MOVIE night
Sneaking into an 18 certificate back in the day required an inventive strategy. We used to get the older siblings to open the fire exit door in the big screen at Swiss Cottage Odeon, and dozens of us kids got to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 in 1986.
However, the film was so horrifying, half of us left after about 10 minutes! The ticket staff stood in shock as all these young teens came running out of the movie in tears. Serves us right.
Reader Paul Kennedy remembers doing the same with X certificate films.
“When I was 14, my friend Big John and I used to go to our local cinema in Widnes, Cheshire, in the late 1970s, often dressed in a suit and tie to convince the box office staff we were over 18 and could watch an X film!”
1. THEATRE OF BLOOD (1973) – Vincent Price’s greatest role as Edward Lionheart – a “vigorous” actor of Shakespeare plays. He could safely be called a ripe ham so he decides to murder the critics of his “acting” in an inventive style based on Shakespearean deaths. Peerless.
2. THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1951) – Classic Ealing comedy with Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James and Alfie Bass as the mob who rob a gold bullion van. Writer TEB Clarke asked the Bank of England what was the best way to rob the gold and they obliged!
3. JFK (1991) – Oliver Stone’s barnstorming incendiary investigation of the crime of the century. Kevin Costner’s District Attorney Jim Garrison attempts to solve the mystery of the JFK assassination.
4. DELIVERANCE (1972) – John Boorman’s harrowing backwoods tale is as terrifying now as when released. Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds star.
5. TAXI DRIVER (1976) – You talkin’ to me? Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle is the epitome of deadly urban alienation.
■ Send your top five films and why to siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk and remember to include your age, location and a selfie.