
Movies & TV
Share
Published 17:21 1 Aug 2025 BST
Updated 17:23 1 Aug 2025 BST

Our TV movie pick for tonight (Friday, 1 August) is Ride the High Country, the 1962 Western directed by legendary filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (Straw Dogs, The Wild Bunch).
Also known as Guns in the Afternoon, the film centres around an ex-lawman (Joel McCrea, The Most Dangerous Game) who is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory.
What he doesn’t realise, however, is that his partner and old friend (Randolph Scott, The Tall T) is plotting to double-cross him.
Also featuring amongst its cast Mariette Hartley (Marnie) and frequent Peckinpah collaborator Warren Oates (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia), Ride the High Country was the second movie from the director.
It has been hailed as "an American classic" and Peckinpah's first great film, with many of its themes (compromised honour and ideals; the death of the Old West) reappearing in his later Westerns such as The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Major Dundee, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and The Wild Bunch.
Ride the High Country is airing on TV tonight on TG4 at 9.35pm. It is also available to rent on Apple TV and Google Play.
Commando / The Running Man - Film4 - 9pm / 10.50pm
A double bill of fun Arnold Schwarzenegger '80s action movies.
Jack Reacher - ITV4 - 9pm
Tom Cruise’s first outing as author Lee Child’s most famous creation is immensely watchable.
Terminal Velocity - Legend - 9pm
Charlie Sheen plays a daredevil skydiver who gets caught up in a criminal plot by Russian mobsters (one of whom is played by James Gandolfini) in this '90s action film.
The Notebook - RTÉ2 - 9.25pm
The modern classic romantic drama with Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling.
Alita: Battle Angel - E4 - 10pm
This cult sci-fi action flick takes place in the 26th century and follows a deactivated female cyborg (Rosa Salazar) who is revived.
Given the name Alita by the scientist (Christoph Waltz) who discovered her, she struggles to remember her past and embarks on a quest to find out who she is.
Limitless - Legend - 11.05pm
Bradley Cooper takes a pill that makes him super smart in this very fun thriller.
Gosford Park - RTÉ One - 11.15pm
An elegant period-set mystery with an incredible cast, directed by the great Robert Altman (The Long Goodbye).
Clive Owen, Michael Gambon, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Richard E. Grant, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Ryan Phillippe, Emily Watson, Maggie Smith and many more familiar faces find their party at a lavish British country estate ruined… by murder.
When Harry Met Sally - BBC One - 11.20pm
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan star in one of the best rom-coms ever made.
Explore more on these topics: