Digital, Cable and Satellite Television: Pick of the Day

JOHN CARPENTER'S Escape from New York (8.20pm FilmFour, right), is deemed a cult classic. Showing in FilmFour's "Icons" season, it is a dystopian vision of the future in the US. It centres on the efforts of the one-eyed convict, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), to rescue the kidnapped President (Donald Pleasence). He is being held on Manhattan Island, which has been turned into a walled penal colony. To make sure he completes the mission, Plissken's cruel warden (Lee Van Cleef) injects him with a time-bomb that will detonate if he does not return in time.

Van Cleef also stars in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (10pm FilmFour), a memorable contribution to Sergio Leone's spaghetti western cycle. This violent tale centres on three desperadoes (Clint Eastwood, Van Cleef and Eli Wallach), who are all after the same stash of silver.