film roles after she moved to France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Seberg, Stanley Baker, (more)
- 1963
This drama follows the nine hours that came before the assassination of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu radical. Naturam Godse (Horst Buchholz), a Brahmin who was rejected for service in the British Army and is horrified by the fighting between Moslem and Hindu fanatics, comes to the conclusion that the only solution to the civil unrest is to kill Gandhi (J.S. Casshyap), believing that the leader's philosophy of non-violence has only fanned the flames of unrest. In love with a married woman, Rani Mahta (Valerie Gearon), Godse spends a guilty afternoon with her as he flashes back on his life of violence and mistreatment; he also pays a call to Sheila (Diane Baker), a prostitute. Meanwhile, as civil unrest flares around him, Ghandi goes about his daily rounds, despite warnings from police chief Gopal Das (Jose Ferrer) that his life is in danger. J.S. Casshyap was a 64-year-old teacher and author before being cast as Gandhi in this, his first film role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Horst Buchholz, José Ferrer, (more)
- 1964
In this spooky horror film set in an old English village, the trouble begins when a man endeavors to dig up a cemetery containing the charred bodies of witches burned at the stake 300 years before. The warlock who looks after the family cemetery tries to stop him, but cannot. As soon as their graves are disturbed, the witches arise and strange things begin to happen to the family of the man who dug them up. Later the true culprit behind the mayhem is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lon Chaney, Jr., Jack Hedley, (more)
- 1964
This third screen adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel about the destructiveness of sexual obsession stars Laurence Harvey as Philip Carey, a club-footed artist who after two unsuccessful years in Paris decides to pursue a career in medicine instead. During his medical studies he falls in love with a waitress, Mildred Rogers (Kim Novak), who takes advantage of his attraction to her. When Mildred leaves him to marry another man, Philip falls in love with a writer (Siobhan McKenna), who encourages him to complete his studies. Under her tutelage, Philip excels in medical school. But when Mildred returns, pregnant and abandoned by her husband, Philip takes her in and cares for her, breaking off with the kind-hearted writer. Staying with Philip at his flat, Mildred has an affair with his best friend. Confronting her with her indiscretions, Mildred tells Philip how repulsed she is by his club foot and walks out on him. Philip once again throws himself into his studies, passing his examinations and taking an internship at a London hospital. There he hears Mildred has become a cheap prostitute. Philip travels to the brothel where she is living in poverty with her child and takes her under his wing once again. As before, Mildred walks out on Philip, trashing his apartment and taking to the streets. When Philip comes upon her again, he finds that her child has died and she is suffering from the advanced stages of syphilis. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Novak, Laurence Harvey, (more)
- 1965
This British WWII adventure film concerns a woman trapped in a prisoner of war camp and hidden by her fellow POWs from their Japanese captors. Elaine (Barbara Shelley) is a secret agent whose plane is shot down over the island of Malaya in 1944 by the Japanese. With no other recourse except capture, she enters the POW camp on the island and is hidden by Crewe (Jack Hedley) and his fellow prisoners. The Japanese realize that Elaine must be somewhere on the island, however, and when their search fails to produce her, they suspect that their prisoners know more than they are willing say. So the men are tortured one by one, and eventually a few crack and tell the truth. Elaine is then caught and also tortured. When her inquisitors realize the importance of the information Elaine carries, plans are made to send her to Singapore for interrogation at the hands of experts. The Secret of Blood Island (1965) was one of few features produced by television director Quentin Lawrence. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Shelley, Jack Hedley, (more)
