Hill (The)
- Director: Sidney Lumet
- Writer: Ray Rigby
- Producer: Raymond Anzarut; Kenneth Hyman
CGiii Comment
Nothing actually happens for the first hour - just too much shouting and yelling - and it does get on your tits after a while.
The cruelty and bullying are so over-the-top that the predictable happens and when it does it is an anti-climax - in all respects.
Most of the actors have the BBC's received pronunciation which renders them into caricatures.
It's an overly long, laborious and deafening slog.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
World War II, in a British disciplinary camp located in the Libyan desert, prisoners are persecuted by Staff Sergeant Williams (Ian Hendry), who made them climb again and again, under the heavy sun, an artificial hill built right in the middle of the camp. Harris (Ian Bannen) is a more human and compassionate guard, but the chief, R.S.M. Wilson (Harry Andrews), refuses to disown his subordinate Williams. One day, five new prisoners arrive. Each of them will deal in a different way with the authority and Williams' ferocity.
Cast & Characters
Sean Connery as Joe Roberts;
Harry Andrews as R.S.M. Wilson;
Ian Bannen as Harris;
Alfred Lynch as George Stevens;
Ossie Davis as Jacko King;
Roy Kinnear as Monty Bartlett;
Jack Watson as Jock McGrath;
Ian Hendry as Staff Sergeant Williams;
Michael Redgrave as The Medical Officer;
Norman Bird as Commandant;
Neil McCarthy as Burton;
Howard Goorney as Walters;
Tony Caunter as Martin;
James Payne as Man in prison