Film choice

Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958) FILM4, 2.35PM ★★★★

 Forget Jack Bauer or Jason Bourne; their travails don’t compare to the day endured by Chief Inspector George Gideon (Jack Hawkins) in John Ford’s energetic and quintessentially British crime drama. After receiving a traffic ticket en route to work, Gideon then has to deal with bribery, murder and (worst of all) the news that his daughter is going on a date with the officer who issued that very same ticket earlier in the day.

Casualties of War (1989) 5SPIKE, 11.00PM ★★★★★

 Brian De Palma’s Vietnam film is a harrowing watch: there’s no heroism or band-of-brothers glory here, just the grotesque (and true) story of four US soldiers who kidnap and gang-rape a young Vietnamese woman while out on patrol, and a fifth who refuses then struggles to expose their crimes. The quartet include Sean Penn and John C Reilly; the lone objector is Michael J Fox. This is a war film with a different aura and purpose.

Enter the Dragon (1973) CHANNEL 5, 11.05PM ★★★★★

 This is the last film Bruce Lee shot before his death that year, and the one that cemented his reputation in the West. The plot may be thoroughly daft – Lee is recruited to spy on a reclusive crime lord, and uses his invitation to compete undercover in a martial arts tournament – but that’s not the reason to watch. Lee is an actor who exudes charisma, and the superb, high-speed choreography of his fight sequences is still mesmerising today.