Richard Luck

Many happy returns, Michael Kitchen. And if you've never seen Unman, Wittering And Zigo, now's your chance... www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/det...

The Hill - Connery, Lumet And Their Under-sung British War Picture A celebration of a picture that deserves a place in the British war movie pantheon.

Remembering Sean Connery who died #onthisday in 2020 - great in so many things but never better than in Sidney Lumet's The Hill. richardluck.substack.com/p/the-hill-c...

Love and Death in Venice: Don't Look Now at 50 Cinema's most infamous sex scene; a shattering opening sequence and a truly unforgettable finale – Nicolas Roeg's Daphne du Maurier adaptation has lost none of its power with the passing of time

Airing tomorrow on BBC Two at 11.40pm, Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. www.thenewworld.co.uk/love-and-dea...

Just been reminded of the couple whose wedding dance was to U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'.

Michael Winner was born on this day in 1935. Here he is selling condoms in Piccadilly Circus after losing a bet with Marlon Brando over the correct pronunciation of 'integral'.

Classic Scene - The Thing (1982) "I know you gentlemen have been through a lot..."

A FREE Substack post - John Carpenter's The Thing receives the Classic Scene treatment... richardluck.substack.com/p/classic-sc...

Kevin Macdonald - Mountain Man Talking the Oscar-winning director about the trails of his mountaineering documentary Touching The Void...

Many happy returns, Kevin Macdonald. To mark the occasion, here's a Premium Substack post the making of his BAFTA-winning mountaineering documentary, Into The Void...

richardluck.substack.com/p/kevin-macd...

The Valley Of Gwangi - Under Review Before there was CGI, there was RAY!

A short FREE Substack post - celebrating Ray Harryhausen's fx masterpiece, The Valley Of Gwangi... richardluck.substack.com/p/the-valley...

Classic Scene - The Player (1992) "No stars, just talent."

A FREE Substack post to kick-off the week - The Player gets the Classic Scene treatment...

richardluck.substack.com/p/classic-sc...

Five Of The Best - Bob Hoskins Still very much missed, still in a class of his own.

On what should've been his birthday, a free look at five of Bob Hoskins' greatest performances... richardluck.substack.com/p/five-of-th...

The Ghost Of Tom Joad, The Wrestler.

"Daylight savings time? Ha, I give it about six months." Norm Macdonald

Hard Cheese, Old Boy - The Tale Of Terry-Thomas Celebrating Britain's favourite bounder.

With School For Scoundrels on BBC Two at 12pm, here - FREE! - is my celebration of the life and times of the inimitable Terry-Thomas... richardluck.substack.com/p/hard-chees...

Finally got around to watching the latest Jurassic World movie. The most far-fetched thing about it? In the future, people have grown bored with dinosaurs.

The Sober Companion - Why Permanent Midnight Is The Ultimate Addiction Memoir Jerry Stahl was a top TV writer with a bear of a drug habit. Here I celebrate the autobiography that helped me sober up.

Coming late to Apple TV's Severance, I was very chuffed when the writer Jerry Stahl popped up playing Magnus. As a big fan of the man and his work, here again - FREE! - is my piece on Jerry's Permanent Midnight, his extraordinary addiction memoir... #severance

The Sober Companion - Why Permanent Midnight Is The Ultimate Addiction Memoir Jerry Stahl was a top TV writer with a bear of a drug habit. Here I celebrate the autobiography that helped me sober up.

Coming late to Apple TV's Severance, I was very chuffed when the writer Jerry Stahl popped up playing Magnus. As a big fan of the man and his work, here again - FREE! - is my piece on Jerry's Permanent Midnight, his extraordinary addiction memoir... #severance

Michael Reeves - Bigger Than Death Over 40 years on from his untimely passing, interest in the British filmmaker and his small but compelling body of work has yet to dim.

On the anniversary of Vincent Price's passing, a Premium Substack piece on Michael Reeves, the young British filmmaker who directed the mighty Mr Price to one of his greatest performances in Witchfinder General... richardluck.substack.com/p/michael-re...

Am assuming Anton's Morpheus as I'm usually asleep before he says anything.

Cult Movies - Under Review They're not for everyone but then that's kinda the point.

A Premium Substack piece taking a look at a handful of cult movies including Aussie masterpieces like Peterson and The Last Of The Knucklemen... richardluck.substack.com/p/cult-movie...

YouTube video by ScottishTeeVee Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax with Lemmy (Motorhead)

"Hello? I need a film clip that sums up 1980s West Germany in toto. Any clues?"

"I believe I have just the thing, Sir."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqRl...

Have been re-reading Werner Herzog's autobiography. As a young child, his pet goose was eaten by a wolf. It would seem Werner Herzog's life was Werner Herzog-ian pretty much from the off.

Knights In Shite Cash-Ins British acting legends and the dire movies they appeared in in their twilight years.

A year-old today - a short piece about the terrible movies Sirs John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier made in their twilight years. It can only be, Knights In Shite Cash-Ins! richardluck.substack.com/p/knights-in...

... The first track I heard? 'Say Hello, Wave Goodbye'. I already liked the song but after a month of being kept away from such music, I fell in love with it like few tracks before or since. So even on a sad day like today, my memories of Messrs Ball and Almond uplifting. /2end #daveball #softcell

Very sad to learn of the death of Soft Cell's Dave Ball.

The first rehab I attended, we weren't allowed to listen to non-Christian music (oh, imagine the fun!) A month in, however, I was flicking through the TV channels when I chanced upon a TOTP2 repeat... /1 #daveball #softcell

Straw Dogs - Under Review When Sam Peckinpah brought his unique brand of mayhem to the West Country...

A FREE Substack post - and after posting that atmospheric Straw Dogs photo, here's what I made of Sam Peckinpah's picture. richardluck.substack.com/p/straw-dogs...

The Greatest Actors Of All Time! - Part Five The rest of the world

Today's Premium Substack - and the Greatest Actor survey goes international! richardluck.substack.com/p/the-greate...

One of the great horror movies. A shame we lost Reeves so young.

witch-hunting, Matthew Hopkins was paid £23 for a day’s work, this at a time when the average wage was thirty pence a week. He's thought to have hanged 168 women in Suffolk and 100 in Bury St Edmunds. In the fiscal year of 1665-66, Matthew Hopkins made over £1000 - £175,000 in modern money. /2end

Between the recent Sky History series on witchcraft and various pre-Halloween posts, there's been lot of talk of late about this chap, Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder General. What there's been less talk of is the economic benefits of his 'craft'. At the height of his... /1

Dirk Bogarde, Accident, @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social, 9.10pm