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Our movie guy, James Finnegan, picks the best films on RTE today…
In Torn Curtain (Saturday RTE1 2.30pm), an American physicist Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) shocks his friends and family by defecting to East Germany to work with the Soviets during the Cold War.
No one is more surprised than his fiancée Sarah (Julie Andrews), so she follows him behind the Iron Curtain and finds that things are not quite as they seem, and indeed she may be putting everyone at risk by her presence.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and containing many of his signature touches in his fiftieth film, this shows it age in some places, but is more respected now than when it was released in 1966.
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Richard Linklater’s irresistible family comedy, School of Rock (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) stars a perfectly cast Jack Black as an enthusiastic guitarist, Dewey Finn, who dreams of stardom. Unfortunately his hopes appear to be dashed when his band mates kick him out.
Struggling to make ends meet, he takes a job as a supply teacher in an exclusive private school, where he teaches his students in a somewhat unorthodox manner by moulding them into a rock band.
Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted the story into stage musical that opened on Broadway in 2015.
In The Program (Saturday 9.20pm RTE2), Irish journalist David Walsh (Chris O’Dowd) is fascinated by Lance Armstrong’s (Ben Foster) rise to dominate the world of professional cycling, even following a successful battle with cancer.
Walsh begins to suspect that Armstrong’s performances, particularly during the Tour de France races are due to the use of drugs and banned substances.
Despite condemnation from his fellow journalists and cycling administrators, Walsh fights an almost lone furrow in an attempt to find the evidence that will expose Armstrong.
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Based on Walsh’s book ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ and directed by Stephen Frears, this is a story of hiding in plain sight.
New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is determined to find out the truth behind President John F Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 in JFK (Saturday, 10.05pm TG4).
Was it really the act of a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) or was it a more wide ranging conspiracy involving, Cuba, the Mafia and senior government officials. Oliver Stone’s direction makes for a good story, unencumbered by facts.
Following on from last Saturday’s French Connection comes John Frankenheimer’s thriller sequel, French Connection II (Saturday 11.20pm RTE2).
Hard nosed New York narcotics cop Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) pursues a drug dealer, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) back to his home in Marseille.
Unfortunately, Doyle is captured and is subject to a particularly warped method of revenge by being forcibly addicted to heroin. Enjoy!
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