Among the first of the late 60s anti-war films that reflected growing concern over the Vietnam War, How I Won the War takes a cold, dark look at the Good War, World War II. In adapting Patrick Ryan's 1963 novel, screenwriter Charles Wood and director Richard Lester offered a narrative fractured by characters making side comments to the camera, stylized cinematography, inserts of newsreel war footage, and plenty of absurdist humor and slapstick. Ernest Goodbody (Michael Crawford) is a bumbling British officer who manages to get most of his small company of musketeers killed while on a mission in North Africa to set up a cricket pitch behind enemy lines for officers of the advancing British army. The rest of the company dies in an ensuing campaign in Europe near the war's end, but all of the men continue to march along, appearing as monochromatic ghosts. (Original prints of the film intercut real battle footage tinted to match the color of the soon-to-be ghost soldier. Some prints of the film, including one shown on Turner Classic Movies, present the newsreel shots in black and white, undercutting the stylized touch.) The story is framed as a flashback, with Goodbody relating his version of events to a German officer (Karl Michael Vogler), while the real version of events, demonstrating Goodbody's ineptitude, plays out on screen. Among the supporting players are John Lennon, who had worked with Lester on A Hard Day's Night and Help; Roy Kinnear, a Lester regular, as a fat soldier who is certain his wife is cheating on him; Jack MacGowran as the troop's designated fool, and Michael Hordern as a general almost as oblivious to his suffering men as Goodbody. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Crawford, John Lennon, (more)
Bette Davis plays a wealthy one-eyed widow (complete with designer eye patch) who gathers her sons together once a year to celebrate the death of the husband she detested. Mama Davis couldn't be more castrating if her last name was Bobbitt: Her grown sons (it's been 10 years since daddy died) are essentially weaklings who seem to secretly covet the emotional stranglehold she has over them. When she can't exert her authority of her sons by normal means, Davis blackmails them with her knowledge of the skeletons in their closets -- and in the case of her eldest son, the women's undies in his dresser drawers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Sheila Hancock, (more)
While it might not have been the best idea on earth to remake the 1939 classic Goodbye Mr. Chips as a musical, the end result is not altogether displeasing. Peter O'Toole steps into the old Robert Donat role of Arthur Chipping (originally Charles Chipping), a young by-the-book schoolmaster at a 1920s British boys school who is humanized by the love of good-natured music-hall singer Katherine Bridges (played by Petula Clark; Greer Garson essayed this role, then named Katherine Ellis, in the original). Though Chips must endure the tragedy of Katherine's death during the 1940 London blitz (a scene filmed from the bomb's point of view!), he is able to persevere by devoting himself to his young charges. In retrospect, this version of Goodbye Mr. Chips might have worked better without the songs, which never rise above banality. And though Petula Clark can't match the poignancy of Greer Garson's performance (in all fairness, she didn't have much of a script to work with), Peter O'Toole is terrific as the title character, convincingly ageing and mellowing as the story unfolds. Originally road-shown at 151 minutes, Goodbye Mr. Chips is today generally available in its 131-minute general-release version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Petula Clark, (more)
- 1971
This British made-for-television drama tells the story of an English spy living abroad. John Le Mesurier stars as Adrian Harris, an English diplomat who trades loyalties and becomes a Russian spy. Harris escapes to Moscow after his covert activity is uncovered and he lives in exile, until some journalists come sniffing around for his story. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Ignoring the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," producer Carlo Ponti mounted a TV remake of the 1945 British masterpiece Brief Encounter. Sophia Loren (Mrs. Ponti) stars as a bored married woman who embarks upon a brief romantic fling with an equally married man (Richard Burton). Throughout their relationship, Loren and Burton are plagued by guilt; ultimately, they sacrifice their potential happiness in favor of "the right thing." John Bowne based his script on the 1936 Noel Coward playlet Still Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, (more)
- 1976
