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The 30 best films on Amazon Prime to watch now
The 30 best films on Amazon Prime to watch now

Telegraph

time20-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Telegraph

The 30 best films on Amazon Prime to watch now

Watching films on Amazon has always been a case of hunting for freebies, while mostly resigning oneself to coughing up the price of a coffee: thousands of movies can be rented, by anyone, for £3.49 (or less). Yet, for subscribers to Amazon Prime, a much more limited, ever-changing selection comes free. You just have to look out for the 'Included with Prime' blue tick beside a film's title – then catch it before it disappears. The free catalogue tends to skew heavily towards well-known, relatively recent US studio titles, with scant room for golden oldies or subtitled gems. But if you plan your viewing based on availability, I'm here (having watched, as a Telegraph critic, more films than anyone should be allowed to see in a lifetime) to help you find the pearls amid the muck. Skip to: Drama Thriller Science fiction Comedy Family Drama Requiem for a Dream (2000) Addiction is hell, but each character occupies an isolated abyss of their own, in Darren Aronofsky's excoriating portrait of four lost souls on Coney Island. Oscar nominee Ellen Burstyn is the widowed Sara Goldfarb, who becomes hooked on prescription amphetamines; Jared Leto is her son Harry, a heroin addict; Marlon Wayans is his friend Tyrone, who gets arrested after a shoot-out; and Jennifer Connelly is Harry's girlfriend Marion, whom he presses into prostitution. Adapting Hubert Selby Jr's 1978 novel with the author's help, Aronofsky socked viewers with a virtuoso downer, shunted along by the driving rhythms of Clint Mansell's inspired music. Monster (2003) No one could stop the astonishing Charlize Theron swiping an Oscar here as the real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was executed the year before the film's release for the murders of seven men along highways in Florida, all of whom she claimed to have killed in self-defence. Theron and writer-director Patty Jenkins together stake out an impressively complicated position on who Wuornos was, why she may have done what she did, and how a viewer is expected to feel about it: the mixture of repulsion and empathy is rare and risky for a biopic. JFK (1991) Who killed JFK? Was it Lee Harvey Oswald, from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository? Or an unknown shooter from the grassy knoll? Was there more than one assassin? Were the CIA somehow involved in a cover-up? All the conspiracy theories that Oliver Stone saw fit to air appear in his virtuoso – if factually contentious – three-hour political thriller, which tackles the investigation of New Orleans DA Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) into the shady underworld ties of Oswald and his confederates. In a stacked supporting cast (Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Bacon, John Candy, Sissy Spacek), Donald Sutherland takes the cake in one long scene as a high-ranking spook who seems to know everything. Small Things Like These (2024) This tight-lipped Irish drama is suffused with sadness, and shouldered with hypnotic grace by Cillian Murphy in his first post-Oppenheimer role. He plays a father of five in a small County Wexford town, who pits himself against the local convent – and calculating head nun Emily Watson – for their incarceration of pregnant girls in 1985. Claire Keegan's source novel chose a man of few words to make this stand, and Murphy steps up to play him with a heroic understatement that could move mountains. The result is one of the best 'small' films in recent memory. The Immigrant (2014) One of the most neglected efforts from writer-director James Gray (The Yards, Two Lovers, Ad Astra), The Immigrant fell foul of measly distribution after Harvey Weinstein tried, and failed, to meddle with Gray's final cut. Marion Cotillard, in one of her greatest performances, plays Ewa, a Polish refugee who arrives on Ellis Island in 1921, and is exploited by a shyster (Joaquin Phoenix) who simultaneously prostitutes and romantically pursues her. Darius Khondji's photography is stunning, with a rich flavour for the period. Platoon (1986) If Apocalypse Now did justice to the chaotic scale of the Vietnam War, this low-budget smash (it cost a mere $6m) zoomed in on the moral battle, by enlisting Charlie Sheen as an infantry volunteer torn between two brands of soldiering: one exemplified by the hardened brutality of Tom Berenger's Barnes; the other, by Willem Dafoe's saintly, paternalistic Sergeant Elias. Basing the film on his own experiences as a grunt, Oliver Stone was determined to counter the jingoism of John Wayne's The Green Berets (1968) and certainly succeeded, winning Best Picture and Director Oscars for his pains. Platoon is resolutely grimy and convincing, with the only glamorous touches coming from a louche soundtrack of 1960s pop hits. The use of Samuel Barber's Adagio, too, is unforgettable. Zodiac (2007) David Fincher's real-life serial killer procedural is an excitingly mature study of obsession and epic burnout. What it is not is Se7en, which gave it muted appeal at the box office – but in the era of shows