The Hill (1965)

This is a Sean Connery movie that is often overlooked, given that it appeared during the heyday of his career as Mr. Bond. It is, however, a real gem of a film - a tour de force of brilliant performances that will have you on the edge of your seat. Connery plays the role of a hard bitten Sergeant Major who is sent to a British Army military prison in North Africa, for assaulting an officer, during World War II. His realisation that the prison is run by a sadistic NCO (Ian Hendry) and a Sergeant Major who is an old school stickler for the King's Regulations (Harry Andrews), provides an electric tension of incredulity and leads to a climax of defiance. Great performances are in evidence by all, with some comic relief by Roy Kinnear and a studied performance by Michael Redgrave as the ineffectual Medical Officer. Other appearances by Ossie Davis and Ian Bannen, as well as exquisite direction by the great Sidney Lumet, make this film one powerful package - one not to miss.

This is a great Sean Connery movie that most people haven't seen. Don't know why but it seemed to slip through the cracks in America. Super cast and a must-watch for us as we go through a time in history where our leaders so often expose inner selves that lack depth and substance. This movie shows what a great person is made of.

As good and valid as when I first saw it 45 years ago.There are as many ways to interpret the film's messages as there are viewers. This is my view.It contrasts the prison staff, the good, the bad and the ugly (or psychopathic) within the military mores of the period - and for long afterward - with what we may now believe is reasonable.But we must remember that this is wartime, we were close to losing in N Africa - distractions by cowards, thieves and deserters must be removed.Always, in the British Army, WO's and SNCO's have to balance between Power and Authority. Most succeed, a few do not.The cell of prisoners are a contrasting mixture, a petty thief, a brazen hard man, a sentimental lover, a naive black, a manipulative SNCO who had fought ineffectually for his subordinates battle survival - they died and he survived, he could be seen as having picked a clever way to save himself.At the end his 'clever plan' to defeat the prison staff ineffectual and failed at the moment when he thought it was in his grasp.

A gritty tale of men at war, but with authority and themselves. A brutal prison, men tormented from within and without, endless heat, sadism and inhumanity along with a grueling, torturous hill designed to break anyone. A strong performance by Connery that showed he had more depth than expected.

I do not know, but it seems to me that this excellent movie must have been a stage play before being made into a movie. The dialogue is relatively more important than in screenplays written as screenplays. So it is good that the DVD provides English subtitles, because the British accents and shouted lines make it hard for Americans to understand what is said.One customer review said that scenes had been deleted from the original movie, but I saw this movie in a movie theater when it came out in the 1960s, and I do not remember any scene not on this DVD. Another customer wrote of some homosexual relationship in this movie, but I saw no clear indication of homosexuality except for a few sentences about a former prisoner, who has no role in this movie. The drug abuse is limited to marijuana, but there is gross and apparently legal abuse of alcohol.Altogether this is a very interesting movie, very well performed in general, except for only two scenes, when the screenplay tries to present psychological effects that are simply hard to present in a short space of time. We are supposed to understand that the prisoners in cell 8 are cracking up, going bonkers; but this is presented rather awkwardly.

