007: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) DVD

Abigail's Party (1977) DVD

Abigail's Party is a play for stage and television devised and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. It is a suburban situation comedy of manners, and a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the 1970s. The play developed in lengthy improvisations during which Mike Leigh explored the characters with the actors, but did not always reveal the incidents that would occur during the play. The production opened in April 1977 at the Hampstead Theatre, and returned after its initial run in the summer of 1977, 104 performances in all. A recording was arranged at the BBC as a Play for Today, produced by Margaret Matheson for BBC Scotland and transmitted in November 1977.

Beverly has invited her new neighbours, Angela and Tony, over for drinks. She has also asked her divorced neighbour, Sue, because Sue's fifteen year-old daughter, Abigail, was holding a party in their house. Beverly's husband, Lawrence comes home late from work, just before the guests arrive. The gathering starts off in a stiff insensitive British middle class way with people who do not know each other, until Beverly and Lawrence start sniping at each other.

The Kiss of Death (1977) DVD Box Set

The Kiss of Death is a 1977 BBC TV film.
Mike Leigh directed 'this whimsical, made-for-television tale about Trevor, (David Threlfall), an unusually bashful mortician's assistant', whose moods and personality really make up the subject of the film. A natural landscape for Leigh's offbeat and bleakly humorous worldview. Leigh has often said the film is one of his favourites, not least because Trevor contains certain autobiographical elements.

Trevor and his friend Ronnie form a foursome with Linda and Sandra. A brake on Trevor's joy in life 'is the factual premonition of everyday death', and the central incident of a cot death affects him profoundly.

Suspiria (1977)

Suzy Bannion, an American ballet student from New York City, arrives late on a stormy night at the prestigious Tanz Dance Academy in Freiburg, Germany. While trying (unsuccessfully) to get someone to answer the door to the academy, she witnesses a young student, Pat Hingle, flee from the school. Suzy makes her way to a hotel, while Pat finds refuge at a friend's apartment in town. Pat tells her friend that she has uncovered something terrible inside the Academy, then locks herself in the bathroom. A shadowy figure appears outside the bathroom window – an arm smashes through the window and grabs Pat. Hearing Pat's screams, her friend runs for help but nobody answers. The attacker stabs Pat repeatedly – even once in her heart – and then slips a noose around her neck. The figure throws Pat through a window that leads into the apartment lobby below and the rope snaps, killing her, just as the falling glass kills her fleeing friend below.

Suzy returns to the academy in the morning and is introduced to Madame Blanc, the vice-directress, and Miss Tanner, one of the instructors. She is then introduced to students Sara and Olga, the latter with whom she has previously arranged to share an off-campus apartment. After a strange encounter with the academy's custodian, Suzy faints during a lesson. She awakens that night to discover that she has been moved into an on-campus dormitory, despite her reluctance. The doctors tell her that she is to be "medicated" with a glass of wine daily, and will have to live on campus for her continued care. Suzy rooms with Sara, and the two become friends.

As the students prepare for dinner, maggots rain down from the ceiling. The students are told this was due to spoiled food being stored in the attic and are invited to sleep in the practice hall overnight while the spoiled food and maggots are disposed of. During the night, Sara identifies a distinctive whistling snore as that of the school's director, who is not due to return to the academy for several weeks.

The following day, Tanner orders the school's blind piano player, Daniel, to leave the academy after his guide dog supposedly bites the custodian's son (who is also Madame Blanc's nephew). That night, Sara hears a teacher's footsteps and counts them whilst Suzy becomes drowsy and falls asleep. Elsewhere, while crossing a plaza, Daniel's dog and Daniel himself sense a strange presence before the canine – without warning – lunges at him and tears his throat out, killing him.

Suzy recalls that Pat had mumbled "iris" and "secret" when they briefly crossed paths. Suzy and Sara go for an evening swim at the school's indoor swimming pool and Sara reveals that Pat had been saying strange things for some time. The two girls search for Pat's personal notes, but they are missing. Suzy suddenly becomes drowsy again and falls asleep before Sara flees after hearing footsteps. Sara is chased by an unseen pursuer and, thinking she will be able to escape on a window ledge, falls into a pile of razor wire. She struggles until a dark figure slits her throat.

