johns-list's - Rented
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New Battles Without Honour and Humanity (1974)Shin jingi naki tatakai
1950. In Hiroshima's Kure City, ambitious yakuza soldier Makio Miyoshi (Bunta Sugawara) botches an attempt on the life of a rival boss, and is sent to prison for eight years. In the interim, his Yamamori gang benefits from the country's newfound prosperity and extends its underworld power. When he's released, Makio must mediate a split between the boss and his own bonded brother, Aoki (Tomisaburo Wakayama), which threatens to erupt into violence at anytime, even though Makio longs to embark on a more stable life with a beautiful, ethnically-Korean hostess (Reiko Ike) who's fallen for him. But when Boss Yamamori (Nobuo Kaneko) begs him to kill Aoki, Makio is faced with a crisis of honour which calls into question his loyalty to the gang. Kinji Fukasaku's immediate follow-up to his immensely popular five-film series is a darker, more violent re-telling of the original story, with a new cast of characters fighting to reach the top of the crime world of postwar Japan. - Director:
- Kinji Fukasaku
- Cast:
- Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Nobuo Kaneko
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After being blinded, a young woman Sarah (Mia Farrow) goes to live in the English countryside with relatives. Out on a date with a boyfriend, she escapes the fate of her relatives who are murdered by a crazed killer. She finally makes the gruesome discovery of their bodies and has to flee on horseback. She is rescued but the murderer is still out there. - Director:
- Richard Fleischer
- Cast:
- Mia Farrow, Dorothy Alison, Robin Bailey
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Go ahead. Slug, drug, kidnap and leave John Shaft buck-naked in a sweltering hellhole. It's still no deal. If you want to recruit this tough-minded Manhattan detective for an overseas assignment, you'd better use a language he understands. One that offers a fat up-front fee. And a drop-dead gorgeous accomplice. Richard Roundtree returns as the indomitable Shaft, who poses as a slave, unmasks the leaders of an Africa-to-Europe slavery cartel and, for good measure, mixes his business with amorous pleasure involving a beautiful princess (Vonetta McGee). - Director:
- John Guillermin
- Cast:
- Richard Roundtree, Frank Finlay, Vonetta McGee
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Fear in the Night (1972)Dynasty of Fear
Peggy (Judy Geeson) is recovering from a nervous breakdown when she is attacked by an unseen assailant. As she struggles to break free, her attacker's artificial arm comes loose and Peggy blacks out in sheer terror. Peggy and her new husband Robert (Ralph Bates) spend their honeymoon at the country school where Robert is a teacher. The school is eerily deserted. Except for the headmaster Michael (Peter Cushing) and his wife Molly (Joan Collins). Returning to her cottage. Peggy is once more attacked by a man with one arm. Robert goes to London on behalf of the headmaster, but leaves his shotgun behind to reassure Peggy. Michael visits Peggy at the cottage late one night, and she notices for the first time that he only has one arm. Terrified, she reaches for the gun. - Director:
- Jimmy Sangster
- Cast:
- Judy Geeson, Joan Collins, Ralph Bates
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You Liked it Before, So He's Back with More, 'Shaft's Back in Action!' You can't say the mob wasn't warned about John Shaft. "He's a bad dude", a numbers racketeer cautions them. Now Shaft himself will deliver that message in a way New York City's wise guys understand. Richard Roundtree reunites with the director (Gordon Parks) and the screenwriter (Ernest Tidyman) of 1971's trendsetting Shaft for Shaft's Big Score, the second of Roundtree's three movie portrayals of the street-smart, leather-jacketed private investigator. This time, the blown-to-kingdom-come murder of a client plunges Shaft into a case that bounces him like a pinball between the 133rd Precinct and competing mobs. But the players are about to be played in this "rousing and entertaining thriller". - Director:
- Gordon Parks
- Cast:
- Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Drew Bundini Brown
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At the chaotic law firm of Crane Poole and Schmidt, there's no such thing as temporary insanity-it's more of a permanent condition!. Amid torrid interoffice love affairs, and under the watchful eye of new senior partner Carl Sack, the firm's brilliant but volatile attorneys take on such burning social issues as grays in the military, mortgage foreclosures, obesity and cockfighting. Alan Shore faces the supreme court, Shirley Schmidt rekindles an old flame and Denny Crane is arrested for soliciting sex........again! John Larroquette joins fellow James Spader, William Shatner and Candice Bergen in Boston Legal's most outrageous season yet! - Director:
- Bill D'Elia
- Cast:
- James Spader, John Larroquette, Christian Clemenson
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Hotter than Bond. Cooler than Bullitt, movie posters proclaimed. John Shaft was indeed a shut-your-mouth detective to reckon with, a fact emphasized from the film's start by Isaac Hayes Academy Award-winning Best Original Song and Oscar-nominated score. Richard Roundtree plays the smart, tough confident lead, a private investigator whose hunt for a kidnapped woman puts him in the middle of feuding syndicates. Gordon Parks directs from a screenplay that Ernest Tidyman co-scripted from his own novel. John Shaft is an icon of change from an era of change. Today, Shaft still tells it like it is. - Director:
- Gordon Parks
- Cast:
- Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi
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The Saga of Anatahan (1953)Ana-ta-han
