Winner, Michael

   b. 1935, London

   Film-maker

   With a background in BBC documentary and nudie films, Winner’s early films like Play It Cool (1962), West Eleven (1963), The Jokers (1967) and I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘is Name (1967) variously captured the ambience, enterprising attitudes and fashionable settings of 1960s swinging London. A Hollywood phase of brutally violent movies commenced with the Western Lawman (1970), through thrillers such as The Mechanic (1972) and The Stone Killer (1973) to the box office success of Death Wish (1974) and its sequels (1981, 1985). Later British comedies A Chorus of Disapproval (1988) and Bullseye! (1990) merely accentuated Winner’s ponderous style, with Dirty Weekend (1992) signalling a return to the monotonous sex and violence of his earlier films in a largely undistinguished film

   SATINDER CHOHAN