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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in, but also the tone and the influence of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” starring Errol Flynn.

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s film of “The Name of the Rose”. In the early 1300s, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, accompanied by his novice Adso, investigates a number of deaths in mysterious circumstances in an Abbey renowned for its library which contains some rare, invaluable, and perhaps dangerous books…

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in Norman Jewison’s “Rollerball”. In the not-so-distant future, peace and personal comfort are provided by corporate government at the expense of personal ambition and aspiration. Conflict has been eradicated and replaced by Rollerball, a vicious and cathartic sport designed to accentuate team spirit and diminish the importance of the individual. However, top player Jonathan E is proving immensely popular and the executives want him to retire, a notion Jonathan will resist…

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in Roland Joffé’s “The Mission”. Slaver Rodrigo Mendoza kills his brother in a jealous rage and then falls into a deep and guilt-ridden depression. Jesuit priest Father Gabriel invites him to join him at his mission among the Guarani, the very people Mendoza used to enslave and who are now under threat from wider political machinations…

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in Sam Peckinpah’s revisionist western, “The Wild Bunch”, featuring themes common to some of Peckinpah’s best work. “The Wild Bunch” is the tale of a group of adventurers who follow a path of amorality but who are bonded by friendship and loyalty to one another as their time runs out…

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in Clint Eastwood’s revisionist western, “Unforgiven”. Former gunman Will Munny is approached by an aspiring young adventurer, encouraged by cheap fictionalised accounts of vicious gunfights, to join him in hunting down and killing a cowboy accused of disfiguring a young prostitute, principally for the bounty. This is a revisionist western that questions the nature of heroism, motivation and justice in the Old West.

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in David Lean’s anti-war film, “The Bridge on the River Kwai”, in which British POWs are put to work on the construction of the Burma Railway by their Japanese captors in 1943, resulting in a clash within the work camp and an attempt to destroy the bridge by Allied forces.

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino”. Grumpy and elderly widower Walt Kowalski comes to realise he has more in common with his immigrant neighbours than his own family and he tries to help them resolve issues with a local gang with dramatic consequences.

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in the 1975 film version of Ken Kesey’s book, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, concerning Randle Patrick McMurphy’s efforts to do easy prison time in a mental institution where he leads other inmates in a series of rebellious acts, culminating in a show-down with the head nurse. 

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Discussion and analysis of characters and themes in John Huston’s 1975 film version of Rudyard Kipling’s novella, “The Man Who Would Be King”, concerning the efforts of two former soldiers in the British Army as they seek their fortune in far-flung Kafiristan.