# The Hill (1965 film)

The Hill is a 1965 British prison drama war film directed by Sidney Lumet and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It depicts the physical and psychological power struggles of a British military prison in North Africa, near the end of the Second World War. The title refers to a large mound prisoners are made to repeatedly climb. The film stars Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Ossie Davis, Ian Hendry, Alfred Lynch, Roy Kinnear and Michael Redgrave.
The film premiered at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award (for Ray Rigby). It was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film, and won Best Cinematography (for Oswald Morris). Harry Andrews' performance was nominated for Best British Actor, and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor.

## Plot

In a British Army "glasshouse" (military prison) in the Libyan desert, prisoners convicted of service offences such as insubordination, being drunk while on duty, going AWOL or petty theft are subjected to repetitive drill routines as a punishment in the blazing desert heat.
The arrival of five new prisoners slowly leads to a clash with the camp authorities. One new NCO guard who has also just arrived employs excessive punishments, which include forcing the five newcomers to repeatedly climb a man-made hill in the centre of the camp. When one dies, a power struggle erupts between brutal ex-civilian prison guard Staff Sergeant Williams, humane Staff Sergeant Harris, and Regimental Sergeant Major Wilson as they struggle to run the camp in conflicting styles.
Roberts is a former squadron sergeant major from the Royal Tank Regiment, convicted of assaulting his commanding officer – which he explains to his fellow inmates was because he was ordered to lead his men in a senseless suicidal attack. Roberts openly scorns Williams' brutality and serves as a challenge to his authority. Like Roberts, the RSM is a career soldier and commands authority within the prison in which he is working. He sees his duty as breaking down failed soldiers, then building them back up again "into men".
The other members of Roberts' cell are McGrath, a hard northerner serving a sentence for drunkenness, fighting and assaulting officers of the Military Police; Army office clerk Stevens, a timid and naive man jailed for going AWOL; Bartlett, a spiv who shirks active service and has been jailed for selling Army vehicle tyres to the Arabs; and the light-hearted King, a West Indian soldier serving a sentence for stealing three bottles of whisky from the officers club and being drunk and disorderly.
Staff Sergeant Williams' ambition is matched only by his cruel treatment of the prisoners; he seeks to use their suffering as a means for promotion. The RSM also questions Staff Sergeant Williams's motives for getting out of London, as in another scene, he mentions the fact that the Germans were bombing the UK (including the civilian prison Williams worked at) just as Williams was volunteering for prison duty in Africa. Staff Sergeant Williams openly admits that he is trying to impress the RSM by showing that he has got what it takes to do the job, and attempts to undermine the RSM with a late-night drinking contest.
Staff Sergeant Harris is the conscience of the prison who sympathises with the men. This causes the RSM to hold the viewpoint that Harris is far too lenient. The officers, both the commandant and the medical officer, take their duties casually.
Williams is not only a bully but also a coward and chooses to single out Bartlett and Stevens who are the two weakest members of the group, particularly Stevens. Stevens finally dies after repeated and unwarranted punishments by Williams, and the whole prison rises in protest. Roberts openly accuses Staff Sergeant Williams of murdering Stevens. King corroborates the story. The RSM faces down the general prison population, ultimately raising a cheer by offering cheese with their dinner. Meanwhile, with the help of two prison guard corporals, Staff Williams beats up Roberts in an empty solitary cell. Roberts suffers a broken foot and Harris gets him carried to see the medical officer. The RSM intervenes and orders Roberts to march despite his injury. King again protests, and after being subjected to racial abuse by the RSM, refuses to wear the uniform or acknowledge any form of army discipline.
The medical officer and Staff Sergeant Harris insist on reporting the abuses at the camp whilst the RSM and Williams join forces in an attempt to intimidate them into backing down. The injured Roberts is left alone in the cell and Williams remains behind. He then prepares to administer another beating to Roberts, when King and McGrath enter the cell, proceed to attack Williams, and beat him off-camera. Roberts pleads with them to stop, knowing that if prisoners beat up a prison officer, any case they may have had against him is lost.

