Film choice

Shane (1953) FILM4, 3.45PM ★★★★

There are few westerns that examine the depths of human emotions, but this film by George Stevens is one of them and has become a landmark of cinema. Shane (Alan Ladd) is a cowboy who finds himself idolised for the way that he handles himself in the face of a landowner’s heavies. The climax is a face-off between Shane and smiling, whispering, Oscar-nominated Jack Palance, as the original man in black. This is a must-see film.

Mr & Mrs Smith (2005) 5STAR, 9.00PM ★★★

A daft comedy thriller which is perhaps best remembered for being the film that introduced Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie. They play a couple whose failing marriage is spiced up dramatically when each discovers that the other secretly works as an assassin. Let down by a weak script, the film is held together by the chemistry between its two leads. Vince Vaughn and Adam Brody co-star.

Moonraker (1979) ITV4, 9.00PM ★★★

The 11th film in the Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the dapper MI6 agent, involves the theft of a space shuttle. It’s one of the weaker Bond films and at times seems more of a comedy than a tense action adventure, but it’s enjoyably frivolous. Michael Lonsdale plays resident baddie Hugo Drax who pinches the aforementioned space shuttle to help along his plan to wipe out the world’s population.