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

Also Known As:

Ein Haufen toller Hunde (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Hügel der verlorenen Männer (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A Colina (Portugal) [pt]
A Colina dos Homens Perdidos (Brazil) [pt]
Colina (Romania) [ro]
Højen (Denmark) [da]
Kukkula (Finland) [fi]
Kullen (Sweden) [sv]
La colina (Venezuela) [es]
La collina del disonore (Italy) [it]
La colline des hommes perdus (France) [fr]
O lofos (Greece) [el]
Wzgórze (Poland) [pl]

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: When the five new prisoners are ordered to empty their kits, a camera shadow is clearly visible passing over them on the left edge of the screen.

Quotes:

Regimental Sergeant Major Bert Wilson: New scum and old scum are bad mixes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Making 'Murder on the Orient Express' (2004) (V)

Breathtaking - no-nonsense Lumet goes to desert prison.

Stark images, powerful script and performances, and rapid, sharp editing make this film difficult to forget. Director Sidney Lumet stamps his authority on the movie with a style that is gritty, almost documentary -like. The quick cuts are precise, like the snap of the salutes and the bark of the NCO's. Beyond Lumet's towering presence, there is a likeable performance from a young Ossie Davis, an excellent early non-Bond performance from Sean Connery, and Harry Andrews' Sargeant-Major is a remarkable creation - a little man whose job is to destroy these misfits on behalf of a system that will not tolerate individuals.

This remarkable film stays in the mind long after viewing for me, mainly because it announces early on that it is not an easy picture, and like early Frankenheimer, it's aggressive style stands out from the norm. It is a quintessential sixties picture - a time when experiments in style could be taken seriously - not just a smirky in-jokes or cartoonish roller -coaster rides. Exhilarating nonetheless.