The Secret Ways (Blu-ray)

Acclaimed filmmaker Phil Karlson (99 River Street, The Silencers, Walking Tall) directed this espionage thriller based on an Alistair MacLean (The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra) novel and starring screen great Richard Widmark (Pickup on South Street, The Alamo, Madigan). Vienna, 1956. After Soviet tanks crush the Hungarian uprising, soldier-of-fortune Mike Reynolds (Widmark) is hired to help Professor Jancsi (Walter Rilla, Code 7, Victim 5), a Hungarian scientist wanted by the Russians, escape from Budapest. Mike and Julia (Sonja Ziemann, The Bridge at Remagen), the professor’s daughter, cross the border posing as journalists, but encounter a problem—the professor is a staunch freedom fighter and doesn’t want to be rescued! Two of the film’s best features are the terrific black-and-white photography by Mutz Greenbaum (Night and the City) and original music score by legendary composer John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars). Co-starring Senta Berger (Diabolically Yours, The Ambushers).