Josef von Sternberg - the innovative director with an unmatched eye for detail and a reputation for his intensity - brings to life this vulnerable tale of human trauma, survival and redemption. Set during the dying stages of World War II, 'The Saga of Anatahan' tells the story of twelve Japanese seaman stranded on a forgotten island for seven years. Accompanied only by Keiko (Akemi Negishi), a young Japanese woman, all rationality and discipline are soon overcome by a struggle for power and control over Keiko's affections. Narrated by Sternberg himself, the director positions himself as the story's unconscious viewpoint amidst his othertrademark qualities: lush mise-en-scene, theatrical lighting and bleak yet poignant storytelling. - Director:
- Josef Von Sternberg
- Cast:
- Akemi Negishi, Tadashi Suganuma, Kisaburo Sawamura
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Quincy, M.E., the trailblazing series that created the medical investigation genre, comes home to video for the first time ever in this gripping 6-disc set of Seasons One and Two! Television icon Jack Klugman is the crusading and headstrong medical examiner Dr. Quincy. Aided by his loyal lab assistant Sam Fujiyama (Robert Ito), Quincy's not afraid to stand up for his convictions, and he'll battle anyone who stands in his way: his sceptical boss Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin), City Hall, and even sometimes his own friends and mentors. On the case with Quincy are celebrated guest stars such as Buddy Hackett, Donna Mills, Kim Cattrall, June Lockhart and Jamie Lee Curtis. Investigate all 16 episodes Seasons One and Two, and watch as Quincy, M.E. probes into contemporary issues and makes a passionate stand for justice. - Director:
- Noel Black
- Cast:
- Jack Klugman, Jerry Doggett, Lynette Mettey
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In the dark days of the depression, dance marathons became a way for desperate people to compete for prize money. Events would last for days, as contestants pushed themselves beyond the point of exhaustion while the barbarous crowds watched on, wagering money for sport and profit. Against this backdrop, the lives of a disparate group of contestants become intertwined. Brought together by chance, they move relentlessly around the dance floor in search of a dream... the clock ticks on... which of them will survive? - Director:
- Sydney Pollack
- Cast:
- Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York
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Mickey (Philip Seymour-Hoffman) makes ends-meet by partaking in petty crime and gambling, with his friend Arthur (John Turturro), and then spending most of it in the local flea-pit bar before stumbling home to his long-suffering wife Jeanie (Christina Hendricks). When his mentally unstable step-son, Leon, is killed by a co-worker on a construction site - a crime that is quickly covered up and explained away as an 'accident', nobody in the depressed blue collar neighbourhood of God's Pocket is particularly sorry, except of course his own mother. Mickey tries to bury the bad news along with the body, but when Jeanie demands the truth, Mickey finds himself stuck in a struggle between a body he can't bury, a wife he can't please and a debt he can't pay . - Director:
- John Slattery
- Cast:
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, Richard Jenkins
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Lynda La Plante: The Commander (2005)Entrapment / Virus / Blackdog
Includes three feature length dramas from BAFTA Award Winner, Lynda La Plante. Amanda Burton is Commander Clare Blake, Head of the Murder Teams. Her top priority to reinvestigate contentious cases alongside a group of highly specialized retired detectives. Heading up over one hundred murder enquiries at any one time, the pressure is intense. And as a female officer in a high profile role, the internal rivalry is fierce. Fending off an intrusive press, an official police enquiry and the self-interested Detective Chief Inspector Hedges a sinister colleague with a competitive streak and a grudge to settle Blake is forced to fight her ground on several fronts. But as the job merges ever more precariously with her personal life, it threatens to destroy her, both professionally and privately. - Director:
- Michael Whyte
- Cast:
- Amanda Burton, Matthew Marsh, Poppy Miller
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In sixties London, two very different women share an apartment. Ginnie (June Ritchie) is an extrovert and an accomplished seductress, Billa (Sylvia Syms) is jaded and world-weary. But they have one thing in common; they both work as night-club hostesses and dream of a better life. Used to depending upon each other, their friendship is tested when Ginnie falls in love with a wealthy married man. Billa, feeling abandoned and alone, stumbles into crisis, and Ginnie is forced to choose between the man she loves and her best friend. - Director:
- Wolf Rilla
- Cast:
- Sylvia Syms, Edward Judd, June Ritchie
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A raucous tale of two young doctors enthusiastically tackling the most common ailment known to man – the love bug! Right from the start it’s romance and laughter all the way with Dr Richard Hare (Michael Craig) and his partner Dr Tony Burke (Leslie Phillips) adapting to life at St. Swithin’s Hospital; a country practice and wonderfully entitled ‘Foulness Anti-Cold Research Clinic. In the process, they encounter sultry night nurses, two out of work strippers – Dawn & Leonora (Joan Sims & Liz Fraser) a flirtatious receptionist (Carole Lesley) and luscious Locum Dr Barrington (Virginia Maskell). Needless to say, heartbeats and pulse – rates rush skywards, as love becomes the prescribed tonic. Even the retired surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt (James Robertson Justice) gets involved and all in spite of a grumbling appendix. - Director:
- Ralph Thomas
- Cast:
- Michael Craig, Virginia Maskell, Leslie Phillips
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