Fighting On Film

Pull on your respirators, load your MAC-10s and join us for Who Dares Wins (1982). An 80s British Cold War action movie starring Lewis Collins, Judy Davis, Richard Widmark and Edward Woodward. An undercover SAS officer is all that stands between a terrorist group and the murder of high-ranking hostages. Directed by Ian Sharp and produced by Euan Lloyd of Wild Geese and Sea Wolves fame, Who Dares Wins takes inspiration from the SAS' 1980 Iranian Embassy Assault and boasted at the time to be as close to the real thing as possible. While the film has arguably become a cult classic its tone shifts throughout the film ranging from Cold War thriller to Bond-like romp to all all out action movie. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

We round out ANZAC Month with a look at 2006's Kokoda which follows an Australian patrol lost behind enemy lines during the chaos of the fighting along the Kokoda Trail in 1942. We're joined by special guest historian Robert Lyman, author of A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma & Britain: 1941–45. Directed and co-written by Alister Grierson and with brilliant cinematography from Jules O'Loughlin the film stars Jack Finsterer, Christopher Baker, Ben Barrack, Shane Bourne and Angus Sampson. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

This week as we continue Fighting On Film’s ANZAC Month we are lucky enough to be joined by Gavin Mortimer who has just published his latest book 'Z Special Unit' so who better to discuss 1982's 'Attack Force Z', Starring Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, John Phillip Law and Koo Chaun Hsiung. The film follows an ill-fated mission by a Z Special Unit attempting to rescue the passengers of a downed aircraft. Directed by Tim Burstall the film is very much a commando adventure but how authentic to the Z Special Units is the film? Join us for our fascinating discussion with Gavin! Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

Fighting On Film's ANZAC Month continues with 1944's 'The Rats of Tobruk', directed by Charles Chauvel. The film tells the story of the siege of Tobruk and follows three Australian soldiers from Australia to North Africa to New Guinea. The film stars Grant Taylor, Peter Finch, Chips Rafferty, George Wallace, Pauline Garrick and Mary Gay. Strong on spectacle the film struggles to flow, despite this it depicts one of the most important battles of Australia's military history. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

This week we continue ANZAC Month with a look at a beautifully shot epic which tells the story of the Australian Light Horse and their charge at the Battle of Beersheba. 1987's The Lighthorsemen features a strong Australian cast including Jon Black, Peter Phelps, John Walton, Tim McKenzie, Tony Bonner, Sigrid Thornton and Anthony Andrews. Directed by Simon Wincer and with cinematography by Dean Semler the film climaxes with a magnificent charge which more than makes up for the film's flaws. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

This week we begin ANZAC month exploring some of Australia's war movies with a look at Australia's first Vietnam War movie, 1979's The Odd Angry Shot. The story follows an Australian SAS squad during a tour of duty in Vietnam. Written and directed by Tom Jeffery, the film is based on a novella by William Nagle, an Australian Army Vietnam veteran. The film stars Graham Kennedy, John Hargreaves, John Jarratt and Bryan Brown. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening!   

This week we examine The Eight Hundred a recent Chinese spectacular which tackles the the defence of Sihang Warehouse, during the battle of Shanghai in 1937. Directed by Guan Hu and starring Huang Zhizhong, Oho Ou, Jiang Wu, Zhang Yi, Wang Qianyuan, Du Chun, Vision Wei, Li Chen, Yu Haoming, Tang Yixin, and Zheng Kai. While their are strong performances they're largely lost in the edit and the film's saving grace is its spectacle. While fascinating to see a film about an intriguing battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which is often forgotten in the West, the film looses cohesion, likely due to Chinese government interference, and is slightly marred by latent propaganda which is woven into the story of a battle which predates the Chinese Communist Party's rise to power. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening!   

This week we had the opportunity to travel down to the Tank Museum in Bovington for their Fury Experience - a day of fascinating lectures, discussions and a chance to get an up-close look at Fury - the Sherman tank which appeared in the 2014 film 'Fury'. We chat to curator David Willey as well as one of Fury's drivers about their experiences working on the film! Find out more about the Tank Museum's Fury Experience here. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

This week we're joined by Marcus Hearn, the Head of Library and Archive at Hammer Films, joined us to discuss one of the most interesting British war films of the 1950s. Yesterday's Enemy, directed by Val Guest, had a strong cast including Stanley Baker, Guy Rolfe, Leo McKern, Gordon Jackson and Philip Ahn. The film is set in the Burma Campaign and tells a morally ambiguous story of British and Japanese war crimes. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

In 1989 at the height of a flurry of Vietnam War films an interesting new take on the sub-genre came in the form of 84 Charlie MoPic, which used a found footage, first person technique to follow a fateful long range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP). Written and directed by a Vietnam veteran Patrick Sheane Duncan, it has a small but capable cast including Jonathan Emerson, Nicholas Cascone, Jason Tomlins, Christopher Burgard, Glenn Morshower, Richard Brooks and Byron Thames. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

This week we examine a First World War film with a difference, The King's Man, a prequel to the successful Kingsman franchise. The film explores the founding of a high-minded intelligence agency against the backdrop of the Great War. Weaving in real historical events as plot points we follow the protagonists as they foil a plot to control Europe. Directed by Matthew Vaughn the film boasts a stellar cast including Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, and Charles Dance. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening! 

This week we follow a British sonic deception unit on a doomed patrol through the Malayan jungle. Richard Todd, Laurence Harvey and Richard Harris clash as morale crumbles and questions arise over what to do with a captured Japanese prisoner. We're joined by the brilliant historian Robert Lyman to discuss what the film gets right and wrong. Load up your mules, straighten your webbing, adjust your radio set and join us for a special look at 1961's The Long and the Short and the Tall. Follow us on Twitter @FightingOnFilm and on Facebook. For more check out our website www.fightingonfilm.com Thanks for listening!