such as True Detective and Mare of Easttown, it's very streamable indeed. Fincher follows the oft-thwarted efforts of many people, including a San Francisco police inspector (Mark Ruffalo), a true-crime writer (Jake Gyllenhaal) and an investigative reporter (Robert Downey Jr) to puzzle out the identity of the Zodiac Killer, who claimed to have murdered 37 people in Southern California in the late 1960s. The precision-tooled script and density of detail are remarkable. Capote (2005) Where most biopics sprawl, this penetrates, by tackling only a sliver of its subject's life – the writer's block Truman Capote endured while researching his true-crime masterpiece In Cold Blood, and his ensuing giant depression. A magisterial Philip Seymour Hoffman, in his Oscar-winning role, makes this literary icon's intellectual vanity dazzlingly funny. Despite being half a foot taller than Capote, he forays superbly into the man's demons, and into his complex relationship with the murderer Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr). The bevy of cheeping mannerisms he summons, while mischievously pilfered from Capote lore, are still, somehow, pure Hoffman. A Few Good Men (1992) This is the military courtroom drama everyone loves to quote – 'You can't handle the truth!', and so on. That's a line delivered by Jack Nicholson as the sulphurous star witness, a US Navy Colonel called to the stand when two of his men are accused of murdering a new recruit in Guantanamo Bay, and their defence lawyers (Tom Cruise and Demi Moore) dare to put the system on trial. Aaron Sorkin adapted the screenplay from his tub-thumping play, and Rob Reiner directed at the height of his 1980s-1990s hot streak (This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery). Though more interested in high-fiving itself than sincerely advancing an anti-martial theme, it's irresistibly bombastic. Donnie Brasco (1997) Al Pacino enjoyed one of his best periods in the second half of the 1990s, and this hangdog performance in a real-life gangster yarn might be the jewel in the crown. He's magnificently sad as Lefty Ruggiero, the career mafioso who was taken in by an undercover FBI agent, Joseph Pistone (aka Donnie Brasco), played here by a subtle and sterling Johnny Depp. To convince everyone he's a violent hood, Pistone had to become one – or perhaps he always was. Paul Attanasio's Oscar-nominated script finds layers in their friendship that break your heart, and Mike Newell reached new heights as a director, surpassing even his Four Weddings and a Funeral. Thriller Conclave (2024) Pick a pope? Tread carefully. Derived from Robert Harris's potboiler about the hushed, cloistered and backstabby process of casting ballots in the Sistine Chapel, Conclave got eight Oscar nominations, and won for Peter Straughan's acidic script. The fictional election Harris cooked up, which director Edward Berger reheats at full blast, leads us through a dank labyrinth of intrigue – with one man, Ralph Fiennes's Thomas Lawrence, peering through the murk to discern an outcome that won't set Catholicism back decades. Declaring 'certainty the enemy', he really seems to mean it – like present-day Rome's pained, grey answer to Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall. Point Break (1991) No one packs more testosterone into an action ride than Kathryn Bigelow, who scored one of her few bona fide box office hits here. Keanu Reeves is the rookie fed who goes undercover as a surfer to infiltrate a gang of bank robbers, headed by Patrick Swayze's charismatic, perma-tanned free spirit. Waves crash, bullets fly and men cement their brotherly love by jumping out of planes together in the famous skydiving scenes. Don't bother with the useless 2015 remake: the purest highs by far are to be found right here. The 39 Steps (1935) We have John Buchan's novel to thank for the spy-movie trappings of this story, with a hero accused of murderous counter-espionage. The kicker is that this evergreen Hitchcock chase thriller manages to be a great romantic comedy into the bargain. The influence of Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934) is hard to miss in the leads' bickering relationship as they're flung hither and thither across the Highlands, when Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) goes after the vicious foreign spy ring who have framed him, and finds himself handcuffed to Madeleine Carroll's suspicious stranger. A History of Violence (2005) David Cronenberg started a fruitful collaboration here with Viggo Mortensen, who would excel again in his Eastern Promises (2007) and A Dangerous Method (2011). He's tremendous as Tom Stall, a small-town diner owner and family man who deftly foils an attempted robbery and is hailed as a hero: unfortunately, the publicity blows his cover, and we learn that he's a former Mob hitman whose associates aren't done with him. William Hurt got an Oscar nomination as a goateed kingpin, but it's Ed Harris who makes the more menacing impression as Carl, a scarred emissary who won't leave Tom well enough alone. Jaws (1975) The one and only: a shark-attack B-movie boosted to art by precision engineering. 