Frank's Films

a clearing-out exercise with an unexpected twist

We’ve had a heavy shelving unit full of home-recorded video tapes since we moved into this house nearly 30 years ago. It’s hardly been touched in all that time as we moved here in 1997, about the time that DVDs were introduced and we stopped recording stuff off the TV.

Our children’s consumption of visual media started with VHS cassettes of Disney and Pixar films, bought for them as gifts, before CBeebies took over the job of entertaining them and keeping them quiet. I touched the shelf from time to time, throwing away my small subset of the tapes - films I’d recorded before I moved in with Frank - and asking him whether we really needed to keep all his which were gathering dust. I got a bit more pointed in my requests once we no longer owned a device capable of playing the videos. But he was adamant that they should stay, and that their contents were valuable.

I’ve been a bit surprised at my inability to deal with this shelf since he died over 3 years ago. It’s a good, strong piece of furniture, and could earn its keep performing another task somewhere else in the house. I tried, maybe 18 months ago, to shovel all the tapes into black sacks, but became a weeping mess because of his handwriting on all the labels, and decided I’d have to put it off for another time.

Well, this Easter was the time, and I’d finally worked out what I would do. I’d photograph all the labels so we would have a permanent, digital record of all of these examples of his script. I would also type all the titles into a spreadsheet which perhaps I’d share with Frank’s friends and family, so they’d enjoy remembering him through a catalogue of the things he’d enjoyed watching so much that he’d decided to keep them forever.

It has been a long job, but luckily I had waited until the advent of AI which helped me by quickly grouping the video recordings into themes, allowing me to present Frank’s catalogue in logical sections. I hope you’ll enjoy the overview below of his distinctive set of tastes and interests.

Unluckily for me, however, in my desire to just get this job over and done with, I also asked ChatGPT whether these programmes and films were easy to stream in the UK, and therefore, whether I should keep or dump the tapes. And you’ll never guess what! Frank was right. It seems that at least 50% of this collection is material which is rarely or never streamed, so should definitely not go in the bin.

So, the photos are taken and the catalogue created, but for now, the tapes need to go back on the shelves. I can’t even weed out the 50% that could be thrown out because of the sometimes hilarious juxtaposition of massively contrasting shows and films, recorded on the same tape.

So, if you have a machine capable of playing VHS tapes in long-playing format - there is 6 hours of material recorded on every 3 hour tape - please get in touch. I would be happy for any of these films and programmes to be rehomed with someone who will love them as much as Frank did.

So, here’s a summary of Frank’s collection.

🎬 Crime, Gangsters & Noir

He loved dark crime stories, noir classics, and underworld dramas.

• The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, The Long Good Friday, Mona Lisa

• Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers

• The Killing, Touch of Evil, The Maltese Falcon, Build My Gallows High

• Devil in a Blue Dress, Night Moves, The Hot Spot, The Two Jakes

• Blood Simple, Raising Arizona

• Cape Fear, Body Heat, Kiss Me Deadly

🤠 Westerns

There will be no surprises that he was a big fan of Cowboys and Indians, with many westerns in his collection.

• Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dollars, High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider

• The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett, Major Dundee

• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Red River, El Dorado

• Comanche Station, Cheyenne Autumn, Destry Rides Again

• The Shootist, Colorado Territory, The Proud Ones

⚔️ War & Political Drama

There are plenty of war films and political dramas there too.

• Apocalypse Now, Heaven’s Gate

• Gardens of Stone, They Were Expendable, Attack!

• JFK, Missing, The Accused, Defence of the Realm

• Michael Collins, Hope and Glory

🎭 Character Drama & Literary Adaptations

He recorded classical and literary dramas, some better known than others.

• The Leopard, The Last Tycoon, The Barefoot Contessa

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Streetcar Named Desire

• The Dresser, Damage, Crimes and Misdemeanors

• Husbands and Wives, The War of the Roses

• Midnight Cowboy, The Last Detail

🌍 European & World Cinema

I don’t think I was expecting to find so many foreign-language movies.

• La Dolce Vita, Breathless, Les Quatre Cent Coups, Au Revoir Les Enfants

• Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou, Onibaba

• Europa Europa, Mediterraneo, Salaam Bombay

• Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Lola, Amarcord

💔 Romance, Relationships & Sexual Politics

And I wouldn’t necessarily have predicted all the romantic dramas either.

• 9½ Weeks, Damage, About Last Night

• The Hairdresser’s Husband, Hannah and Her Sisters

• When Harry Met Sally, Purple Rose of Cairo

🎥 Experimental, Cult & Arthouse

He also had a taste for unconventional arthouse films.

• F for Fake, Zelig, The Devils, Prospero’s Books

• The Man Who Fell to Earth

• Repo Man, Withnail and I, Wild at Heart

• The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

😂 Comedy & Sitcoms

When it comes to tv shows, the programme that Frank recorded most frequently - by a long way - was Rab C Nesbitt, with individual episodes of Father Ted and Fawlty Towers also there in high numbers.

• Rab C. Nesbitt, Father Ted, Fawlty Towers

• Only Fools and Horses, Porridge, The Likely Lads

• Blackadder, The Young Ones

• Porterhouse Blue

• Vic Reeves, Reeves & Mortimer, Harry Enfield

📺 TV Drama & Series

Frank’s love of excellent, character-based TV shows continued long after the demise of VHS. We watched many hours of Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, Strike and Slow Horses together, as well as loads of police and crime dramas.

• Twin Peaks, The Sopranos, Inspector Morse, LA Law

• Shooting the Past, The Endless Game

• Portrait of a Marriage, Crossroads

🎤 Music, Culture & Performance

His tape collection also reflects his love of music, with many music documentaries and cultural retrospectives.

• The Beatles Anthology, Don’t Look Back, The Last Waltz

• Rattle and Hum, In Bed with Madonna

• Rock n Roll Years, Sounds of the 70s

• Artists: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder

🥊 Sport (Boxing, Football & More)

There will be no surprises that the collection also contains of key sporting events and profiles.

• Boxing: Ali fights (Ali v Foreman, Tyson v Douglas, Hearns v Robinson, etc.)

• Football: Match of the 70s, George Best, Football 1971/1974

• Horse racing: Grand National, Breeders Cup

• Motorsport: Isle of Man TT

🧠 Documentaries & Real-Life Profiles

There are also biographies and interviews with people he was really interested in.

• Maradona, Muhammad Ali, Freddie Mercury

• Orson Welles, Brando Interview, Alan Bennett

• Timewatch – Hunger Strike, Peter Howson on Bosnia

• Banned in America, Hearts of Darkness

🚀 Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Action

High-concept, genre-driven films.

• Star Trek, Total Recall, Predator, Mad Max 2

• The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard, Die Hard 2

• Excalibur, The Witches of Eastwick

• Mars Attacks, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

🇬🇧 British Social Realism & Drama

Working-class life and UK-focused storytelling.

• Raining Stones, Riff Raff, The Grass Arena

• My Own Private Idaho (US but similar tone)

• Trainspotting, The Commitments

So, if you have a machine capable of playing any of these in long-playing format - there is 6 hours of material recorded on every 3 hour tape, please let me know. I would be very happy for these films and programmes to be rehomed with someone who will love them as much as Frank did.