Film Review: The Hill

“They went up like men! They came down like animals!”

So ran the tagline to this 1965 drama set in a British military disciplinary camp located in the Libyan desert during World War Two. Why should you see it? Because not only is it one of Sean Connery’s finest performances, possibly even the finest, a performance void of the glamour, fanciful action and droll dialogue that his (up to then) three Bond movies had entertained us with and helped make him the global star that he was but it’s also packed with terrific performances from all the main players, it has splendid black and white cinematography and a script that crackles with grit and reality, racism and black humour in equal measure. Ray Rigby’s screenplay is brought to life by the masterful Sidney Lumet who once again manages to capture the claustrophobia of this confined space much as he did for those 12 Angry Men.

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