'He has a very great talent,' said Alfred Hitchcock about Spielberg, the new kid in town. His big breakthrough, keeping millions out of the sea since its release, this diabolical suspense classic was both the stuff of nightmares and a production stricken with them. Somehow the rookie director weathered the storms, coped with that pesky mechanical shark, and cut the movie with Verna Fields to cuticle-shredding perfection, setting a whole new bar for summer entertainment in the process. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) John McTiernan's spin on the 1968 Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway/Norman Jewison art-burglary caper is a rare remake that brings something genuinely new to the table. Specifically, it boasts the best role Rene Russo ever had, as the amused cop who thinks she has the number of Pierce Brosnan's playboy thief. It's really swish entertainment, with a special climax scored to Nina Simone's Sinnerman and involving multiple Magritte-style bowler hats. The leads' 'situationship' is electric precisely because we don't know if it's fated to last. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) There are more famous film versions of the Conan Doyle chiller – the 1939 Fox one with Basil Rathbone as Holmes; the 1959 Hammer one with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. But this relatively little-known ITV adaptation, one of a pair starring Ian Richardson as the detective, is the most spine-tingling and creative. It starts with the prowling of the titular beast outside the Baskerville mansion, which is striking because of hound's-eye-view photography that sets the terrified tone. The green fog on the Grimpen mire has a livid radiance, while an expert supporting cast includes Denholm Elliott, Martin Shaw, Connie Booth and Eleanor Bron. The Mist (2007) The usually optimistic Frank Darabont unleashed this amazingly bleak chiller which, like his The Shawshank Redemption, was based on a story by Stephen King, this time about slimy monsters besieging a supermarket in Maine. It's a bloody and unflinching vision of American despair. Thomas Jane heads the cast as a painter who takes his young son (Nathan Gamble) to the shops, passing military convoys, and is barricaded inside when a mist descends. Marcia Gay Harden is on top form as a religious fanatic, convincing many locals that divine punishment awaits in tentacled shape. The ending is a solar plexus blow you'll never see coming. Cliffhanger (1993) This begins with an infamously terrible day for the bulging Sylvester Stallone: stretched out on a limb traversing a mountain crevasse, with a frayed clip the one thing preventing a fellow climber from plunging to her death. For anyone with the slightest fear of heights, the sequence is a nerve-shredding model for making us sit up and sweat. Renny Harlin's durable action classic delivers the rest of the goods, too, with a gloriously hammy John Lithgow as the criminal mastermind searching for $100m that has tumbled from a Treasury plane somewhere in the Rockies. Harlin and crew captured impressive amounts of the action up real mountains – and it boasts an aerial stunt so dangerous (and costly, at $1m: Stallone paid for it out of his own salary) they only shot it once. Pusher (1996) This Danish gangland yarn started a franchise while launching several careers: that of director/co-writer Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, The Neon Demon), lead actor Kim Bodnia (The Bridge, Killing Eve) and the fellow playing his cheery sidekick, one Mads Mikkelsen in his film debut, a decade before Casino Royale. Bodnia plays Frank, a low-level heroin dealer in Copenhagen, who manages to get into no end of trouble when he evades a police bust by falling into a lake, in the process destroying an eye-watering amount of product. The definition of gritty, the whole film goes hard and gained a cult following. The Long Good Friday (1980) Don't mess with Bob Hoskins. Michael Caine once claimed there were three truly great British gangster films: one Caine did (Get Carter), one he co-starred in with Hoskins (Mona Lisa) and one Hoskins made alone, which is this. His character, Harold Shand, is a fireball of raging ambition, stopping at nothing to consolidate his London empire. His aim is to get into legitimate business with a casino in the Docklands, but he finds his position eroded by IRA bombings, despite the smart, practical influence of his moll Victoria, commandingly played by Helen Mirren. It's also notable for featuring Pierce Brosnan's debut as an IRA enforcer. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) Quite a swansong for the venerable Sidney Lumet, who at 83 delivered a rivetingly gloomy, non-linear crime thriller about a tragically botched heist on a jewellery shop. Hard-up brothers Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) choose their own parents' establishment, knowing it's insured, but the accomplice Hank enlists brings in more than a toy gun, and everything goes hideously wrong. Their father (a devastated Albert Finney) and Andy's wife (Marisa Tomei, terrific) are dragged into the fallout, and it's unhappily-ever-after for all involved. Science fiction Back to the Future (1985) Strap into the DeLorean, get up to 88mph, and experience time travel the Robert Zemeckis way – as a kind of gonzo science-fair attraction, unlocking a giant payload of emotion. Michael J Fox has to ensure his own existence goes to plan, when he nearly messes it up by stumbling from the 1980s into the 1950s, and meeting the younger version of his mother (Lea Thompson), who takes a troublingly incestuous shine to him. This is the most bonkers plot hook of its day; but we also get Christopher Lloyd's durable comic vim as Doc Brown, the bug-eyed inventor with the permanently electrified hair. Giddy and imperishable. Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982) 'Sometimes, the design is the statement.' This was Ridley Scott's reasoning, and he's right. The design is truly bewitching, and extremely influential: every neon-slicked dystopolis since owes a debt to it. Also, the drudgery of Harrison Ford's Deckard character is a risky nod to noir, in a genre which usually prefers zapping aliens and whipping out lightsabers. Blade Runner grows and grows. Perhaps the older we get, the more we grasp what a limited life-span means, and what the replicants Deckard is hunting – especially Rutger Hauer's wonderful Roy Batty – have to teach us. Metropolis (1927) Perhaps the most seminal work of science fiction ever put on film, Fritz Lang's silent Expressionist epic was a cautionary response to the rapid industrialisation and social divisions of Weimar Germany. The future society it depicts is marked by a chasm between rich and poor, which the idealistic hero (Gustav Fröhlich) and heroine (Brigitte Helm) aim to bridge. Helm also plays her character's double, the Maschinenmensch ('machine-human'), a robot created by a vengeful inventor (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) to incite the working classes to rebellion. The art direction, photography and effects make it a towering visual achievement, which would influence everything from Batman to Star Wars. Comedy Game Night (2018) Look no further for a relatively recent studio comedy that's, for once, satisfyingly plotted: the concept is grabby enough, but the follow-through just keeps getting more enjoyable. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams play a couple whose weekly game night spins out of control – starting with Bateman's brother (Kyle Chandler) switching things up with a murder mystery, and then being abruptly kidnapped. It unspools from there with screwball verve, plentiful silliness, and stars transmitting their own glee at being involved. Jesse Plemons all but steals the show as a creepy cop no one likes, who can't stop stroking his cat. The Devil Wears Prada (2006) To many, this will need no introduction – much as fashion magazine editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (a delectable, Oscar-nominated Meryl Streep) assumes everyone must know her name. The recipient of her most withering scorn is Anne Hathaway's Andy, a newbie who becomes Priestly's overworked, underpaid PA. It's a Cinderella story in the tradition of Working Girl, but given juice by the real-life origins of the tale: the experience of the novel's author, Lauren Weisberger, working for dauntingly spiky style queen Anna Wintour. A 20th anniversary sequel is due on May Day 2026, the very weekend of the Met Gala. Family Corpse Bride (2005) Tim Burton's live-action features went through a mid-career wobbly patch, with his barren remake of Planet of the Apes (2001) and the rather mawkish Big Fish (2003). Redemption came from this wittily macabre stop-motion animation, co-directed with Mike Johnson. It's a tight, 77-minute treat that's a little too death-focused for the under-10s, but should delight everyone else. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter not only voice the main characters – a peculiar young man named Victor, and the reanimated cadaver to whom he accidentally gets betrothed – but clearly gave some facial cues to the puppeteers, too. Shrek 2 (2004) Never fear, Shrek is also on Prime – but here's raising a glass to the first sequel, still caustic, still hugely funny, but a much more chilled-out, warmly sophisticated affair. Made by the upstart studio DreamWorks, the original barged in attacking Disney's legacy and wallowing in fart jokes. Enough of all that: by now, our titular ogre (Mike Myers) and his bride Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are married, but the whole notion of a happy-ever-after feels unstable, because they don't fully know each other's foibles yet. Waiting in the wings is a malign Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) determined to split them up and give her son Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) the nuptials he considers his birthright. Paddington (2014) Everyone's favourite furry Peruvian immigrant made his new London home here, and in the process bedded in for the cuddliest film franchise of the last decade. A huge share of the credit has to go to writer-director Paul King, who brought a very particular comic sensibility to the enterprise, fastidiously parked right on the edge of chaos. Take the passing sight gag on a TFL escalator – 'Dogs must be carried' – and our puzzled bear's response. Ben Whishaw's gentle timbre was perfect for the part, and Nicole Kidman has a ball here as the guest villain, an icy taxidermist named Millicent Clyde. Paddington 2 – and Hugh Grant's turn to be a priceless rotter – is also on Prime, and every bit as irresistible.

