Frederick Forsyth Collection [DVD]

This is one of those Box Sets DVDs that I find hard to review. 6 films each on their own disc, and each about 100 mins (and too long to boot, more on that later). The quality is not mint. Very Video, but also quite watchable. The sound is good as are the optional English subtitles. My problem was a feeling the direction and editing has not aged well. The plots are all good vintage Forsyth but they seem to be stretched when maybe 75 or even 90 minutes would have sufficed. On the plus side....Great, expensive location work, a large roster of American stars (of the time)...Bacall, Robert Foxworth, Brian Dennehy (very good), Beau Bridges, Mike Farrell, Tony Lo Bianco, Shelley Hack, with the U/K struggling to keep up, but managing pretty well particularly with David Threlfall and Larry Lamb, backed up by Beatie Edney Simon Cadell, Liz Hurley, Richard Hope (as Alan Howard's assistant), and the aforementioned Howard as security boss Sam Mcready who is a link in all the episodes. This is good VFM if you like spy stories and the actors mentioned (there are many more), I just wish each film had just a little more "oomph"!!! Well worth a go, just don't expect "Ipcress/Bond".

this is a 6 dvd set comprising of 6 of the best spy thrillers ive ever had the pleasure to view, based on 6 of frederick forsyths novels i can honsetly say i enjoyed each and every one of themright now to the films they each have a run time of just over 1 and a half hours and star some well known names such as amanda burton from silent witnesscasualty of warco starring amanda burton and david threfall, this triller is set just after libya blame the uk and america for some american bombings held in libya in which colonel gadaffi is almost killed, libya decide to try and gain revenge on the uk as we let america use some of our air bases for the planes to take off and land from. sam mcreddy and his spies decide to infiltrate posing as a group of terroists to gain knowledge of a massive arms shipment meant for the irajust another secretstarring beau bridges and kenneth graham, this thriller is set in communist held east berlin and jack grant is sent over the border by sam mcredy to try and discover the fate of 5 missing cia agents, this was one of the best thrillers in the set for mepride and extreme prejudicestarring alan howard and brian dennehy, sam mcreedy sends brian moranz over the border into east germany to collect a war book from a double agent from communist russia, what mcreedy dosnt know is moranz is in the midst of a breakdown after killing his lover and her friend and moranz is now in pocession of one of the most important pieces of information in decades and is on his own in enemy terroitry, and has parted company with realitya little piece of sunshinestarring lauren bacall, a group of islands the barclays which are under british rule are holding the first not so democratic elections prior to being given independence, one candidate is funded by the cuban communist regime the other is a columbian drug baron, the people are anti ellection because they distust the candidates but are too scared of them to protest, then the english govenor is shot and the whole saga is brought to national attention by the press, sam mcreddy and others investigate the murder, this was another really good spy thrillerdeath has a bad reputationstarring elizabeth hurley, this film is about carlos the jackel and his murder spree across europe , sam mcreedy's son is seriously injured in an attack and sam mcreedy seeks vengence for his sons injuries and takes on the russians and the kgbthe price of the bridestarring peter egan and mike farrel, this film depicts the tale of a russian army officer tryin g to defect to the usa while training in the uk, the cia are convinced but sam mcreedy of british intelligence isnt so surethese are all great spy thrillers and i just wish they had made more, the acting can be a tad wooden at times but for me this jusst added to the charm of each of the films

**THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**A collection of six feature-length television dramas based on the works of Frederick Forsyth.David Threlfall stars in 'A Casualty of War' (1989) as Tom Rowse, a retired British Secret Service agent attempting to foil a Libyan plot to supply the IRA with a massive shipment of high-tech weapons.Beau Bridges stars in 'Just Another Secret' (1989) as Jack Grant, an American Intelligence agent who uncovers a plot to assassinate Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in the dying days of the Cold War.In 'Pride and Extreme Prejudice' (1989), Alan Howard assumes his regular role as British secret agent Sam McCready, who, having been blacklisted by the KGB, sends his old friend and MI6 colleague Bruno Morenz (Brian Dennehy) to East Germany to broker a crucial deal on his behalf. However, unbeknown to Sam, Bruno is teetering dangerously on the verge of a mental breakdown after finding out that his girlfriend has been unfaithful, and his actions threaten to endanger both their lives as Sam is forced to follow him into forbidden territory.In 'A Little Piece of Sunshine' (1990), the idyllic and almost-forgotten island of Sunshine, hitherto under British rule, is set to become independent. However, in the run-up to the island's presidential elections the British governor of the island is shot and killed. The British Secret Service is called in to investigate, and Sam McCready (Alan Howard) delegates the case to Scotland Yard's Desmond Hannah (Larry Lamb). Lauren Bacall co-stars as the governor's widow, Lady Beatrix Coltrane.Alan Howard reprises his role as McCready in 'Death Has a Bad Reputation' (1990). When McCready's son is seriously injured in a terrorist attack, he breaks all the rules in his efforts to bring internationally-renowned terrorist Carlos the Jackal (Tony Lo Bianco) to justice.In 'The Price of the Bride' (1990), KGB officer Colonel Orlov (Robert Foxworth) defects to the West during a NATO exercise, leading Sam McCready (Howard) and his Secret Service colleague Dennis Gaunt (Peter Egan) to suspect that Orlov has in fact been set up as a decoy, and that another officer is the real agent.Despite the fact that I had never watched any of these films before buying them on DVD, I thought they were very good. Each film started off with a prologue scene before the opening credits appear, and then Frederick Forsyth introduces each of the films before they continue (Forsyth stated in one of his introductions that 'Death Has a Bad Reputation' was loosely based on his very first fiction novel 'The Day of the Jackal'). For those who are fanatic of regional television like myself, all of the six films in this box set are part of the London Weekend Television (LWT) archive, so it was nice to see the LWT endboard appear after the closing credits for each film. Very highly recommended.