Sean john collection

This collection of 007 features includes DR. NO, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, MOONRAKER, OCTOPUSSY, and TOMORROW NEVER DIES. See individual titles for details.

COURAGE UNDER FIRE: Following the 1991 Gulf War, Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) is assigned to review the background of the late Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan), who has been posthumously nominated for a medal of honor. While investigating Walden's candidacy, Serling is forced to face his own disillusionment and guilt surrounding the war. As he begins the interviewing process, he uncovers several inconsistencies in the stories told by the late pilot's crew. The three officers, who may or may not have been saved by the captain's actions, all give drastically different accounts of the events leading up to Walden's death. Similar to the storytelling technique used in Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON, director Edward Zwick's COURAGE UNDER FIRE features each officer's account of the fateful incident reenacted onscreen, offering wildly diverse portrayals of Walden. Meg Ryan shines in a role that demands she play one character a multitude of ways. As Serling pieces together the radically different tales of combat, he uncovers the painful truth and simultaneously faces his own pent-up guilt regarding the war. Matt Damon, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Seth Gilliam co-star. THE THIN RED LINE: Terrence Malick returns to Hollywood after a two-decade hiatus with this adaptation of the classic WWII novel by James Jones. The story follows the efforts of an army platoon to capture the Japanese-controlled island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean, which will have a major effect on the outcome of the war. The members of C-for-Charlie Company are all fighting for different reasons: some to achieve glory, some for freedom, and some simply to remain alive. They spend the quieter moments reflecting upon their existence, searching for meaning amid the senselessness of war. MEN OF HONOR: A heroic life gets a suitably dramatic retelling in George Tillman Jr.'s docudrama MEN OF HONOR. Based on the true story of Carl Brashear, the first African American to become a United States Navy master diver, the film follows the conventional yet pleasurable against-all-odds narrative. Carl Brashear (played with noble grace by Cuba Gooding Jr.) is the son of a degraded southern sharecropper who achieves his lifelong goal of joining the Navy. Once there, however, the determined young man finds his dream inaccessible--thwarted by the antagonistic forces of institutional and personal racism. When, after a long and difficult struggle, he is finally allowed into diving school, he finds himself under the authority of Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro). A former master diver whose injured lung has left him permanently above water, Sunday simultaneously becomes Brashear's most vicious adversary and most loyal supporter, motivating him to succeed. TIGERLAND: Set in 1971, when America was a nation divided over the escalating violence and bloodshed of the Vietnam War, TIGERLAND begins when thousands of young soldiers had already lost their lives to the war, and thousands more were preparing to enter combat. In Fort Polk, Louisiana, a group of young soldiers-in-training has conflicting opinions about the war. Jim Paxton (Matthew Davis) is an idealistic romantic who sees Vietnam as potential inspiration for future novels and romantic war stories. Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) is a rebellious antihero who decides that he wants no part of the army or the war and begins to disobey orders, trying to get expelled from the infantry. Paxton and Bozz become leaders to a small group of young draftees, and Bozz inspires them to question authority. As they enter Tigerland--a training process in which the soldiers simulate combat in the Louisiana wilderness--the men begin to realize just how far they will go to stay out of the war. This gritty, documentary-like vision of the war is engaging and moving, employing natural lighting, handheld cameras, and realistic dialogue to capture the deeply internalized psychological journeys of the characters.

This collection includes FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, LIVE AND LET DIE, and GOLDENEYE. See individual titles for details.

Along with THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, John Wayne's thrilling survival epic ISLAND IN THE SKY is a Duke classic long held out of print by a legal dispute with the star's family. While both films were directed by William Wellman with a script adapted by aviation writer Ernest K. Gann from his own novel, this little-seen gem follows former WWII army pilot Captain Dooley (Wayne) as his transport plane runs out of fuel and crash lands in the icy tundras of the Canadian Arctic. It isn't long before Dooley and his surviving crew members face a limited food supply, below-zero temperatures, primitive radio equipment, and nearly impossible odds as they wait (and hope) for rescue. Walter Abel, Lloyd Nolan, James Arness, Andy Devine, and Harry Carey Jr. round out the star-studded cast, while dual cinematographers Archie Stout and William H. Clothier perfectly capture the vast expanses of snow-covered bleakness in crisp black-and-white photography that virtually gleams in this lovingly restored and remastered edition.

Four war-themed films are included on this collection. The titles featured are BATTLE OF BRITAIN, THE GREAT ESCAPE, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, and RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP. Please see individual titles for synopsis information.

This collection presents a quartet of suspense films produced by John Wayne's Batjac production company: in RING OF FEAR (1954), a detective duo is called in to investigate sabotage at a travelling circus; in TRACK OF THE CAT (1954), a pioneer family battles nature when one of their sons is killed by a mountain lion; in PLUNDER OF THE SUN (1953), an insurance agent finds himself embroiled in a deadly struggle for Aztec treasure when he is hired to smuggle a priceless artifact; and MAN IN THE VAULT (1956), a locksmith becomes a reluctant criminal after he is seduced by money and a mobster's beautiful girlfriend. See individual titles for further plot details.