Trump's fury over claim he sent 'bawdy' message to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday
Trump's fury over claim he sent 'bawdy' message to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday

Daily Mail​

time19-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Trump's fury over claim he sent 'bawdy' message to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday

Politicians, businessmen, academics, showbusiness stars... Jeffrey Epstein loved collecting prominent men as friends and revelling in their approval. So when it came to his 50th birthday in 2003, his long-time friend and sidekick Ghislaine Maxwell knew that nothing would please him more as a present than a tribute to these connections – to remind the multi-millionaire son of a park groundsman from working-class Coney Island just how far he'd come. Maxwell, an Oxford-educated socialite, asked dozens of Epstein's friends and associates to contribute letters and notes about him to go into a leather-bound album. And they were only too happy to oblige. This, after all, was still three years before his arrest for sexually abusing underage girls in his Palm Beach mansion and the truth about his sordid criminality was yet to emerge. This book, whose existence has previously never been disclosed – even though it is reportedly in the hands of the US Department of Justice – has now been seen by the Wall Street Journal. And according to the newspaper, it contains one particular entry that has sent shockwaves across the US and prompted furious threats of a lawsuit from the Oval Office. A letter bearing Donald Trump 's name was included in the tome. Like others, it was 'bawdy', the Journal said. This letter, which the newspaper did not publish but only described, was said to contain 'several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker'. According to the WSJ: 'A pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts, and the future president's signature is a squiggly "Donald" below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.' The letter – which ends 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret' – is an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein. It's a strange, very cryptic exchange which, given the storm it's caused, is worth reporting in full It begins: 'Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything. Donald: Yes, there is, but I won't tell you what it is. Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is. Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it. Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that? Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you. Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Trump has denied writing the birthday letter or drawing the picture and has said he will sue the Journal for ignoring his demands not to publish the story, which he described as 'false, malicious, and defamatory '. He told the newspaper: 'This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story. 'I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women. It's not my language. It's not my words.' Yesterday, the President upped the ante in characteristic style, stating on social media that he planned to sue Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Journal. 'I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his "pile of garbage" newspaper,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. 'That will be an interesting experience!!!' The President's claim that he doesn't draw was disputed yesterday by those who supplied sketches he'd done of skyscrapers and recalled him writing of his 'new talent' of drawing in his 2008 book, How I Turned My Biggest Challenges Into Success. He must be hoping that the scepticism ends there. Meanwhile, the lewd birthday greeting and the suggestion that the two men shared a 'secret', couldn't have surfaced at a worse moment for the US President, who has spent recent days fighting off accusations from his own supporters that his government is involved in a huge cover-up over the Epstein scandal. Trump has called them 'stupid' and accused them of being dupes of a Democrat-spun 'hoax' to undermine him. But he and some of his cronies – including, ironically, two who are now running the FBI – have only themselves to blame for this MAGA backlash as they have themselves long encouraged speculation about a conspiracy to protect the identities of powerful men who were supplied with girls by Epstein. Trump pledged in his 2024 election campaign to declassify Epstein files, including a much-anticipated 'list' of clients of the financier's sex-trafficking ring. However, the Trump administration has now claimed that no such evidence exists. The Department of Justice and FBI released a joint review on Thursday concluding that Epstein had 'no incriminating client list' that could implicate high-profile associates. Although the Wall Street Journal reported that it was unclear whether his 50th birthday album was among the Epstein evidence recently reviewed by the Justice Department and FBI, some will inevitably be speculating that if anyone's been covering up over Epstein, it's the current President. Trump has now backtracked and said he had asked Pam Bondi, his attorney-general, to release the grand jury testimony on Epstein. Whatever this might disclose, the alleged birthday note has shifted the focus back on the Trump-Epstein relationship little more than a month after Elon Musk astonishingly claimed that his former close friend and ally