EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

dfwesley I never saw this film in full until today and was mesmerized by it. Cruelty inflicted by prison guards is nothing new in the movies, but in military prisons it is an eye opener. Great acting all around particularly by Harry Andrews and Sean Connery. There must have been a lot of crime in the British army for there were enough prisoners in the camp to fill out a battalion.It has been commented that there were no profanity here. Not that I think it would have added anything, but having been around soldiers for some years, it was unrealistic. Orders were not given here but barked and shrieked to the face.Ossie Davis provided one the few lighter moments with his Tarzanic renditions, and Jack Weston's shoe heel must have been refrigerated to keep citrus slices. Perhaps I would have liked to have scene Sean Connery pitch into the final fight scene instead of observing it.l Highly enjoyable and most unusual to see a military film without battle scenes.

Daniele Iannarelli I'm not going to say much here as mostly everything has already been referred to in many other reviews… the sadism, racism, suppressed homosexuality, corruption, inferiority and superiority complexes, institutionalised bullying and more… it's all there, along with excellent direction and superb acting. What i feel I *have to* say here is that - yet again - political correctness has struck and done its damage to the original subtext and whole point of the film… certainly in the latter-day television screenings of this 'lesser' classic. For example, in one scene in which the Harry Andrews character confronts the Ossie Davis character about his 'blackness' (and being black in general), one of the other NCOs marches over and says "Don't answer back, you different-coloured bastard". When I saw this movie in pre-political correctness days, this phrase was unedited and was actually "Don't answer back, you black bastard". Why, oh WHY was this particular phrase edited to the former indicated…???!!! It even sounds edited… it's badly done and you can hear a very fine pause before and after "different-coloured". It comes across as sounding ridiculous and completely out of context with the basic premise of the story. The edit contradicts the whole subtext of the film and ruins its potency by even this one small crack in its presentation. Please… if/when the film is finally released on DVD (and I seriously hope it's not too long in the future) release it in its entire unedited, uncut form. Otherwise, it's the ruination of a great film, a slap in the face to a great director in Lumet, and the dilution of the whole point of the story.

donbrown-16800 This is one of the few films, of the time, in which Sean Connery doesn't get to mingle with a beach full of beautiful girls, nor does he get to save the world. But what he does is play a superb role in Sidney Lumets interpretation of Ray Rigby's screenplay. The cinematography produces some absolutely stunning black and white film it actually reminds me on 12 Angry Men. The film is about some soldiers at the end of World War 2, their hold up in military stockade. The film also includes some stand out performances from Roy Kinnear, Ossie Davis and Ian Hendry. The film has some really good quality dialogues. But whatever you say Connery takes the film for me with his performance. Just a really great movie and well worth a watch.

dallas_nyberg I had all but forgotten just how good this movie really is..I just got the chance to see it again.. Wow... It's gritty, well written and directed and, particularly, well acted. Those tight camera angles, that put you on edge and dialog that is, at times, mind numbing. While it is sometimes hard to sympathize with the prisoners plight, it is not too difficult to despise the way the prison officers carry out their "duties". I doubt this film would have had the same impact if it had been shot in color. The stark black and white strengthens the movie no end. The Hill is by no means a family movie, but if dramatic movies like.. "12 Angry Men", "To kill a Mockingbird" or "Inherit the Wind" are your kind of movies, then this is a must see... lot's of thought provoking dialog and well developed characters. It is not a war movie,as such, but it is definitely is a battle of wills.