The Hellions (1961)

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A big hit in its day that has fallen into surprising obscurity, the audience deservedly gave the 'The Hellions' a round of applause at the end of tonight's extremely rare archive screening on London's South Bank of this singular British 'western' vividly photographed in Technicolor and Technirama by South African-born cameraman Ted Moore (soon to spend over ten years shooting most of the original James Bond films), evoking the brilliant sunshine of 1870s South Africa.The title song is one long spoiler describing the fate of the eponymous Hellions, who die "one by one...in the Transvaal sun"; so the suspense derives from trying to figure out just how this wild bunch are to get their comeuppance, and who they're going to take with them in the process. When the crunch finally comes the climax is pretty unbelievable but extremely satisfying.Although often compared to 'High Noon', the action more closely resembles 'The Desperate Hours'; and for a 1961 audience The Hellions would more uncomfortably have recalled Teddy Boys than hired guns. Visually, this collection of unkempt, gurning delinquents wouldn't have been out of place a few years later in a spaghetti western (Al Mulock, who plays Adam, was actually in 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'); although for all its impressive violence - including some eye watering scenes involving barbed wire - it retains a certain English fastidiousness, well-exemplified by the presence of Richard Todd as its hero. The superb performance by Lionel Jeffries (fresh from his terrifying Marquis of Queensberry in 'The Trials of Oscar Wilde') as the Hellions' patriarch is ably complemented by a script that even at the tensest moments displays a very dry black humour.

As with previous posts I agree that Lionel Jeffries was superb in this role playing a part far removed from what we are used to from him. James Booth also good, These were two of the 'baddies' and as such had strong roles. Richard Todd gave a good restrained performance in the leading role. Directed by Ken Annakin, one of my all time favourite directors, or at least partly directed by him. In his autobiography he reveals that well into the filming he was taken quite seriously ill and the remainder of the film was directed by Harold Huth and Clive Reed. Ken had given the cast 'carte blanche' to play the film as a tongue in cheek spoof and most were up to it but the rest of the film was directed with everyone playing straight. The critics panned the film for being 'uneven' - they knew nothing of Ken's illness. Ken also states that 'Irwin Allen's(the producer)girlfriend played the female lead - the less said about her the better' He doesn't elaborate Fortunately he recovered fully after his long illness and is still alive well into his 90s. I have just received a DVD of the film and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I disagree with the commentator who opined that "The Hellions" resembles "Firecreek" in action and themes more closely than it resembles "High Noon". Points of similarity: 1. The Outlaw father is seeking revenge against the local lawman for a past injury. 2. It's a thriving frontier community, not a backwater full of "losers" like the town of Firecreek. 3. The departure-by-train that doesn't happen: Just as the Marshal'wife gets off the train to go back and help him fight, another character in "Hellions" makes a similar decision. But the townspeople in "Hellions" go only so far in leaving everything up to the Constible. When the chips are down, it's a very different ending.I first saw this movie about 1962, and again on TV in the late 80's. (Beware of the edited-for-TV print.--Ugh! But I still remember scraps of the lilting theme song: Here they come and may they soon be gone/ Matthew, Jubal, Mark and Luke and John/ ...Live by the gun and sure as the sunrise/ Die by the gun you must,/ Just as the Hellions one by one/ Died in the Trans Vaal dust! (Chorus: They died in the Trans Vaal dust!)

I saw this movie once over 45 years ago and I've never been able to forget it. Nor do I want to forget it. Lionel Jeffries and Richard Todd were never better. Apparently it has never been released on video and I think that's a bitter shame. This South African Western is superb and deserves to be seen by everyone. The story has been compared to "High Noon", but I believe "The Hellions" packed more punch. One is used to Lionel Jeffries' portrayals of befuddled old men. But here, he is as evil as anyone I've ever seen. James Booth deserves, I believe, more credit for his role. This film is bulging with talent and should be accessible to today's audience. I definitely will keep searching.