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Post by wmcclain on Apr 6, 2020 12:27:57 GMT
The Hill (1965), directed by Sidney Lumet. A British military prison in North Africa, where they send the AWOL, drunks and thieves. It's a hard-working camp where the prisoners run and drill all day long. For punishment they repeatedly climb "the Hill" with heavy packs under the blazing sun: it's a man-made pyramid of sand and stone. Now and then they get someone like Sgt Major Sean Connery from the tank corps: a professional soldier court-martialed for disobeying orders and striking an officer. He comes in with a group who are all trouble in their own ways. Harry Andrews is the Regimental Sgt in charge ("The Commandant signs bits of paper. He'd sign his own death warrant if I gave it to him"). His job is to break the men down and build them up into soldiers again. He seems to be good at it, as brutal as need be without being murderous: "I've dented a few but never killed one." But then a prisoner does die, worked to death by a new Sgt, sadistically overdoing his job. (Ian Hendry, last seen as the sole surviving critic in Theater of Blood (1973)). Who will take the blame? Great cast. I'm reminded of the saying "The Empire was built on the bones of Scotsmen". There are a lot of them in the British army, all pretty tough. Ossie Davis is a soldier from the West Indies. I've always wondered what happens to prisoners who just sit down and refuse to drill any more. In reality I suspect they get kicked around until they change their minds, or are sent to a worse place. For some reason this line struck me as funny for 1965: "Don't answer back, you different-colored bastard!" You can tell the story is adapted from a play because of the many conversation scenes. Cinematographer Oswald Morris compensates with swooping handheld camera work. A couple of shots look consciously composed for graphic symmetry but it's all good photography, convincingly miserable. Filmed in Spain. A lot of people think this is Connery's finest performance, vying with another Lumet film: The Offence (1972). Available on DVD and rather fine looking.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 6, 2020 12:41:46 GMT
I think this film is terrific. Dark, oppressive, existential nightmare.
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Post by louise on Apr 6, 2020 16:56:34 GMT
I remember being very upset by the ending.
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Post by teleadm on Apr 6, 2020 18:26:01 GMT
It's an old favorite, that I somehow until a few days ago had forgotten about.
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cschultz2
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Post by cschultz2 on Apr 7, 2020 22:18:51 GMT
It is a great movie, and Connery's performance proves not only his versatility, but also illustrates why he began to find the James Bond pictures more than a little restrictive. Below is a film clip of an appearance Connery made shortly after completing "The Hill"...on the American game show "What's My Line?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0BtN6aRxkgIt always killed me--at the time, Sean Connery with the possible exception of Ringo Starr was the most popular and sought-after celebrity in the world, and practically every television program would've done just about anything to lure him in for an appearance. Offhand, I can't think of a much more unlikely place for Connery to have turned up...except possibly "Captain Kangaroo." Note: Connery had appeared with "What's My Line?" panel member Martin Gabel in Hitchcock's "Marnie"...and would appear with panel member Ralph Meeker in "The Anderson Tapes," another Sidney Lumet picture.
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Post by hi224 on Apr 8, 2020 1:21:26 GMT
It is a great movie, and Connery's performance proves not only his versatility, but also illustrates why he began to find the James Bond pictures more than a little restrictive. Below is a film clip of an appearance Connery made shortly after completing "The Hill"...on the American game show "What's My Line?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0BtN6aRxkgIt always killed me--at the time, Sean Connery with the possible exception of Ringo Starr was the most popular and sought-after celebrity in the world, and practically every television program would've done just about anything to lure him in for an appearance. Offhand, I can't think of a much more unlikely place for Connery to have turned up...except possibly "Captain Kangaroo." Note: Connery had appeared with "What's My Line?" panel member Martin Gabel in Hitchcock's "Marnie"...and would appear with panel member Ralph Meeker in "The Anderson Tapes," another Sidney Lumet picture. Well don't forget Connery only agreed to doing Diamonds Are Forever provided they allow him a chance to do The Offence so Connery was yearning for something better.
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Post by rudeboy on Apr 8, 2020 6:58:51 GMT
It’s a solid film, well-acted by Connery and much more than that by Harry Andrews. I must confess that I didn’t love the film, though, as so many do.
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Post by telegonus on Apr 8, 2020 8:57:46 GMT
Brilliant film, The Hill and mesmerizing in its depiction of cruelty, which it makes feel like something almost voluptuous. To put it another way, this is a movie that draws the (usually male) viewer in whole hog. I've never known a woman who likes it, but there must be one. Somewhere?
When it first came out the movie got excellent reviews, and there was a gruesome (I kid you not) radio campaign that tried to sell the film (apparently failed,--five or ten years later it might have been the Sleeper Of The Year; or maybe a cult classic, like a British Deliverance).
The acting is beyond praise, though a good portion of the dialogue is difficult for an American to understand; or maybe decipher is the better word. A thought from out of the blue: why (I wonder) are there so many films from the Sixties that feature people, usually but not always in isolation, entrapped somewhere? There are even some fun films like that, such as The Swiss Family Robinson and Mysterious Island.
Good as the acting is, it's not really a movie with a "star turn". With all due respect to Sean Connery, his fellow players for the most part, most of them anyways, give stronger performances. They don't steal the picture from him so much as share it. Share it big time. Harry Andrews is the loudest of the bunch, Ian Hendry, in a much quieter fashion, more sinister.
A fine, virile wartime drama, I highly recommend The Hill. It may fall short of greatness, but then I'm not sure Lumet & Company were aiming for, specifically, artistic greatness. What it is, an intensely felt, excellent examination of the military mentality and, more broadly, human nature, it's an outstanding piece of work.
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cschultz2
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Post by cschultz2 on Apr 9, 2020 18:59:42 GMT
hi224writes, "Well don't forget Connery only agreed to doing Diamonds Are Forever provided they allow him a chance to do The Offence so Connery was yearning for something better."
That is true. Sean Connery was always a fairly astute judge of film projects, and that in between Bond films he chose intriguing and challenging scripts like "Marnie," "The Hill," "The Red Tent" and "The Molly Maguires" says a lot. Those projects also make the viewer wonder what might've been had Connery not been contractually bound so tightly to the 007 films.
Connery's ultimate problem with the James Bond pictures was not repetition, typecasting, boredom with the character, or the quality of the films themselves. Rather, the issue was that almost invariably the Bond films went beyond their original schedules, and made it difficult for the actor to commit to other quality projects.
When Connery insisted that the opportunity to make "The Offence" be actually added to his contract as a condition of his agreeing to return to the role of James Bond in "Diamonds Are Forever," it was a more canny career decision than many realized at the time: In doing so, the actor was compelling Bond producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to adhere for the first time to a firm production schedule with penalties and extra fees for overages, AND ensure a commitment to an additional project of Connery's choosing independent of the Bond character.
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