MOONRAKER (1979)
ITV1, 8.30pm
Although the next Bond outing had been officially announced as For Your Eyes Only, the 007 producers rushed out Moonraker instead to capitalise on the late 1970s sci-fi boom generated by Star Wars. Roger Moore’s laconic super spy joins forces with the CIA agent Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) to investigate a sinister billionaire tycoon, Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale). The final laser battle between rival space shuttles is risibly far-fetched, even by Bond standards, but otherwise this space-age romp ranks high for globe-trotting glamour and action. (126 min)
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THE GAUNTLET (1977)
Five, 9pm
Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand initially signed to co-star in The Gauntlet, but Clint Eastwood took the project over after both backed out, directing himself and his then-girlfriend Sondra Locke in the lead roles. Clint plays Ben Shockley, a boozy cop sent to escort a Las Vegas prostitute (Locke) to Phoenix to serve as a trial witness. But sinister forces are bent on stopping them, sending the duo on the run through backwoods America. Some memorably excessive shoot-outs spice up a fairly routine chase plot. (109 min)
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GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
ITV1, 2.05am
The closing half of David O. Selznick’s marathon Civil War soap opera pays off with all the grand spectacle that helped to make Gone with the Wind one of the most troubled and expensive epics in Hollywood history. As Scarlett O’Hara, Vivien Leigh became the first British woman to win a Best Actor Oscar, one of the film’s ten Academy Awards. Selznick’s folly made a fortune and passed into movie legend, surpassing even Star Wars and Titanic in terms of bums on seats. (234 min)