## Cast

* Sean Connery as Trooper Joe Roberts
* Harry Andrews as Regimental Sergeant Major Bert Wilson
* Ian Bannen as Staff Sergeant Charlie Harris
* Ian Hendry as Staff Sergeant Williams
* Alfred Lynch as Private George Stevens
* Ossie Davis as Private Jacko King
* Roy Kinnear as Private Monty Bartlett
* Jack Watson as Private Jock McGrath
* Michael Redgrave as the Medical Officer
* Norman Bird as the Prison Commandant
* Neil McCarthy as Staff Sergeant Burton
* Howard Goorney as Trooper Walters
* Tony Caunter as Trooper Martin

## Production

The film was based on a screenplay by Ray Rigby, who wrote for TV and had spent time in military prison. Movie rights were bought by Seven Arts Productions, which had a production deal with MGM. Producer Kenneth Hyman arranged for Rigby's script to be rewritten by other people, but when American filmmaker Sidney Lumet came on board as director, Lumet went back to Rigby's original draft. He and Rigby did cut out around 100 pages of material before filming.
"There really isn't a lot of story", said Lumet. "It's all character – a group of men, prisoners and jailers alike, driven by the same motive force, fear."
Sean Connery agreed to play the lead because it represented such a change of pace from James Bond. "It is only because of my reputation as Bond that the backers put up the money for The Hill", he said.
Lumet says he told Connery before filming began that, "'I'm going to make brutal demands of you, physically and emotionally', and he knew I'm not a director who has too much respect for 'stars' as such. The result is beyond my hopes. He is real and tough and not at all smooth or nice. In a way he's a 'heavy' but the real heavy is the Army."
Filming took place in Almería, Spain starting 8 September 1964. An old Spanish fort in Málaga was used for the prison. Many people associated with the production had regarded the filming as pleasant, despite difficult conditions: Temperatures went above 46 °C (114 °F) and nearly all the cast and crew became ill, even though thousands of gallons of fresh water were brought in.
In a manner similar to Lumet’s previous film 12 Angry Men, also an analysis of the justice system, The Hill does not use a non-diegetic musical score.

## Release

The film premiered in-competition at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won Best Screenplay (Ray Rigby). It had its first theatrical release in France on June 11, 1965, before being released in the United Kingdom on June 17.

## Reception

The Hill did not perform well in cinemas, although it was well-received by critics.
A review in Variety called the film "harsh, sadistic and brutal entertainment, superbly acted by an all-male cast, and made without any concessions to officialdom. ... Sidney Lumet's forceful and authoritative direction gives added power to the production, and Oswald Morris's stark black and white lensing adds to the tough realism."
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "Strikingly shot in clear, clean lines by Ossie Morris, this subject, at least until the frenzied final stages when the plot takes over entirely, seems to provide the ideal outlet for Sidney Lumet's discursive and fastidious talent."
The performances of the cast were widely praised. The Radio Times Guide to Films wrote: "When Sidney Lumet cast Sean Connery in The Hill, the former 007 cast his fake hair to the wind for the first time." Variety wrote "Breaking away from his 007 image, Connery gives an intelligently restrained study, carefully avoiding forced histrionics, The juiciest role, however, is that of the prison regimental sergeant major, and Harry Andrews does a standout job. Always a solid and reliable actor, he has never bettered this performance."
In a comparatively negative review, Leslie Halliwell called the film "Lurid melodrama which descends fairly quickly into black farce with a number of sweaty actors outshouting each other. Enjoyable on this level when you can hear the dialogue through the poor sound recording."
The film holds a 71% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.

### Awards and nominations

| Institution | Year | Category | Nominee | Result |
| BAFTA Award | 1966 | Best Film | Sidney Lumet | nom |
| BAFTA Award | 1966 | Outstanding British Film | Sidney Lumet | nom |
| BAFTA Award | 1966 | Best British Screenplay | Ray Rigby | nom |
| BAFTA Award | 1966 | Best British Actor | Harry Andrews | nom |
| BAFTA Award | 1966 | Best British Cinematography | Oswald Morris | won |
| BAFTA Award | 1966 | Best British Art Direction | Herbert Smith | nom |
| Cannes Film Festival | 1965 | Palme d'Or | Sidney Lumet | nom |
| Cannes Film Festival | 1965 | Best Screenplay | Ray Rigby | won |
| National Board of Review | 1965 | Best Supporting Actor | Harry Andrews | won |
| Writers' Guild of Great Britain | 1966 | Best British Dramatic Screenplay | Ray Rigby | won |

### Aftermath

Lumet and Connery so enjoyed their collaboration that they would subsequently work together on four films: The Anderson Tapes, The Offence, Murder on the Orient Express, and Family Business. The Hill was also the first of seven films American director Lumet made in the UK.

## Novelization

Ray Rigby published a novel of the story in 1965.

## Home media

The Hill was released to DVD by Warner Home Video on 5 June 2007 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.