Rob Fox

This Oliver Stone Oscar winner led a wave of gritty Vietnam combat films during the mid '80's. Rookie marine Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is projected in one leap from the security of middle America to the blood and squalor of a war which can never be won.

Uncompromising in its use of soldier's language and graphic violence, the plot follows Taylor through a hellish baptism in a platoon made up of psychotics, criminals and plain murderers. Initially he is shunned by the veterans, but slowly develops the skills and traits of a combat Marine - having to suspend all thoughts of decent living in the process. Like all around him, the countdown to the end of his tour becomes a fixation.

In this no-rules environment, rivalries amongst the men take on brutish proportions and the domineering Barnes (Tom Berenger) battles with a fellow sergeant (Willem Dafoe) with, as far as Barnes is concerned, only one suitable outcome.

From the chilling silence of the jungle to the thunderous roar of full scale battle, this is a tense film, but with clear moral messages from Stone - war has no winners. A testimony to the horrors suffered by many who were there.

Typical fare for post-war British cinema-goers - stiff upper lips versus the might of the Nazi war machine.

Told over a few short weeks in 1940, the plot follows Pilot Officer 'Septic' Baird (John Gregson) as a fledgling Hurricane pilot posted to an operational squadron during the Battle of Britain. 'Septic' struggles stoically in the face of his boisterous comrades, an earnest would-be girlfriend and impossible numbers of enemy raiders. The Station Commander (Jack Hawkins) puts a human face on the RAF hierarchy, burdened by the knowledge that the fate of the nation really does depend on the skill of his young pilots. 'The few' eventually grasp victory but it doesn't come cheap.

Admittedly wooden by today's standards but, through films like this, a whole generation built up their Saturday afternoon understanding of the RAF's 'finest hour'.

A fine example of gentle English comedy, courtesy of Ealing Studios. Led by the local squire (John Gregson), an unlikely cross section of villagers band together to save their threatened railway by running it themselves. Enthusiasm and determination abound in the fight against bureaucracy and the dirty tricks of the local bus company. Watch out for a roguish Sid James and a delightfully inebriated Stanley Holloway. A nostalgic idyll of English rural life which in all probability never actually existed, this is a solid fable of little people beating the odds. If only life was always so straightforward!