sayesele

This underrated film, directed by Cy Endfield (Zulu) is a dour, realistic drama about an ex-con (Stanley Baker) who goes to work as a lorry driver for a crooked haulage company, only to discover that the ruthless boss and his foreman are cheating the drivers of huge amounts of money, and forcing them to work in dangerous conditions, resulting in the death of several drivers.

It benefits from a taut, BAFTA nominated screenplay by Endfield and John Kruse (better known as a documentary film maker), which pulls no punches in its realistic depiction of the genuinely life-threatening conditions that these lorry drivers had to endure.

Its chief asset, however, is the remarkably strong cast. Stanley Baker, as the ex-con determined to expose his corrupt bosses, brings a quiet strength and sincerity to his role as a basically decent guy who makes the wrong choices. It is interesting to compare Baker's performance here with his acclaimed portrayal of the ruthless, hardened gangster in Joseph Losey's 'The Criminal', made three years later.

Patrick McGoohan shines in an early role as the psychopathic lead driver, exuding genuine menace. And as for the priceless supporting cast: Herbert Lom, Sid James, Gordon Jackson, and Sean Connery in one of his earliest roles..need I say more. To sum up, Hell Drivers is a minor classic of post-war British cinema, and deserves more recognition than it has formerly feceived.

Not another excruciating Highlander sequel. Cardboard acting, incomprehensible plot...need I say more. Christopher Lambert is as wooden as ever, Mario van Peebles is laughably miscast as a supposedly Japanese (?!?) villain. The TV series of Highlander is far superior to the films.

Hitchcock's best film since The Birds, this brilliant psycho-thriller about a serial killer on the loose in London marked a definite return to form for the great director after the disappointment of his previous three films, Marnie, Torn Curtain and Topaz. Barry Foster gives a chilling performance the charming but deadly psychopath Rusk, while Jon Finch is excellent as the innocent man framed by Rusk for the murders. Anna Massey and Barbara Leigh Hunt make their mark as two of the killer's victims (the scene where Leigh-Hunt's character is raped and strangled is especially disturbing, but is not perhaps gratuitous). Alec McCowen's comic portrayal of the police inspector on the strangler's trail is very reminiscent of Alastair Sim's role in Stagefright (ironically, the last Hitchcock film to be made in the UK before Frenzy). Full of the Master's trademark black humour (eg. the scene with a dead body hidden inside a lorry-load of potatoes) this underrated film deserves recognition as one of Hitchcock's finest and most thought-provoking works.