The Hill (1965) on Sean Connery day

[Mr. Arkadin]

A British film, The Hill (1965) has really not had the wide coverage or distribution of Connery’s Bond films. Although directed by American Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men [1957], Network [1976], The Verdict [1982]), well shot and acted, it never really found an audience in the U.S..

Connery plays Joe Roberts, a sergeant major who is incarcerated in a North African military prison camp during WWII for attacking a senior officer. We are not told this in the beginning, but in a recent battle he lost over half his men under heavy fire. When ordered back into the maelstrom, Roberts refused and assaulted his superior instead.

Regimental Sgt. Major Bert Wilson (Harry Andrews) runs the camp with disciplinary ideals more befitting the nineteenth century than modern times. The prison is made up of all types from profiteers and thieves to men found drunk on duty. His right hand man is an ambitious NCO guard known as Willams (Ian Hendry) who deals out punishment with a sadistic pleasure that goes far beyond Wilson’s reformatory ideals.

The “Hill” is a large man made pile of dirt and sand that prisoners are forced to run up and down till they drop from exhaustion. Wilson and Willams despise Connery who they consider a coward and concentrate on breaking his resolve. When Willams goes too far and kills a prisoner, Connery begins to wage his own war against the brutal guard and the prison system itself.

This film has several close parallels to Jules Dassin’s 1947 Brute Force. Both are anti-prison movies. Ian Hendry’s “Willams” seems to be patterned after Hume Cronyn’s “Captain Munsey”. In fact, Hendry even resembles Cronyn!

Where the films differ though is in their objective. Connery is not trying to break out of the prison. He knew the cost of protecting his men and he willingly accepts the consequences. Instead he is an advocate for humane treatment of prisoners. Change in mankind must begin from within--it cannot be imposed by force.

Roberts is in prison for protecting his troop against a hierarchy that did not see them as men, but expendable tools. In the cell block, Roberts will protect his men again at personal cost to himself because he knows their true value.

Connery was looking for different roles in the mid-sixties as he felt the role of Bond would typecast him. Joe Roberts has none of Bond’s swagger, but a quiet inward resolve not to lose his humanity. His cellmates don’t trust him at first, they think of themselves as isolated individuals. Connery slowly wins each of them over and they become a unit much like his troop.

Ossie Davis the pioneering black actor, activist and filmmaker is especially effective as a fellow prisoner. Also look for Sir Michael Redgrave as the sympathetic prison doctor.

All the actors have great chemistry in this film and you can really see them working off each other. Lumet’s shots are also interesting as they contrast the blazing sun with the dark cells. He doesn’t use a Noir look here which you would expect. We are always seeing the light whether it’s bearing down on the prisoners as heat or filtering through the bars as freedom that cannot be obtained.

The Hill is one of those rare works that offers an honest look at the results of cruelty. Can you treat people as animals and not become one yourself? Roberts comment “Even the Screws (prison staff) are doing time!” is especially insightful here. One wonders which is the captive, which is the keeper of the cage, and is there any difference between them?

[cmvgor]

I did not see this recent airing of The Hill, having seen it twice, years ago, and also having read the source novel. I remember being really moved by it, and and impressed, even though it was not a pleasent
viewing experience. Among other memories, it was the first time I was
able to put a face to the name "Ossie Davis".

One subplot point I remember is that the sadistic guard was also a prison
guard on civvy street, and he was using this posting as a refuge from being sent into combat. And there also seem to be a common theme with
another good but unpleasant story from about that time: 'The Bofors Gun'
(1968), also with a British military setting. In both these films, Athourity
To Correct Injustice seems remote and unreachable. There is no real or
practical avenue of appeal against a corrupt sadist who takes a little care
to cover his manouverings. The manipulation of the prison doctor is an
example.

A tough, taut story that has a ring of truth. But not a pleasent viewing
experience.