This TV adaptation of Tennessee Williams' prize-winning play stars Robert Wagner as Brick, a college sports champion who hasn't made it in the real world, and Natalie Wood as Brick's wife Maggie, the sexually frustrated "cat" of the title. Brick and Maggie are staying at the home of Brick's wealthy parents, Big Daddy and Big Mama, as are Brick's successful brother Gooper and Gooper's eternally pregnant wife Mae. Big Daddy (Laurence Olivier) has been seriously ill, thus his offspring are concerned over the size of their inheritance. It has been hinted that Big Daddy will leave his fortune to Brick provided Maggie produces a child, but the marriage has been plagued by Brick's refusal to sleep with his wife, and by a dark secret in Brick's past life that has brought about impotence and alcoholism. The reason for Brick's insecurity is his past friendship with school buddy Skipper, a homosexual who'd committed suicide. Brick believes that Big Daddy is convinced that Brick and Skipper "had sodomy together", and Gooper delights in taunting Brick over this. Big Mama learns that Big Daddy has inoperable cancer, and determines to keep the truth from her husband. She also knows that Brick is Big Daddy's favorite son, thus rejects Gooper's cold-blooded attempts to set up a trusteeship for Big Daddy's estate. In the final scene, Maggie lies to Big Daddy that she is pregnant, and Big Daddy (unaware of his imminent doom) chooses to believe her. Brick will get the estate, and Maggie will hopefully convince her husband to makes theirs a "real" marriage. A made-for-TV production, the 1976 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is more sexually explicit than the censor-ridden 1958 Hollywood version, but isn't quite as strong dramatically despite its powerhouse cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, (more)
- 1977
Created by Michael J. Bird, the British drama series Who Pays the Ferryman? was set on the Mediterranean island of Crete. Jack Hedley starred as Alan Haldane, an Englishman returning to Crete after a 30-year absence. In his "search for himself," Haldane was not altogether pleased with what he found -- nor were those islanders whom he'd left behind. The first of the series' eight episodes was telecast on November 7, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hedley, Betty Arvanitis, (more)
- 1980
This made-for-television biography chronicles the life of Italian actress and beauty Sophia Loren, from her childhood in Naples to her international stardom. Joanna Crawford adapted the screenplay from A.E. Hotchner's biographical book. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
For Your Eyes Only eschews the gimmickry and campiness of earlier James Bond films, concentrating instead on telling the story and maintaining suspense. Roger Moore is back as Secret Agent 007, this time on the trail of Soviet spies while he romances the beautiful Melina, played by Carole Bouquet. Richard Maibaum's screenplay has very little to do with the collection of short stories that made up Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, save for the plotline involving Melina's seeking vengeance for the death of her father. The direction is by John Glen, who'd previously done second unit work on other Bond films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, (more)
Jack Hedley of The Anniversary stars as a hardbitten police lieutenant tracking a sadistic sex-killer in this gruesome thriller from splatter-maven Lucio Fulci. The misogynistic script (by Fulci and prolific collaborators Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Mannino) posits a femme-hating psycho (who talks like Donald Duck) slashing beautiful women with a switchblade and a straight-razor because his daughter is in the hospital and will never grow up to be beautiful. Fulci was apparently trying to work in a statement about American competitiveness by making his heroine (Antonella Interlenghi) an aspiring Olympic athlete, and having a killer who is concerned that his daughter will never be "the best," but the point gets lost amidst the buckets of blood and gratuitously kinky sex scenes. Pandering to the lowest common denominator as never before in his career, Fulci showed with this blatant play for the sicko slasher crowd that the days of well-plotted, stylish Italian horror were gone, replaced with the most vicious sort of sexual violence and perversion. Despite all of that, there is one fairly masterful sequence in which the suspect's S&M sex partner learns his identity from a radio broadcast and must untie herself and escape while he sleeps. This scene is tense and nerve-wracking, a high-point of genuine fear amidst a nauseating collage of metal blades slicing female flesh. A shameful piece of work that makes Mario Landi's Giallo a Venezia look positively liberated, it co-stars Renato Rossini, Andrea Occhipinti, and Paolo Malco, with cult figures Alessandra Delli Colli, Daniela Doria, and Barbara Cupisti on the chopping block. Cinematographer Luigi Kuveiller, editor Vincenzo Tomassi, and composer Francesco De Masi have all done better work. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hedley, Almanta Keller, (more)
