1: The Wild Bunch – The scene where the bunch are taken by Angel back to his village in Mexico. The village elder says to William Holden “We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us….perhaps the worst most of all”. The scene is about the contradiction that violent men can also be romantic men.

2: Wages Of Fear – The final scene where Yves Montand is returning to his beloved Vera Clouzot (the director’s wife) is unbelievably tense and nihilistic. Montand has been through hell driving trucks of nitro-glycerine through treacherous mountain passes and after losing all his comrades he is lucky to be alive. He weaves his truck left and right showing off with a big smile on his face and we just know something bad is going to happen. It does. The truck careers of the edge of a mountain and he dies. The end. Brutal, brave and brilliant.

3: Taxi Driver – The scene where De Niro takes Cybill Shepherd to the porno cinema to watch Swedish Erotica. It’s hilarious and so wrong, because Bickle sees nothing weird about taking a first date to a porno cinema. Mind you there is nothing wrong is there?

4: Paths Of Glory – Any scene you pick in this absolutely perfect film would be a favourite. The final court martial scene if I was forced to pick one.

5: The Thing – The moment where we first see the harrowing revolting creature as it rips its way out of an Alsatian. The howls of the other dogs trapped in the cage with it and the sheer malevolent beauty of Rob Bottin’s writhing, dripping creation still give me nightmares now and I have seen the film 20+ times.

6: Enter The Dragon – The scene where Jim Kelly picks ladies to ‘party with’ is so politically incorrect but it’s irresistible. He picks 3 or 4 girls to take back to his room then coolly says “Excuse me if I left anyone out, but it’s been a busy day”. I can recite every line from this film and have seen it more than any other probably. Misspent youth.

7: Scarface – The scene where Tony Montana is in his gold bath, coked up, cigar in mouth watching a large screen TV shouting at his aneroxic wife was so ahead of its time in 1983, as now most Premiership footballers consider these pastimes as a quiet night in. But can they say “Are jou kiddin me? Do I know son theeng about cockaine?”

8: The Big Sleep – The scene where Bogart interrogates the clearly high Martha Vickers is both sexy and dangerous, especially the bit where she bites his hand out of the blue; very Freudian. When she says “Is he as cute as you?” and he comes back with “Nobody is” it always cracks me up. Bogart was surely never cute? Brilliant but not cute. Perfect film noir and even after watching it umpteen times I still don’t quite know what it’s all about. It really doesn’t matter; sometimes plot can be a hindrance.

9: Prince Of The City – The final scene where Danny Aiello is teaching rookie cops is just heartbreaking. The look on his face says it all. He has tried to be such a good police and it has destroyed everyone he has known. Raymond Chandler once said that being a Policeman demanded the highest ideals and it rarely got them and had to make do with what it got. Was it ever thus. Best film ever made about police corruption or any kind of corruption really. Lumet’s finest film and a bloody masterpiece.

10: The Godfather Part 1- The scene where Sonny (James Caan) goes nuts and beats up his brother-in-law for slapping his wife around. The first time I saw it and he hits him with the metal bin I was open-mouthed at the brutality and reality of it, and also at how shiny his shoes were. Brilliant details from a brilliant director.

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