In the morning, Blanc and Tanner inform Suzy that Sara has abruptly left the academy. Confused and suspicious, Suzy goes to meet one of Sara's acquaintances in town, the psychologist Frank Mandel. Mandel explains that the academy was founded by Helena Markos, a cruel Greek émigré who was widely believed to be a witch, while Mandel's colleague, Professor Milius, tells Suzy that a coven can not survive without their queen.

Suzy returns to the academy to find that all the other students have been sent out for the evening to see a performance by the Bolshoi. After disposing of her food and wine (which may have been drugged, thus explaining Suzy becoming drowsy), she then hears the same footsteps that Sara heard, Suzy follows the sound to Blanc's office, entering to find the walls painted with the irises Pat had mumbled about. She finds a hidden passage and enters, quietly observing Blanc, Tanner and the staff performing a ritual and plotting Suzy's death. Suzy turns to find Sara's body nailed to a coffin. She sneaks into another room, where she accidentally awakens a shadowy figure who reveals herself as Helena Markos. Helena orders Sara's corpse to rise from the dead to murder Suzy, but Suzy stabs Helena through the throat with a knife she finds, killing Helena and causing Sara's corpse to collapse. The rest of the coven start asphyxiating without their queen, and Suzy escapes just as the academy collapses in flames.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977) DVD

At a run-down gas station in the desert of Nevada, somewhere near the Nellis Air Force Base, an old man named Fred (John Steadman) is packing his truck when a ragged and somewhat feral teenage girl named Ruby (Janus Blythe) approaches him. She offers to trade what she has in her bag for food, but the old man refuses. They walk into a small cabin and Fred scolds her for what "they" have done. Ruby says that her family ambushed a nearby airfield because they were hungry and that no one passes by where they live anymore. She pleads with Fred to take her with him, but he refuses and warns Ruby that she could be in danger if "the pack", in particular someone named Jupiter learns what she's doing. She replies that his life will be in danger as well if Jupiter finds out that he's trying to leave. A noise distracts them and Fred orders Ruby to hide.

The Carter family is traveling on vacation towing a travel trailer from Ohio to Los Angeles. Parents Bob (Russ Grieve) and Ethel (Virginia Vincent) are driving, accompanied by their teenage children Bobby (Robert Houston) Brenda (Susan Lanier), eldest daughter Lynne (Dee Wallace), Lynne's husband Doug (Martin Speer), their baby daughter Katy, and their dogs, Beauty and the Beast. They stop at Fred's Oasis for fuel and Fred urges them to stay on the main road as they leave. Fred's truck suddenly explodes, preventing him from leaving. Ignoring Fred's warning, the Carters skid off a desert road and crash. Bob walks back to Fred's Oasis to get help. The dogs become very panicky and start barking at the hills. Beauty then runs off into the hills, where she's slaughtered by someone. Bobby chases after her and finds her mutilated body. Frightened, he runs, falls and knocks himself unconscious.

As night falls, Bob reaches the gas station, where he finds Fred, who has tried to hang himself. Fred tells him about his son's family of deranged cannibals who live in the hills through which the Carters have traveled. They are commanded by Papa Jupiter (James Whitworth) who had killed his mother, Fred's wife, during childbirth. As a child, he killed the livestock on his father's farm and later murdered his sister. Fred attacked his son with a tire iron and left him in the hills to die. However, Jupiter survived and had children with a depraved, alcoholic prostitute known as Mama (Cordy Clark). Together, they had three sons - Mars (Lance Gordon), Pluto (Michael Berryman) and Mercury (Peter Locke) - and an abused daughter, Ruby. They survive by stealing and cannibalizing travelers. Papa Jupiter suddenly crashes his hands through a window, kills Fred with a tire iron and takes Bob prisoner.

Brenda finds Bobby, who is shaken up about Beauty and returns to the trailer but doesn't mention Beauty's death, not wanting to frighten the rest of the family. He then gets locked out of the trailer and asks Doug for his keys, but is unaware the trailer is locked because Pluto is looking through their valuables while Ethel and Brenda are asleep. Before Bobby enters the trailer, Pluto signals Papa Jupiter to set Bob on fire on a stake as and an explosion is heard in the distance. Ethel, Lynne, Doug, and Bobby rush out to save Bob while Brenda stays in the trailer with the baby. As they extinguish the fire, Pluto and Mars ransack the camper and Mars promptly rapes Brenda. The Carters eventually extinguish the fire, but Bob dies shortly afterwards. When Ethel and Lynne return to the trailer, Lynne is attacked by Mars, and Ethel hits him with a broom. After Mars shoots Ethel and Lynne, he attempts to shoot Brenda as well but has run out of bullets. Pluto abducts the baby and the brothers flee, intending for the family to eat the baby. Hearing their screams, Doug and Bobby rush in the camper only to find Lynne dead and Ethel mortally wounded.

