Who is popular today?

Continuing our series in which writers revisit childhood movie passions, we find out if a war film from a pre-greenscreen era holds up in the digital age
I was 12 in a time before there was streaming, before there was Blockbuster, when someone with a VCR in their home boasted playground status roughly equivalent to the captain of the football team combined with the kid whose parents ran a newsagent and could get you free sweets. So your favourite film was either one you had seen a single time in the cinema, or one you had seen on one of the three television channels. In practice it was likely to the latter, because they were the only ones you were able to see more than once.
Certain films retained their blockbuster status on TV. Even though they had been made years before, they were repeated frequently over public holidays. The Great Escape was one, but my favourite – the one that thrilled me to the bone – was Where Eagles Dare. I say it was my favourite film when I was 12, but it was my favourite film when I was 10 as well, and when the great film writer David Thomson asked me a few years ago to name my three favourite films, it was still one then. I’ve just rewatched it, and while I accept there are more emotionally rewarding movies, it was 155 minutes I didn’t begrudge. Continue reading...