FILM PICKS

SUNDAY

Gladiator (2000) (STV, 10.20pm)

Director Ridley Scott collected five Oscars, including Best Picture, for this muscular and gore-laden sword-andsandals epic. The hero of the day is Maximus (Russell Crowe), a general in the army of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), who is adored as much by his men as he is by the Emperor. Conniving heir to the throne Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) murders the Emperor in a fit of jealousy and orders the immediate execution of gallant Maximus, the sole threat to his rule. The hulking hero escapes with his life and is forced into slavery, training as a gladiator under the debonair Proximo (Oliver Reed). Crowe shoulders leading man duties with relish, lending Maximus an unexpected emotional depth and complexity opposite Reed in his final performance.

MONDAY

Murder on the Orient Express (1974) (BBC2, 2pm)

Forget the Kenneth Branagh remake – this is the superior version of Agatha Christie’s famous whodunit. Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) is travelling on the Orient Express from Istanbul to Paris when he is approached by an American businessman (Richard Widmark) who wants to hire the famous detective to find out who has been sending him death threats. Poirot declines – and awakes the next morning to learn the man has been stabbed to death while the train was stranded in a snow drift. It seems the killer must be on board. Fellow passengers under suspicion include Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery and Vanessa Redgrave.

TUESDAY

Educating Rita (1983) (BBC2, 11.15pm)

Bored Liverpool hairdresser Rita (Julie Walters) enrols in an Open University English Literature course. Her tutor is Frank (Michael Caine), a hard-drinking poet who is initially sceptical but comes to see his new pupil’s frank opinions and natural intelligence as a breath of fresh air. She’s slightly in awe of him, but as she finds her feet and starts mixing with other pupils, the dynamics of their relationship change. Although Willy Russell’s play, which was written as a two-hander, has been opened out for the screen, the film ultimately depends on the relationship between Frank and Rita. Fortunately, Walters and Caine, who were both deservedly nominated for Oscars, are perfect in their roles.

THURSDAY

In a Lonely Place (1950) (GREAT! movies classic, 9pm)

Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart) is a screenwriter with a flagging career and a hair-trigger temper, whose life seems poised to get even worse when he is accused of murdering a nightclub hat-check girl he invited back to his place. Dixon’s neighbour Laurel (Gloria Grahame) clears his name when she tells the police she saw the girl leaving his home unharmed, but the more she learns about his tendency for violent outbursts, the more she doubts his innocence.