Mars and Pluto return to the cave, but the Beast pushes Mercury off a hilltop to his death. Ruby is then chained outside the cave with Mama tormenting her, and is forced to eat Beauty as punishment for her betrayal. The family then cooks and eats Bob's body. The next morning, shortly after Ethel dies, Doug sets out to find his baby while Papa Jupiter and Pluto set out to kill the remaining family members. The Beast tears Pluto's throat out, and Papa Jupiter is killed by a trap set by Brenda and Bobby using their mother's corpse. Doug sees Ruby knock out Mama and escape with Katy into the hills.

Doug catches up with Ruby and the baby, but Mars follows them. Mars initially manages to tackle and knife-struggle with Doug, but Ruby interferes by putting a rattlesnake on Mars' neck, enabling Doug to overpower him. Doug then repeatedly stabs Mars to death while Ruby weeps over her brother's body and the screen fades to red.

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Philip Lamont, a priest struggling with his faith, attempts to exorcise a possessed South American girl who claims to "heal the sick". However, the exorcism goes wrong and a lit candle sets fire to the girl's dress, killing her. Afterwards, Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin, who had been killed four years earlier in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil. The Cardinal informs Lamont (who has had some experience at exorcism and has been exposed to Merrin's teachings) that Merrin is facing posthumous heresy charges because of his controversial writings. Apparently, Church authorities are trying to modernize and do not want to acknowledge that Satan actually exists.

Regan, although now seemingly normal and staying with her guardian Sharon Spencer in New York, N.Y., continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin. Regan claims she remembers nothing about her ordeal in Washington, D.C., but Tuskin believes her memories are only repressed.

Father Lamont visits the institute, but his attempts to question Regan about the circumstances of Father Merrin's death are rebuffed by Dr. Tuskin, who believes that Lamont's approach would do Regan more harm than good. In an attempt to plumb her memories of the exorcism, and specifically the circumstances in which Merrin died, Dr. Tuskin hypnotizes the girl, to whom she is linked by a "synchronizer", a revolutionary biofeedback device used by two people to synchronize their brainwaves. After a guided tour by Sharon of the Georgetown house where the exorcism took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by the synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the past by Pazuzu to observe Father Merrin exorcising a young boy, Kokumo, in Africa. Learning that the boy developed special powers to fight Pazuzu, who appears as a swarm of locusts, Lamont journeys to Africa, defying his superior, to seek help from the adult Kokumo.

Kokumo has become a scientist studying how to prevent locust swarms. Lamont learns that Pazuzu attacks people who have psychic healing ability. Regan is able to reach telepathically inside the minds of others; she uses this to help an autistic girl to speak, for instance. Father Merrin, who belonged to a group of theologians that believed psychic powers were a spiritual gift which would one day be shared by all people, thought people like Kokumo and Regan were forerunners of this new type of humanity. In a vision, Merrin asks Lamont to watch over Regan.

Lamont and Regan return to the old house in Georgetown. The pair are followed in a taxi by Tuskin and Sharon, who are concerned about Regan's safety. En route, Pazuzu tempts Lamont by offering him unlimited power, appearing as a succubus who is a doppelgänger of Regan. The taxi crashes into the Georgetown house, killing the driver, but his passengers survive and enter the house, where Sharon sets herself on fire. Although Lamont initially succumbs to the succubus, he is brought back by Regan and attacks her doppelgänger while a swarm of locusts deluge the house, which begins to crumble around them. However, Lamont manages to kill the doppelgänger by beating open its chest and pulling out its heart. In the end, Regan banishes the locusts (and Pazuzu) by enacting the same ritual attempted by Kokumo to get rid of locusts in Africa (although he failed and was himself possessed). Outside the house, Sharon dies from her injuries and Tuskin tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave while Tuskin stays to answer police questions.