was 'in the Epstein files', stating that was 'the real reason they have not been made public '. Trump has long attempted to play down the extent of his association with Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting a sex-trafficking trial. However, it's no secret they were friends when they moved in the same moneyed social circles in Palm Beach, Florida, from the late 1980s until 2004 (just a year after the birthday greetings message) when they reportedly fell out over a property they both wanted to buy. They attended numerous parties together and it's claimed that in 1992, Trump arranged for a 'calendar girl' competition for 'VIP guests' to be held at his Palm Beach home, Mar-a-Lago, where he and Epstein were the only two men watching the 28 glamorous contestants. Trump's name appeared seven times in the passenger logs of Epstein's private jets. In fact, Epstein was recorded boasting to biographer Michael Wolff that the first time Trump slept with his future wife Melania 'was on my plane'. Wolff also claimed that Trump and Epstein challenged each other as to who could be the first to sleep with Princess Diana. Last month, the author said he'd seen photos of Trump and Epstein in the company of topless girls. It's a matter of record that Trump was sufficiently acquainted with Epstein to know about his preference for 'younger' women. In 2002, he was quoted in a magazine article about the mysterious financier as saying: 'I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. 'He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' Nowadays, Trump remembers Epstein as a 'creep' of whom 'I wasn't a fan', but he's hardly the only one who has spent the years since Epstein's death doing his level best to distance himself from the paedophile predator. Who else might be embarrassed by the full contents of Epstein's 50th birthday album being made public? Apart from mentioning an unnamed but now deceased Harvard University economist, the Wall Street Journal names only two others who submitted letters: billionaire fashion retailer Les Wexner and lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Both have been connected to Epstein for years. Wexner, the former chief executive of lingerie company Victoria's Secret, hired Epstein to manage his money for 20 years until 2007. They had a close but puzzling relationship in which Epstein obtained his mansion home in New York, a private plane and a property in Ohio – altogether worth $100 million – from Wexner. Wexner has since claimed he 'severed all ties with Epstein in 2007 and never spoke with him again'. However, according to the Journal, just four years earlier, Wexner wrote a short birthday message to Epstein: 'I wanted to get you what you want… so here it is…' After the text was a line drawing of what appeared to be a woman's breasts. Wexner declined to comment to the newspaper. Dershowitz, a celebrated Harvard legal expert, was one of Epstein's highly paid defence lawyers and was also part of the team that defended Trump from 2020 impeachment charges. He was involved in a long-running legal battle with Virginia Giuffre, an accuser of both Epstein and Prince Andrew, over allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct. Ms Giuffre later said she had misidentified the lawyer. Dershowitz's contribution to the birthday album was a mock-up page of a magazine titled 'Vanity Unfair' containing headlines such as 'Who was Jack the Ripper? Was it Jeffrey Epstein?'. Dershowitz 'joked that he had convinced the magazine to change the focus of an article from Epstein to Bill Clinton', the Journal said. He told the newspaper: 'It's been a long time and I don't recall the content of what I may have written.' Other contributors to the birthday album sent poems, photos and 'greetings', and the senders included 'businesspeople, academics, Epstein's former girlfriends and childhood pals', it's claimed. Given that many of Epstein's friends – including Prince Andrew – continued to associate with him even after he was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution in 2009, the possibilities of who might have sent birthday greetings before he was ever engulfed in scandal are almost endless. Many of the women who accused Epstein of abusing them have since testified how he used the respectability of many of his contacts to lure them into his web. The most famous among his friends included Bill Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, filmmaker Woody Allen and music superstar Michael Jackson. Joanna Sjoberg, one of Prince Andrew's accusers, testified that Epstein had told her Clinton 'likes them young, referring to girls'. However, Epstein – a former maths teacher who insiders say considered himself an intellectual – didn't just court celebrities but also scientists and academics whose research he often financed. 'As some collect butterflies, he collects beautiful minds,' gushed a US magazine profile of Epstein in 2002. He even knew Professor Stephen Hawking, the illustrious British physicist, who was almost completely paralysed for more than 40 years by motor neurone disease. Prof Hawking died in 2018 but others who had far closer associations with Epstein are very much still alive. When sweet-talking Ghislaine Maxwell came looking for gushing tributes to dear Jeffrey at the height of his power and influence in 2003, who could possibly have refused? Donald Trump cannot be the only one now anxiously hoping that curious Americans will move on again from the Epstein scandal.

