The Hill (1965)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Ray Rigby (screenplay)
Ray Rigby (play) ...

Release Date:

22 June 1965 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

They went up like men! They came down like animals!

Plot:

In a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards.

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | Prison | Military | Punishment | Exhaustion

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Joe Roberts
Harry Andrews	...	R.S.M. Wilson
Ian Bannen	...	Harris
Alfred Lynch	...	George Stevens
Ossie Davis	...	Jacko King
Roy Kinnear	...	Monty Bartlett
Jack Watson	...	Jock McGrath
Ian Hendry	...	Staff Sergeant Williams
Michael Redgrave	...	The Medical Officer (as Sir Michael Redgrave)
Norman Bird	...	Commandant
Neil McCarthy	...	Burton
Howard Goorney	...	Walters
Tony Caunter	...	Martin

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #20843) | USA:TV-14 (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In Sidney Lumet's autobiography "Making Movies", the director recalled suffering through the horrendous heat of the location and asking Sean Connery if he was urinating at all, to which Connery's reply was "Only in the morning".

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the opening credits the shadow of the rig is clearly visible as the camera performs a 360 degree shot from the top of the "hill".

Quotes:

[Jacko has defiantly ripped off his uniform]
Sergeant Charlie Harris: You're going into the Commandant's office dressed like this, lad?
Jacko King: Unless you've got a top-hat, and a bone to put through me nose. That's the way you white folks think we done dress at home.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sean Connery 1971: The BBC Interview (2006) (V)

Sean Connery's finest hour?

In which Connery doesn't get to cop off with the customary harem of beach babes, doesn't get to save the world and more importantly gets his butt kicked by Ian Hendry! Sidney Lumet seasons Ray Rigby's claustrophobic screenplay with some stunning black and white cinematography (reminiscent of his earlier masterpiece '12 Angry Men') and then bakes it in about 6 million degrees of scorching desert sun. The story of five squaddies holed up in a military stockade at the tail end of WW11 is as preoccupied with examining political conflict within British society (through the interactions of the microcosmic cell mates) as it is with presenting a taut, compelling psychodrama. The allegorical tone of the movie is never clumsy or heavy handed though and Lumet keeps the narrative on the rails every step of the way. The dialogue crackles with blunt barrack room banter and black humour throughout perfectly offsetting the grim circumstances the prisoners find themselves in. Roy Kinnear, Ossie Davis and Ian Hendry (as a deranged martinet of a prison guard) all deserve special mention but the film surely belongs to Connery who stumbles 'bruised, battered and scarred but hard' through to the bitter climax with an extraordinary kind of dignity as he rails against the brutal injustices of 'the system'! It is a truly unmissable picture if only for Connerys' star turn but don't take my word for it. Check it out now.