Hell Drivers (Special Edition) DVD, 1957

For an ex-con like Tom (Stanley Baker), the ask-no-questions world of ballast driving seems like the perfect way to make a living. It isn't until he gets behind the wheel, however, that he realises why it attracts men with nothing to lose. The boss has his hands in the till and the work is distinctly life-threatening: barrelling down country lanes with full loads, at speeds that would certainly distress the health and safety executive. After Tom crosses paths with psychotic driving ace Red (Patrick McGoohan), he finds himself at the receiving end of some very dangerous driving.
Hell Drivers thunders along with a pace and a ruthlessness that comes from its American director's schooling in Hollywood B-pictures. His vision of Britain is tougher than the contemporary kitchen sink pictures and has aged rather better. His casting is spot on too, with the film filled with soon-to-be-more-famous faces like McGoohan (Danger Man), David McCallum (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) William Hartnell (Dr Who), and briefly, Sean Connery (007).

James Oliver on 12th March 2007
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Admirers of tough British thrillers might now consider that they live in a golden age – here’s one of the best Britcrime movies ever made – and it’s the second DVD app... more >

Admirers of tough British thrillers might now consider that they live in a golden age – here’s one of the best Britcrime movies ever made – and it’s the second DVD appearance for Cy Enfield’s marvellously taut movie about corruption among truck drivers (this issue is a considerable advance on the last one – as one might exact from Network, this latest incarnation sports much more generous and interesting extras). Enfield’s movie, as aficionados will know, is indebted to Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear, but so what? Its rings the changes very satisfyingly – and there’s that matchless cast: Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan Sean Connery, Herbert Lom et al… < less

View all 513 of Barry Forshaw’s reviews

Patrick McGoohan is at his considerable best in this as a nasty villain in Cy Endfield's tough Hell Drivers, one of the hidden gems of British cinema. more >

Patrick McGoohan is at his considerable best in this as a nasty villain in Cy Endfield's tough Hell Drivers, one of the hidden gems of British cinema. < less

View all 513 of Barry Forshaw’s reviews