Fort Apache
John Ford 1948 US (1st time; TV)
A stubborn lieutenant-colonel arrives at Fort Apache with high hopes for military conduct and fame.
A film all about conflict: that between the cavaliers and the Native Americans is dealt with exposively at the climax, in one of Ford's most dramatic setpieces; but there are also personal battles, such as the exciting clash between Wayne and Fonda throughout the film. But this is Fonda's film, it must be said, and his portrayal of a self-destructive, obsessive colonel trying to juggle between duty and ambition is fascinating to watch.

Heathers
Michael Lehmann 1988 US (1st time; VHS)
A high school girl becomes fed up with her friend and decides to play a trick on her; when it turns out to have deadly consequences, things get worse…
The American high school as a metaphor for society itself, as Christian Slater points out towards the end; a clever subversion of teen flick conventions, highly original and with a macabre humour reminiscent of Ealing's The Ladykillers. The ending seems strangely tame.

12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet 1957 US (1st time; TV)
A juror with doubts about a trial tires to convince the other eleven of a Not Guilty verdict.
A kind of objectification of onscreen subjectivity, and a terrifically handled script relying entirely on dialogue to crank up the suspense. But this is not just a teleplay; the first, introductory shot of the twelve jurors seems to go on forever, thoroughly establishing them in what is to be an overwhelmingly claustrophobic setting throughout. Tellingly, as they become increasingly irritable as the film progresses, the camera gets closer and closer, the sweat more and more visible.

Bread and Roses
Ken Loach 2000 UK / France / Germany / Italy / Spain / Switzerland (1st time; TV)
Mexicans in LA working as janitors form a union to fight for economic justice.
Loach takes an explicit stab at corporate America here, and the exploitation of immigrant workers, with subtler attacks on Hollywood itself, in a rather amusing scene in which the workers hijack a party with famous actors in attendance. It manages to be a captivating, persuasive film without getting too preachy--the one time it does, the emotional revelation is powerful indeed; it is a bit muddled in its scene-to-scene juxtaposition between political and personal, but sensibly doesn't try to mix both at once.