Perhaps the most influential period in cinema history was the Italian neo-realism period of the late 40s and director Vittorio De Sica was one of the prime reasons for this important period of film-making. "The Bicycle Thieves" is a film about a poor man whose only means for a job is his bicycle, which gets stolen. The film follows him and his young boy throughout war-ravaged Rome in search of the stolen bike. The trip involves some of the most brilliant vignettes in film history; the church, th find out more...

An all time classic 60s movie glamourising the real life story of the Barrow gang who terrorised the American South in the early 30s. 'Reclaiming the American gangster movie, after it had been stolen by the Nouvelle Vague, Penn's film was so successful (and so imitated) that it inevitably met with some grudging devaluation. But it's still great, half comic fairytale, half brutal fact, it reflects the essential ambiguity of its heroes by treading a no man's land suspended between reality and fant find out more...

Two classic Bogart films for the price of one! High Sierra follows a failed robber broken out of prison by an old associate, who takes part in a failed robbery in which a man is killed, and makes a getaway into the Sierra mountains for a final doomed stand. Treasure of the Sierra Madre; 'Gold does funny things to a man's soul'. That's the issue tackled by this seminal movie about the pursuit of money and its effect on the brotherhood of man. Bogart plays the down-and-out Dobbs who hooks up with find out more...

"The year is 1936. Orphaned Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal, in her film debut) is left in the care of unethical travelling Bible salesman Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal, Tatum's dad), who may or may not be her father. En route to Addie's relatives, Moses learns that the 9-year-old is quite a handful: she smokes, cusses, and is almost as devious and manipulative as he is. They join forces as swindlers..." - Hal Erickson, Rovi.

Peter Bogdanovich's masterpiece, and shamefully overlooked by many! find out more...

Four men set in motion a heist of incredible audacity, a robbery where the level of risk is only matched by the protagonists' meticulous precision, but though the thieves are consummate professionals once the job is done their emotions and animosities begin to threaten the rewards of their hard work. Rififi is renowned for its tense half hour long heist scene in which not a word is ever uttered, and acknowledged as one of the classic examples of French film noir. find out more...