THELMA AND LOUISE (BBC iPlayer). Men behave really badly to women in this famous 1991 feminist road movie and it is men’s behaviour which goads two women to independence and excess. Excellently acted by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon and excellently directed by Ridley Scott, thirty years on, the film holds up really well. Davis is gorgeous. Brad Pitt rose to instant fame as a cowboy hustler
THE OUTFIT (Prime Video). Graham Moore directs his own screenplay, a pastiche Chicago 1950’s gangster movie, which has so many twists, that it becomes more and more difficult to take seriously but not any the less enjoyable as realism gives way to caricature. I felt I was watching an adaptation of a stage play. Mark Rylance gives a brilliant, subtle performance as a mild, detached bespoke tailor/cutter. There is so much going on behind his blank face. The film is a little gem.
LE ROI DANSE (Opera on Video). The King is Louis IV of France. He is sixteen. At Versailles in 1653, he dances Apollo in Le Ballet de la Nuit, an opulent spectacle lasting twelve hours, a major turning point in the history of dance. The ballet was political propaganda and promoted Louis as absolute monarch. He would be known as The Sun King ever after. Gerard Corbiau’s gorgeously costumed film traces the platonic relationship Louis (Benoit Magimel) had with Italian-French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (Boris Terral) who came to the court at the age of 19 and by the time he was 30 had complete control of music.
HEIST (Prime Video). Everybody wants money. That’s why it’s called money. David Mamet writes and directs. Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito and Sam Rockwell star. This 2001 movie begins well with a diamond robbery but the professional criminals then go on to double cross each other to such a ridiculous extent it ceases to be either plausible or entertaining.
THE GALLOPING MAJOR (StudioCanal). A major (Basil Radford) forms a syndicate to buy a horse and then buys the wrong horse. He still wins the Grand National in a ludicrous fairy tale finale. There are lots of well-known faces (Joyce Grenfell, Edie Martin, Alfie Bass, etc, etc) in the tiniest of roles but this sub-Ealing Comedy is well below the standard of director Henry Cornelius’s best work, Passport to Pimlico and Genevieve.
THE FLYING SCOT (StudioCanal). Half a million-pound mailbag robbery. Apart from the opening sequence, which raises expectations, this 1957 British B movie is never as good as its reputation. The low budget actors give stilted performances. The real star is the documentary train footage.
To learn more about Robert Tanitch and his reviews, click here to go to his website 
