Two Mules for Sister Sara
Dir: Don Siegel
1970
***
Two Mules for Sister Sara is the second film that would see Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel team up for a succession of five successful movies in total. Written by Budd Boetticher, a renowned Westerns author, he had originally sold the script in the hope of directing it himself and filming it as a sort of re-imagining/sequel of 1957's Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison which would see Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr return in similar roles. When the script was re-sold, it was sensibly re-written with the brilliant Shirley MacLaine cast alongside Eastwood who would essentially be playing the silent and somewhat mysterious cowboy once more. Boetticher, who was friends with both Eastwood and Siegel, was unhappy with the finished version and asked the director how he could have produced such an awful film. Siegel replied that it was great waking up in the morning knowing that there was a paycheck in the mail to which Boetticher responded "It's a better feeling waking up in the morning and being able to look at yourself in the mirror". Personally, I agree with both sides of the argument. Two Mules for Sister Sara isn't a classic western but it's entertaining. The chemistry between the two leads isn't terrific but both deliver quality performances. The last third of the film isn't as exciting as the story had been building up to but I quite liked the very last scene. It's a very average Clint Eastwood western and a very average Shirley MacLaine comedy combined.

Coogan's Bluff
Dir: Don Siegel
1968
**
I always saw Coogan as Dirty Harry's older, less patient and more violent brother. It was fairly successful on release and is still highly regarded, I'm really not too sure why though, as it is no way near as good as the Dirty Harry films, not even the later ones. It's dated quite badly and has very few redeeming features, I'm not too sure what all the fuss is about!? Coogan's Bluff seems like a trial run for a possible new franchise where mistakes were made and lessons were learnt. It's a nice slice of late 60's film but as a refection of life in New York, I don't think it's a very accurate one. Anyone else think that the 'Drug Den' scene looked like it was filmed on an old Batman set? I half expected the word 'Thwack' to appear during the fight scenes, it probably would have been more fun if it had.

The Black Windmill
Dir: Don Siegel
1974
**
There is a lot to like about Don Siegel's outdated spy thriller; The Black Windmill. It's got a great cast including Micheal Caine, Donald Pleasence, Joss Ackland, John Vernon, Clive Revill and an early performance from John Rhys-Davies. It's a lovely slice of 1970s history with some great shots of the London Underground, beautiful cars and my favorite mode of transport (sadly no longer operational) the channel crossing Hovercraft. However, Micheal Caine plays it like it's written and unfortunately his character is rather hollow. Donald Pleasence is always a joy to watch, even though his character is an odd mixture of spy novel cliches. It's really the script and the occasional attempts at humour that let the production down. For example, there is a scene whereby Caine's character, who is trying to save the life of his kidnapped son, winks playfully at a policeman in pursuit when he gets away from him and in another scene, Pleasence's character gets a name wrong and mistakenly calls a spy Sean Connery (que knowing looks from Caine and shock on Pleasence face). It is a rather stupid nod to the Bond films and it brings the production down to a fairly ridiculous level. I quite like the films faults as it makes me feel a bit nostalgic for the old spy films post-internet, whereby espionage was a bit more than pressing a few buttons but there really is nothing of any real intelligence here, just old fashioned cliched fun but I can't really give it more than 2 stars legitimately.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Dir: Don Siegel
1956
****
Don Siegel's original Body Snatchers paved the way for so many horror/Sci-fi classics. It's not my favourite version but it is one of my favourite B-movies from the era, mainly due to the realistic performances that were slightly more convincing than many others of the time. The key to this great horror is the utter hopelessness. Political messages can be found but context can be applied to almost anything but ignore all that, this is a clever Alien invasion film, sit back and enjoy.