The Hi-Jackers

It was tough being a lorry driver back then with little in the way of creature comforts in the slow and noisy vehicles. Few motorways and to top it off the danger of being hijacked.

It had the look of a 1953 film and not 1963 but this just made it look more gritty and the transport cafe looked great, back then they were for lorry drivers only and the travelling public were likely to be barred from entry. Me and a friend had to talk our way into one as late as the mid 70s.

Well worth watching with a good plot and good acting all round. Different to see nice Dave from Minder as a very nasty baddy.

British B movie of its day, but for all that it was enjoyable. The action and acting was a bit wooden but a fresh faced Tony Booth puts in a good performance.

It was a bit tongue-in-cheek at times; Carters house name - Dunrobin.

Some familiar faces from 1960s/70 TV.

It works on about the level of a middle school creative writing lesson, with students assigned to produce their own crime story.

Cultured, cigar smoking, dome headed, gourmet wannabe Jack Carter (Derek Francis) is the mastermind behind a series of laughably gauche, but surprisingly successful lorry heists.

Likeable, do anything for anyone, anytime, Anthony Booth (prior to finding immortality as Alf Garnett's randy Scouse git son in law) along with passenger Jacqueline Ellis falls foul of the deftly planned...but still laughable hi-jack and his consignment of top quality Scotch soon becomes whiskey in the car, rather than whiskey in the jar!

Pompous, plum in the mouth detective, Patrick Cargill offers Booth little cheer in terms of recovering his vehicle, or its cargo, but is curious about the absence of his co-driver (Ronald Hines) on the day of the crime. Oddly, Hines bears a striking resemblance to Arthur Kennedy at his most devious and calculating, but minus the westerners gun slinging bravura.

Identified as the woman who knew too much, a couple of gang members attempt to put the frighteners on Ellis whilst she is taking a bath, in a predictably clumsy scene which succeeds only in putting the 'sigh' into Psycho. Responding with some of Grace Kelly's Rear Window resilience she takes matters into her own hands gathering information from ex-hubby and jailbird, Douglas Livingstone. The marriage having failed, due to his life of crime and his painfully boring insistence on including the word 'rich' in every sentence he utters.

Throw in plenty of interesting views of the transport from the early '60's and some modern big band jazz.....and you still have a pretty one dimensional cops 'n' robbers caper. Salvaged, however by its unabashed, unpretentious period charm, 'The Hi-Jackers' is a victory for simplicity, a wholly enjoyable experience.....always assuming that Ronald Hines enjoyed being repeatedly punched.

THE HI-JACKERS is an efficient and entertaining British B-picture which ticks most of the right boxes when it comes to film-making. As a film about truck drivers it's not a patch on the excellent HELL DRIVERS but as a low budget B-movie it's a pleasing timewaster with some good action and an incident-packed plot line to recommend it. Director Jim O'Connolly later helmed the excellent horror flick TOWER OF EVIL.

A youthful Anthony Booth stars as a trucker who finds himself the victim of a gang of hi-jackers who take his truck as well as his load. He swears vengeance on the crew, and the rest of the film is a back-and-forth game between the villains and everyone else pitted against them. The cast is populated by some pretty good character actors who give engaging performances, although the likable Booth gives the best turn. The inclusion of a love interest for the hero drags the pace down a little but for the most part this works well and proves a nice time capsule of the early '60s.

Couldn't agree more, with Daniel. This seemed to wane, as you said only when the obligatory love interest came in (which thankfully, there wasn't a lot of). An independent lorry driver (a young Tony 'scouse git' Booth)finds he has been set-up by his co-partner in the business for a hi-jacking. The love interest Jacqueline Ellis, someone he picked up on her way to London, in his lorry, becomes also involved in cracking the gang that too hijacked Booth's lorry and are onto countless others. Watch carefully, when Booth goes to confront his chum, of an old location of 'Lion Wharf' Isleworth in Middlesex, close to Twickenham studios where the studio work was done. Some good character actors, Harold Goodwin, Glynn Edwards and Patrick Cargill as a sarky article cop make it watchable.

However, a basic but good plot, fine acting especially from Tony Blair's son-in-law. Fairly recently released with Reknown Pictures