HELL DRIVERS

UK, 1957, 108 minutes, Black and white.
Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan?, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, William Hartnell, Wilfred Lawson, Sidney
James, Jill Ireland, Alfie Bass, Gordon Jackson.
Directed by C. Raker Endfield.

Hell Drivers is a tough action film from Britain in the mid-'50s. it has strong credits including photography by Geoffrey Unsworth in Vistavision. The cast is very good - and abounds in character actors and actresses.

Writing and direction is by C. Raker Endfield, later Cy Endfield of the Zulu films. At the time, many critics considered it too tough. However, it anticipated some of the ruggedness of the films of the '60s e.g. The Angry Silence and unions, though it resembles some of the tough Warner Bros. films of earlier decades e.g. They Drive By Night and even its contemporary On The Waterfront.

1. An interesting film? As action drama? Situations? Britain in the '50s? Character study?

2. Black and white photography, Vistavision? The technical credits? The effects for the truck-driving and especially the competitiveness and racing? Violence? Musical score?

3. The English tradition of realism? Situations, characters, interactions? A slice of life? Comparisons with American films on the same themes? Social comment and observation? In retrospect - a picture of workers in the '50s?

4. The plausibility of the plot: the world of the truckies, of industry, of haulage and the masculine social behaviour associated with it and expected of the drivers? Personal clashes? The background of prisons, city life, poverty? Easy money? Clashes? Romance?

5. Stanley Baker as Tom? His arrival at the haulage centre? The test? His privacy? Name? Relationship with Cartley and being employed? With the rest of the men - and the humiliations and jokes? Red's place at table - and Red being the leader? The inevitable confrontation, races, dirty tricks, success? The friendship with Gino and sharing lodgings with him? Support of Gino and Gino's suffering for Tom? The attraction towards Lucy? Relationship with the rest of the men? Tom's time off - dances, privacy? The boarding house? His visit to London and his mother's attack? His injured brother? His return and the confrontation with Red? The devices to beat Red? Red's death? A portrait of a tough but sensitive hero?

6. The picture of the rest of the men - Gino and his Italian background, prejudice against him, his praying, friendship with Tom, supporting him in the competitions, his being bashed? Dusty and the others and their initial reaction against Tom? Their gradual support of him? Sid James, Alfie Bass, Cordon Jackson and the strengths of the characterisations?

7. Red as arrogant? What Tom might have been? The reaction of the rest of the men? His self-assertion and menace? The confrontations, the blocking with the trucks, the short cuts, the hell-driving? The violence and Red's attempt to destroy Tom? Red's death?

8. The background of the rackets? The skimming off of the money? Cartley and the bosses? Red and his place in the racket? Lucy and her reaction? The realism of this kind of crookedness?

9. Lucy as attractive heroine? Working? Interest in Tom, gradually getting to know him, falling in love?

10. Tom's mother and her violent reaction to her son, the prison sentence, his being out? His brother and his devotion?

11. The range of minor characters - the landlady, her daughter and her work in the shop? A sense of authenticity and real characters?

12. The images of work, competitiveness, bosses, corruption? The strong image for men and their having to live up to it? How accurate a portrait of these men of the '50s?