TV Guide Sky Cinema Greats Thursday

The world's tallest building goes up in flames during the opening celebrations. While Doug Roberts, the architect who designed the skyscraper, tries to save the party-goers trapped on the 135th floor, fire chief Michael O'Hallorhan leads a valiant attempt to fight the blaze. Irwin Allen and John Guillermin shared directing duties on this triple Oscar-winning disaster epic with an all-star cast including Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Susan Blakely and Robert Vaughn

Hapless Sonny and his sidekick Sal have a plan to rob a Brooklyn bank. The novice crooks thought they would be in and out in 10 minutes, but instead find themselves stuck in an ongoing hostage situation, with the police and the media laying siege to the bank. Sidney Lumet's fact-based drama, starring Al Pacino, John Cazale and Charles Durning.

A Soviet submarine commander creates an international crisis by piloting his experimental nuclear vessel, which is invisible to sonar, toward the American coast. The US and Russian navies think he is planning to attack and set out to destroy the submarine, but a CIA analyst suspects he intends to defect to the West. Cold War thriller, based on Tom Clancy's novel, starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin and James Earl Jones

An American naval reserve pilot is called up for service in the Korean War, and must leave his family and civilian job as a lawyer. In command of a corps of naval pilots, he heads a bombing campaign on strategic Communist positions, but later comes to question the morality of the conflict. Adventure, starring William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March and Mickey Rooney

A grizzled drifter rescues a nun from a gang of rapists and gets roped into escorting her across the Mexican desert. He gradually realises there is more to his new companion than meets the eye - and she may be hiding a surprising secret. Don Siegel's Western, starring Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, Manolo Fabregas, Alberto Morin and John Kelly

A retired army colonel has raised his three sons alone on their remote Montana ranch. But the all-male household is thrown into turmoil when the youngest son brings home his beautiful fiancee, causing jealousy and tensions that culminate in tragedy. Edward Zwick's period drama, starring Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond and Henry Thomas

A rebellious small-time crook is sent to a prison in the Deep South, where he becomes a hero in the eyes of his fellow convicts and a thorn in the sides of the warden and the guards by refusing to bow to authority. His defiance escalates when he receives news of his mother's death, and embarks on a series of failed escape attempts. Drama based on Donn Pearce's novel, starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, JD Cannon and Dennis Hopper

Allied PoWs take to the football field when a group of Nazi officers comes up with the idea to have them take on a German team for a propaganda event. However, the prisoners see a chance to escape during the match. Second World War adventure, with Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Max von Sydow and Daniel Massey. Soccer legends also making appearances include Pele, Bobby Moore and Ossie Ardiles

A series of interlinked stories about the Los Angeles underworld. A hitman plays minder to his boss's wife, and he and his partner deal with a dead body following a mishap with a gun. Meanwhile, a washed-up boxer goes on the run after refusing to throw a fight, and two lovers plot a hold-up in a diner. Quentin Tarantino's crime drama, starring John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer

A CIA analyst gets caught up in the Colombian drug trade while trying to track down terrorists responsible for the murder of a close friend of the US president - but his investigations point to illegal activity and corruption at the very top of government. Action thriller, based on Tom Clancy's novel, with Harrison Ford reprising his role from Patriot Games alongside Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer and James Earl Jones