The Hill (1965) and The War Lover (1962)

[Dune Panther]

I have a great couple of classic movies to share, The Hill (1965) and The War Lover (1962).

 

The Hill is a British Army military prison drama taking place during WWII in the Libyan desert. It has some serious star power, featuring Sean Connery and other quite well known British actors of the time. The script and all of the casting is outstanding as every single element of the story is perfectly and tragically believable. And a pretty rough lot, with tension so thick at times it could be cut with a knife. Decades ago, the movie was highly recommended to me by an old-time military veteran & police detective and it certainly does not disappoint. 

 

The Hill can be streamed for free here: https://archive.org/details/ThHl1965 and more information about the film (contains spoilers) is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hill_(film). 

 

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Meanwhile, The War Lover is another well scripted and superbly acted story of a WWII USAAF B-17 aircraft commander named Buzz Rickson (played by Steve McQueen) and his comrades in the ETO. There is also some remarkable low-level flying of an actual B-17 and not the computer generated imitations so familiar nowadays. Of Rickson, who clearly enjoys the war, a flight surgeon evaluating him remarks that, "Rickson is a good example of the fine line that separates the hero from the psychopath." So what side of that thin line does Rickson fall on? The only way to find that out is to watch the show. In fact, the Rickson character played by McQueen was influential enough that, in 1993, a business was named after him that is still in operation, Buzz Rickson's Europe that sells high end repros of classic uniforms (such as flight jackets) and the like: https://www.buzzricksons.com/.

 

The War Lover can be streamed for free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhjwkqes4Ho and additional details (contains spoilers) are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Lover.

 

Enjoy! And if anyone has any other recommendations, please do add them to this section of the forum. Thanks!

[Dune Panther]

And here is an interesting item about The Hill and the uniform cap worn by Staff Williams (the sadistic, manipulative NCO played so well played by actor Ian Hendry):

 

https://ianhendry.com/staff-sergeant-williams-hat-the-hill-1965/

 

Quite a highly unique piece, certainly one-of-a-kind. I would not mind having it myself...