'The Hill' is an astonishing movie in many respects. It has a great ensemble cast, largely made of up of people who aren't generally part of ensemble acting - Sean Connery, Ossie Davis, and Michael Redgrave were certainly more of the 'leading man' types. Other well-known actors from British cinema are featured as well (Roy Kinnear, Harry Andrews, Alfred Lynch, Ian Hendry, among others). Sidney Lumet directed this film in 1965; based on a play, it shows the harsher side of masculine, military life - it is set in a disciplinary prison in the Libyan desert during World War II.Connery and others star as a group of new prisoners getting acclimatised to the way life runs in the prison. Some rebel, some go-along-to-get-along, some become introverted and depressed - the whole range of possibilities is explored. There are class issues and racial issues addressed as well.The title 'The Hill' comes from the artificial sand mountain constructed in the middle of the camp that the prison warder non-commissioned officers drill the prisoners on, breaking them down physically, and supposedly mentally, in order to reconstruct them as properly disciplined soldiers. However, not everyone responds to this, and at a certain point in the film it becomes clear that one of the warders is in fact a quite sadistic guard.The process goes on with drudging sameness until the disciplinary punishment goes too far, and a man dies from the treatment. The subsequent attempt at a cover-up provides much of the drama for the film (even though this consists of less than half the screen time of the film), and the ending is certainly poetic in its justice even if it isn't a happy ending by any means.The film was done at the height of Sean Connery's popularity as the new James Bond character - he had done three Bond films in the previous three years, including the classic 'Goldfinger' just the year before; here he was a gritty, working-class career soldier without the polish (or the toupee) of the Bond character. Connery shows he is no lightweight actor here, nor does he use his star power to steal the show.This film was also done in black-and-white, which shows the dusty, dry desert elements in greater relief than a full-colour or colourised version might.I eagerly await the DVD.

As with any A list star, Connery has had his off moments; this most certainly was not one of them. As a multiple James Bond by 1965, he undoubtedly headed the cast, but you've also got the stalwart Harry Andrews beside him, in possibly his most significant film role, and a solid supporting cast, of whom the best known names these days are probably Roy Kinnear (in a non-comic role) & Sir Michael Redgrave. Directed by Sidney Lumet, you can be sure the photography & the attention to detail are second to none.In the 40's, 50's, & 60's, when Britain still had a film industry worth mentioning, we undoubtedly turned out a lot of average films & dross. We also made quite a few all time classics, and The Hill, relatively unknown, ranks highly amongst them, in my opinion. At a time when story still seemed to matter; far more so than stars or SFX; this is a hugely believable small-scale tale that remains taut, tense, and gripping throughout, no matter if you've seen it before (and that is no small praise). If you have seen it, I'm sure you'll agree; if you haven't, I'm sure you will once you have (Buy it! Watch it!). Quite simply, I can't find a weakness in it; in the script, the direction, or the acting; and I'm generally a much more critical reviewer than the average Amazon reviewer. I do give 5* reviews, but most of them would be 9/10's, if 10 were the scale. This would be 10/10; it'd be 100/100. Buy it! Watch it!

At last, one of the finest cinema dramas has found its way on DVD, and Bluray or HD-DVD will soon follow I guess. But with this movie you should not toy, because it is an extraordinary piece of art.Director Sidney Lumet choose to shoot the film in black-and-white. Filled with a stellar cast of fine actors who give persuasive and honest performances, leading by Sean Connery who shows he could done more while on top of his shooting star career after playing three very successful James Bond films.The Hill is one of his kind, it is highly entertaining, while the dialogue is sharp and witty, unfortunately sometimes it is a little difficult to understand as the protagonist shout at each other, but with the subtitles you will be ok.The story is simple but effective as 5 inmates being charged with different allegations serving their punishment in an british military camp placed in the African desert.Likeable leading casts are Ian Bannen as Staff Harris who is well aware of the blindness of his superior RSM Staff Bert Wilson. Very sadistic in every way of the word is Staff Sergeant Williams who looked hard to the transfer just to punish the prisoners on his own satisfaction.The story gets dead serious when one of the inmates are pushed a little bit too far (wearing a gas mask and climbing up a hill, right in middle of the afternoon sun in the African desert). The death of him results in a riot which soon reveals the true intentions of Staff Williams...***The cast, the cinematography, the editing, the storyline, the plot, the dialogue (novel by Ray Rigby) the whole concept of filming, makes this a true delight of highly entertaining drama, which is only hard to copy.Till it's day it ranks among the best of best's. The poor thing only is, that only very little people know this film, which is also very odd.All thumbs up!!jw

A gift for a friend,who could not find it anywhere else,they loved it , all happy.

Great stuff, they don't make films like this any more (well not very often anyway)..;)

I think this is the best film Sean Connery ever made.