Ken Sharrock Movies
- 1993
In this crime thriller, Leslie Steckler (Peter Firth) is an inoffensive, polite and very quiet man. He does, however, have a particular animus against blondes wearing white. In fact, among that small group of women, he is a cold-blooded serial killer, instead of the meek dentist he usually appears to be. He is looking for someone to tell his story to, and when he discovers that the (brunette) writer Ellen Carter (Harriet Robinson) has murdered her husband, he feels that he has found a perfect person. It helps, of course, that her novelistic specialty is serial killers. However, Inspector Taylor (Don Henderson) of Scotland Yard is on Ellen's case, and will soon be on Leslie's. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Firth, Harriet Robinson, (more)
Since its London and Broadway stage debut, playwright Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine has proven an excellent showcase for any number of talented actresses (Loretta Swit won the 1989 Sarah Siddons Award for her work in the Chicago production). In the film version of Shirley Valentine, Pauline Collins re-creates the role that had previously brought her theatrical fame and a Tony Award. Spending the bulk of the film speaking directly to the audience, the titular Shirley (Collins), a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, reveals her innermost thoughts and fears in a manner that is both insouciant and poignant. Once an incorrigible anti-establishment rebel, Shirley now chafes under the plodding insensitivity of her husband Joe (Bernard Hill). Her life enters a new and exciting phase when, after her best friend Jane (Alison Steadman) wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece, Shirley is given the opportunity to travel to faraway places without her husband. Shirley Valentine represents the second felicitous collaboration between playwright Willy Russell and director Lewis Gilbert; the first was Educating Rita (1983). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, (more)
The Living Daylights represents the first appearance by Timothy Dalton as "Bond...James Bond." Based very, very loosely on an obscure Ian Fleming short story, the film finds Bond assigned to aid in the defection of KGB agent Jeroen Krabbe. 007 must prevent an unknown sniper from killing Krabbe before he can reach the West. The mysterious assailant turns out to be the luscious Maryam d'Abo, who like practically everyone in the film except Bond is Not All That She Seems. The plot wends its way through a scheme to trade several million dollars' worth of diamonds for weapons, which will be shipped off to mercenaries worldwide. The climax takes place high above the clouds in a cargo plane loaded with opium. Dalton would play Bond one more time in License to Kill (1989) before handing the franchise over to Pierce Brosnan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Dalton, Maryam D'Abo, (more)
A man struggling to escape the political unrest of Northern Ireland finds that his violent past still follows him in this drama. Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke) is a terrorist with the Irish Republican Army who, while attempting to blow up a British military transport, accidentally bombs a bus full of schoolchildren. The incident haunts Fallon, who decides to quit the IRA and escape to London. Fallon wants to relocate to America, but he lacks a passport, and his criminal past would prevent him from getting one. Jack Meehan (Alan Bates), a British gangster who knows about Fallon's past, offers him a deal -- he can get Fallon the papers and the cash to go to America, but in return he must kill a man. A priest, Father De Costa (Bob Hoskins), witnesses Fallon committing the murder, and Fallon wants to find a way to keep De Costa quiet without putting more blood on his hands. The original director of A Prayer for the Dying, Franc Roddam, left the production midway through shooting due to disputes with the producers, and star Mickey Rourke later attempted to disassociate himself from the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins, (more)