The American Friend (1977)

Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) is a wealthy American living in Hamburg, Germany. He is involved in an artwork forgery scheme, in which he appears at auctions to bid on forged paintings produced by an accomplice and artificially drives up the price. At one of these auctions, he is introduced to Jonathan Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz), a picture framer who is dying of a rare and unspecified blood disease. Zimmermann refuses to shake Ripley's hand when introduced, coldly saying "I've heard of you" before walking away.

A French criminal named Raoul Minot (Gérard Blain) asks Ripley to murder a rival gangster. Ripley declines, but in order to get even for Zimmermann's slight, suggests Minot use Zimmermann for the job. Ripley spreads rumors that Zimmerman's illness has become suddenly far more serious. Minot offers Zimmerman a great deal of money to kill the gangster. Zimmermann initially turns Minot down, but becomes greatly distressed by the thought that he may not have long to live and wants to provide for his wife and son. He agrees with Minot to come to France for a second medical opinion. Minot arranges to have the results falsified to make Zimmermann expect the worst. Zimmermann agrees to shoot the gangster in a Paris Métro station. Ripley visits Zimmermann in his shop before and after the shooting to get a picture framed. Zimmerman is unaware of Ripley's involvement in the murder of the gangster, and the two begin to form a bond.

Minot visits Ripley again to report his satisfaction with Zimmermann's performance. Ripley, who has grown to like Zimmerman, is appalled when Minot says he plans to have him murder another rival gangster, this time on a speeding train using a garrote. Before Zimmermann can complete the murder, the bodyguard of the second target catches Zimmermann. Ripley appears on the train and overpowers him. Both Zimmermann and Ripley execute the target as well as a bodyguard. Ripley and Zimmermann meet outside and Ripley confesses to his role in suggesting him to Minot, and declines Zimmermann's suggestion to keep half of the money for the second hit. Ripley advises Zimmermann to tell Minot that he did the job on the train alone. Back home, Zimmermann argues with his wife, Marianne, who does not believe his stories of being paid to undergo experimental treatments.

Zimmermann has been receiving mysterious phone calls and suspects the Mafia is trying to find him. His fears grow worse when Minot tells him that his own flat was recently bombed. Ripley picks up Zimmermann and they drive to his mansion to wait for the assassins Ripley expects to appear. Ripley and Zimmermann ambush and kill the assassins. Ripley piles their bodies into the ambulance in which they arrived. Before he and Zimmermann can leave to dispose of the bodies, Marianne appears and tells Zimmermann that he was deceived by the altered medical reports. Ripley explains that she and her husband can settle matters later, but now they need to dispose of the bodies. They drive to the sea, Ripley in the ambulance and Marianne driving her husband in their car. On an isolated beach, Ripley douses the ambulance with gasoline and sets fire to it. Watching him, Zimmerman drives away with Marianne, abandoning Ripley. Moments later, he has an unexplained medical attack and dies at the side of the road. Ripley watches from the beach and says: "We made it anyway, Jonathan. Be careful."

(1977) A Photograph (Play for Today)

A sinister story. A man who has everything to live for is going to die, because of a puzzling photograph that he has been sent, and which he will make the mistake of investigating.

(1977) Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger

Legendary adventurer Sinbad (Patrick Wayne) stops in a port town to visit his friend Prince Kassim (Damien Thomas), only to find the city walls locked and no one there to greet him except an evil witch, Zenobia (Margaret Whiting), and her monstrous henchmen. Kassim's sister, Princess Farah (Jane Seymour), finds Sinbad and informs him her brother has been transformed into an ape, so now it's up to Sinbad to find the magic shrine that may be the only hope for restoring Kassim to his human form.

(1977) Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky is a 1977 British fantasy film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Michael Palin as a young cooper who is forced through clumsy, often slapstick misfortunes to hunt a terrible dragon after the death of his father. The film's title is taken from the nonsense poem "Jabberwocky" from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

The film, Gilliam's first as a solo director, received a mixed response from critics and audiences. It has become a cult film. Despite its unpopularity, Jabberwocky established Gilliam's visual style and dark humour.

After the death of his father, his young peasant son goes to town where he has to pass several adventures, due to being mistaken as the kingdom's only hope when a horrible monster called the "Jabberwocky" threatens the countryside.

