THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY (1959)
Channel 4, 1.25pm
Joel McCrea plays the legendary gunfighter turned lawman Bat Masterson in Joseph M. Newman’s routine CinemaScope western. After his sheriff brother Ed (Harry Lauter) is shot dead, Masterson grudgingly agrees to fill his boots and take on his corrupt rival Jim Regan (Don Haggerty). But his criminal past and divided loyalties catch up with him, resulting in the inevitable bloody showdown. McCrea’s final western takes several liberties with historical fact, overlooking Masterson’s friendship with Wyatt Earp altogether. Solid matinee fare, but nothing special. (81 min)
THE I INSIDE (2003)
Sky Movies 2, 8pm
Ryan Phillippe plays an amnesiac who wakes up in hospital with two years of his life missing in a terribly titled science fiction psycho-thriller. (90 min)
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955, b/w)
Sky Cinema 1, 8pm
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The actor turned director Charles Laughton’s sole foray behind the camera is a masterpiece of Gothic film noir. Robert Mitchum gives a chilling, sleepy-eyed performance as a fake preacher and would-be child killer. (93 min)
THE BROTHERS (2001)
Channel 4, 3am
Usually billed as a male version of Waiting to Exhale, Gary Hardwick’s ensemble drama examines the troubled love lives of four successful young African-American professionals. Jackson (Morris Chestnut) is too neurotic to hold on to his perfect girlfriend, Terry (Shemar Moore) is a reformed womaniser who has just become engaged, Derrick (D. L. Hughley) is trapped in a bitter marital power struggle, while Brian (Bill Bellamy) is a serial seducer with commitment issues. The glamorous world these men inhabit initially makes for glossy escapist viewing, but their petty problems and self-obsession do not. (106 min)