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'The Hill'

The Hill

Directed by Sydney Lumet

Starring Sean Connery

With Ossie Davis, Sir Michael Redgrave

1965

In the opening scene a British Lorrie pulls up in front of a WW2 North African Military Prison - two men leave heading back to the front and five arrive. This is a story of these five men's 'breaking in'. Their odds may well be worse than 2 in 5, though at the end their future is left to the viewer.

There are only two really bad men in this story, the third in command at the prison and a particularly slimy repeat offender. The story is complex. Lumet has crafted a social commentary typical to the the later 1960's on the ruling 'military-industrial complex' and those who 'work' for it. In hindsight that commentary was at the leading edge of massive societal upheavals to come - represented in this movie by a prisoner riot.

FWIW Ossie Davis in a supporting role just about steals the show from the lead Connery. (The 'N' word is used, more than once.)

This is a man's story. Only two women appear, for a total of maybe 30 seconds. One is the Chief Officer's prostitute, the other a belly dancer for the guards, during a drunken interval at this isolated outpost.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on February 20, 2008 12:40 PM.

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