(1977) The Gauntlet

A cop who has seen better days, hard-living Ben Shockley (Clint Eastwood) is recruited to escort Augustina "Gus" Mally (Sondra Locke), a key witness in a mob trial, from Las Vegas to Phoenix. Gus is a beautiful but coarse call girl who claims to have information that makes the two highly expendable targets. Ben starts to believe her after numerous attempts are made to kill them as they travel across the unforgiving desert, pursued by angry bikers and corrupt police officers.

(1977) Grand Theft Auto

Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan) wants to marry her boyfriend, Sam Freeman (Ron Howard), but her affluent family wants their daughter to pair up with someone wealthier than Sam. When Paula's father Bigby (Barry Cahill) accuses Sam of gold digging, Paula steals a luxury car from her parents and heads toward Las Vegas with her lover. The couple hope to marry there, but soon run into trouble: Bigby has offered a large cash sum to anyone who finds his daughter, and the result is a massive car chase.

(1977) Cult Kids Classics

Remember these? Take a trip down memory lane with six of the best children's programmes from the last thirty years! Compiled onto one handy DVD, sit back and enjoy 116 minutes of pure nostalgia. You'll be humming the theme tunes in no time! 1. Count Duckula 2. The Ghost of Castle McDuckula 3. Jamie and The Magic Torch 4. The Flying Rabbit 5. Rainbow 6. Chorlton & The Wheelies 7. Button Moon 8. Dangermouse

(1977) Count Dracula

Attorney Jonathan Harker (Bosco Hogan) travels to a castle in Transylvania to finish a real estate deal with the mysterious Count Dracula (Louis Jourdan). While writing letters to his fiancée, Mina (Judi Bowker), Jonathan slowly discovers that his creepy host is an immortal vampire determined to prey on Jonathan's loved ones. With the help of the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Frank Finlay), Jonathan attempts to destroy the creature before losing his beloved Mina to Dracula forever.

(1977) Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Steven Spielberg followed Jaws (1975), his first major box-office success, with this epic science fiction adventure about a disparate group of people who attempt to contact alien intelligence. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is an electrical lineman who, while sent out on emergency repairs, witnesses an unidentified flying object, and even has a "sunburn" from its bright lights to prove it. Neary's wife and children are at first skeptical, then concerned, and eventually fearful, as Roy refuses to accept a "logical" explanation for what he saw and is prepared to give up his job, his home, and his family to pursue the "truth" about UFOs. Neary's obsession eventually puts him in contact with others who've had close encounters with alien spacecraft, including Jillian (Melinda Dillon), a single mother whose son disappeared during her UFO experience, and Claude Lacombe (celebrated French filmmaker François Truffaut), a French researcher who believes that we can use a musical language to communicate with alien visitors. Lacombe's theory is put to the test when a band of government researchers and underground UFO enthusiasts (including Neary) join for an exchange with alien visitors near Devil's Tower, Wyoming. In 1980, a "Special Edition" was released. While its primary selling point was the addition of scenes inside the alien spaceship, Spielberg claimed that he also cleaned up some choppy editing in the second act.

Directed By: Steven Spielberg 

(1977) A Bridge Too Far

It's late 1944, and the Allied armies are confident they'll win the World War II and be home in time for Christmas. What's needed, says British general Bernard Law Montgomery, is a knockout punch, a bold strike through Holland, where German troops are spread thin, that will put the Allies into Germany. Paratroops led by British major general Robert Urquhart (Sean Connery) and American brigadier general James Gavin (Ryan O'Neal) will seize a thin road and five bridges through Holland into Germany, with paratroops led by Lieutenant Col. John Frost (Sir Anthony Hopkins) holding the most critical bridge at a small town called Arnhem. Over this road shall pass combined forces led by British Lieutenant Gen. Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox) and British Lieutenant Col. Joe Vandeleur (Michael Caine). The plan requires precise timing, so much so that one planner tells Lieutenant Gen. Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde), "Sir, I think we may be going a bridge too far." The plan also has one critical flaw: Instead of a smattering of German soldiers, the area around Arnhem is loaded with crack SS troops. Disaster ensues. Based on a book by historian Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far is reminiscent of another movie based on a Ryan book, The Longest Day. Like that movie, it is loaded with more than 15 international stars, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Hardy Krueger, Gene Hackman, Maximilian Schell, and Liv Ullman.

Directed By: Sidney Hayers, Richard Attenborough

(1977) Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope