DVD, Blu-ray and TV

Robert Aldrich's most profitable movie presents war as mean-spirited farce: Major Lee Marvin offers a bunch of jailed WWII Gls—including John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson and Donald Sutherland—the chance to join him on a suicide mission into Occupied France. The movie wastes its greatest actor, Robert Ryan, but it's a relentless work—violent, funny and deeply cynical.

Startling documentary about an American family torn apart by sexual scandal

San Francisco, 1969: do enough acid and anything is possible. A gaggle of (mostly) gay freaks and flower children (and latterly, disco diva-to-be Sylvester) become the Cockettes, a utopian, ragged-arsed theatre troupe who wow the West Coast but flop in NY. This funny, moving doc eventually unravels in a roll call of deaths, both drug and AIDS-related. They were stardust, but all too briefly.

Candid 1994 documentary about iconic, sexually dysfunctional artist

Affectionate, often very funny Christopher Guest comedy that gently sends up the American folk scene that Dylan fiercely put paid to. It's no Spinal Tap and probably not as hilariously fresh as Best In Show, but Guest and his familiar repertory company—co-writer Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Catherine O'Hara and Parker Posey among them—turn in typically irresistible performances.

This charming but thoroughly odd film from 1970 sees Richard Harris play John Morgan, an eccentric British aristocrat kidnapped by the Sioux in the American Wild West in the early 19th century. Reflecting the liberal concerns of the time, the film is meticulous in its re-creation of Indian customs, particularly the gruesome Sun Vow initiation.

Harold Becker's tale of US Military School cadets squaring up against greedy property developers stars Timothy Hutton and a youthful Sean Penn and Tom Cruise. It's a faintly ludicrous story that works thanks to Becker's understated direction and three strong leading performances, made all the more interesting when you consider that a post-breakthrough Penn and Cruise would have been cast the other way round. Here, Cruise is the hothead and Penn the conscience-stricken man of reason.

Filmed on his final 1976 tour, before he became Yusuf Islam and rejected music, Majikat finds the artist formerly known as Cat enhancing the simplicity of songs such as "Moonshadow" and "Father & Son" with a show featuring live magicians and a stage set of Floyd-style grandeur. Less precious than on record, he proves to be a surprisingly engaging performer.

Hunter S Thompson, that is. Wayne Ewing shot the bulk of this loose but extremely entertaining documentary during the pre-production for Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. The author wavering between guru and asshole, and Johnny Depp getting into character by following Thompson around like a groovy little monkey, are good value. For fans of Dr Gonzo, a must-see. (Available exclusively through www.breakfastwithhunter.com)

Craig Lahiff's impassioned, if wearily familiar, courtroom drama is based on Australia's (apparently) infamous 1958 "Max Stuart Case"—where a rape and murder confession was beaten out of a young aborigine. It's got two crusading, system-shaking lawyers (Robert Carlyle and Kerry Fox), an oily Crown Prosecutor (Charles Dance) and plenty of rousing speeches about justice. Watchable.