Joey Chestnut reveals how he became the GOAT at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
Joey Chestnut reveals how he became the GOAT at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

Yahoo

time11-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Yahoo

Joey Chestnut reveals how he became the GOAT at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

Joey Chestnut is set to return to the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Friday, July 4 after a one-year ban due to a contractual dispute. What remains indisputable is his standing at an event that officially started in 1972. He is the GOAT. Advertisement Over the past two decades, Chestnut has won the contest 16 times, 10 more than any other eater has won the men's competition in the history of the event. He also holds record for most hot dogs and buns consumed during the 10-minute contest with 76, 14 more than any other competitor has eaten. During an interview with USA TODAY Sports, Chestnut, 41, shared details about how he became the Greatest Of All Time after eating 32 hot dogs and buns in 2005 in his debut at the Nathan's contest. Chestnut said his inner drive remains high two decades later. 'I want to push myself,'' he said. 'There's room for growth. I've seen that there's little things I can do to get better at everything. I enjoy pushing myself at setting up these crazy contests at home.' Advertisement Despite winning 16 Mustard belts, awarded to Nathan's champion ever year, Chestnut said some things never change as the contest approaches. 'I still get nervous,'' he said. 'I mean, I definitely still care.'' Joey Chestnut gets everything loose On the day of the contest, Chestnut uses an electric stimulation machine on his abdomen. 'To get everything working, get everything loose,'' he said. 'I'm working really hard to get everything relaxed.'' For competitive eaters, the standard training involves drinking excessive amounts of water to stretch their stomachs and increase their capacity for hot dogs and buns and to simulate the hot dog contest. Advertisement Chestnut, however, has elevated training and preparation to another level. Although he said he would not reveal all of his secrets, his novel techniques include neck raises with a 16-pound bag attached to a leather strap that hangs from a mouthguard, according to Chestnut. 'When I'm raising up (his neck), I have to keep my jaw clenched the entire time,'' he said. 'And when I'm raising up, I'm almost imagining I'm swallowing. So I'm thrusting my tongue against the leather strap the mouthpiece is glued to. 'That's good for the jaws and my neck a little bit.'' Then there are the burping exercises, Chestnut explained. Advertisement 'If I'm outside, I can practice swallowing and then burp, getting all those muscles and my esophagus working together,'' he said. 'It also helps my stomach because there's layers of muscle around your stomach and those muscles have to get used to stretching, and you can't stretch it all the time with food or even water.'' He also said he takes Primatene, an over-the-counter drug used for mild intermittent asthma. 'I noticed early on right away, it helped me breathe through my nose while I'm eating,'' he said. 'But it also helped (get) amped up. That's one of my little tricks.'' Joey Chestnut's attention to detail Few details escape Chestnut, such as the water he uses for dunking the hot dog buns. Advertisement 'I like my water about 116 degrees,' he said. "Hot water, it helps digestion, helps muscles relax, helps fat stay liquid. The muscles stretching, the hot water really helps that.'' At home, Chestnut said, he practices with the water temperature as low as 111 degrees and as high as 121 degrees because it's challenging to get the water to exactly 116 degrees on the day of the contest. He also said he practices getting the water to the right temperature quickly because at Nathan's there is limited time between the introductions and start of the contest. 'Everybody brings their own water, and I'll have a two-gallon bag within another bag that keeps it pretty close to (116 degrees). It will come out just a little bit hot and I'll just have a cup of cold water and just pour a little bit of water. 'And (during training) I practice mixing it to the temperature I like really quickly.'' Advertisement Joey Chestnut taps into anger Generally speaking, Chestnut said, he's a mild-mannered guy. But he's learned to channel his anger when he's competing at Nathan's. "I kind of kept it hidden how competitive I was with it. I mean, it seemed really almost crazy to be that competitive for eating contest. ... 'I like having this perfect mix of anger and I'm amped up. But then I can also breathe calm. It sounds really weird, but I can be angry and calm at the same time.'' The anger flared during the 2022 contest, when he briefly put a protester in a chokehold after the man came onto the stage and bumped Chestnut. Advertisement 'I look at video and I look really, really angry,'' Chestnut said. 'I felt embarrassed.'' Quickly, Chestnut resumed eating. He won the contest by a margin of 15 hot dogs and buns. Less sheepish about his intensity, Chestnut said this year he'll draw on lingering anger about being banned last year. 'I'm going to let loose,'' said the GOAT. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hot Dog Eating Contest 2025: Joey Chestnut reveals his GOAT secrets

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