Guitar lovers shouldn’t miss Joe Satriani honouring Les Paul on his 99^th birthday (11am DTV).

Today’s number one film:

*Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone/ 1968/ Italy-USA / Western/ 175 mins/ PG-13 for Western violence and brief sensuality), 10.44am Fox Classics. Watch this if you liked The Proposition, 3.10 to Yuma or The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. The great work of Sergio Leone and the meatball on top of the spaghetti Western, for BC on TV, this is as good as the Western gets. Henry Fonda plays one of cinema’s greatest villains, with Jason Robards and the young Charles Bronson almost eclipsing him. Ennio Morricone’s haunting score – and the mystery of the harmonica – add huge atmosphere. Leone takes ridiculous chances as a filmmaker – and every risk pays off. One of the great films of our time. Miss it only if you’re dead.

Also watch:

*Big (Penny Marshall/ 1998/ USA/ Comedy-Drama-Fantasy-Romance/ 104 mins/PG) 12 midday Fox Family. Watch this if you liked Groundhog Day, Field of Dreams or Freaky Friday. Probably the most undeservedly overlooked film of one of America’s most puzzlingly under-appreciated directors, this is a young adult film that addresses, in a hugely entertaining fashion, far more important existential questions than most adult independent films will dare to tackle. The first film to give Tom Hanks a chance to show off his quite stunning physical acting – it predates Turner & Hooch - is also an early illustration of his dramatic range; there are moments when he IS a 12-year-old boy. Apart from a few cuss words, their own limitations or their parents’ prejudices, there is nothing to prevent children aged nine up from enjoying a great movie.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (James Cameron/ 1991/ USA/ Action-Sci-fi-Fantasy-Thriller/ 137 mins/ Rated R for strong sci-fi action & violence and for language), 7.30pm Turner Classic Movies. Watch this if you liked Die Hard, Blade Runner or any of the other Terminator movies. Escapist cinema at (or near) its best, Terminator 2: Judgment Day will not just cheer you up on a miserable day but have you cheering at the end. Like The Matrix, it is far smoother than it is deep but with Arnie Schwarzenegger near the peak of his physical fitness (or at least not crumpled in a heap at the bottom of the mountain like today), and with computer animation that has not dated one byte, this may be the most stylish film ever made – and it has guns and roses in it, a scene worked in to fit the rock band that wrote the theme and was, at the time, the acme of entertainment. If Arnie is way cool as the robot sent back from the future to protect the nemesis he tried to kill in Terminator 1, Robert Patrick is pure ice as the villain. Not a literary worth by any stretch of the most fertile imagination - and all the more enjoyable for that. Recommended like bitch-slapping Robocop.

JUST NOSED OUT:

**2001: A Space Odyssey BEST FILM OF THE DAY (Sci-fi), 11am MaxP; **Locke (Thriller), 9.30pm MaxP; **The Sunset Limited (Existential drama), 4.25pm HBOS; *Kingsman: The Secret Service (Action-Comedy), 5.35pm FoxAct; Shrek (Animated-Family), 7.30pm FoxFam; Tsotsi (Crime-Drama), 9.50am FoxCin; Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (Bio-Doc), 11.35am Max; Gangs of New York (Crime-Drama), 9.35am Prmt; *There Will Be Blood (Drama), 12.40 midday Prmt; Monsters, Inc (Animated-Family), 10.10am HBO; Munich (Drama-Thriller), 5.45pm Prmt

ALSO RAN:

Action/Adventure: *Batman Begins, 5.25pm MaxP; MI: Ghost Protocol, 3.25pm FoxAct

Art House/Independent: Inherent Vice, 9.25pm Max; Clouds of Sils Maria, 3.30pm Max

Biography: Coach Carter, 1.45pm FoxFam

Children/Family: The LEGO Movie, 9.25am HBOP

Classic: Far from the Madding Crowd, 8.20am & 10.20am F+1; Oliver Twist, 1pm HBOP

Comedy: Shallow Hal, 10.50am FoxCom & 4.45pm CnCl

Drama: Wall Street, 6.50pm FoxClas

Foreign: *Les Intouchables, 12.45 midday FoxCom

Sci-Fi/Fantasy: How I Live Now, 1.40pm Max

Thriller: Mud (Crime), 11.10am Film; Nightcrawler, 9pm MaxP

War: Empire of the Sun, 8.55am Max

Western: Nevada Smith, 8.40 am, FoxClas; Pale Rider, 9am TCM;

*Starred films have been chosen in the last two years. ** Double-starred films have been chosen in the last two months.

Scheduled Internet times often vary on the day, particularly around month-end.