Dreadfully Boring

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

***SPOILERS**** Mildly interesting if not confusing British crime caper movie involving a gang of hijacker who've been terrorizing truckers and stealing or hijacking their cargo's on the highways and back roads. Setting up fake accidents on the roads to the big cities the hijackers lead by the bald headed man Jack Carter, Derek Francis,try to take out their next victim independent trucker Terry McKinley, Anthony Booth, who's hauling a truckload of Johnny Walker Red whiskey bottles worth as much as $50,000.00 dollars or pound sterling. Carter and his boys didn't notice that Terry had a passenger that he picked up at a local truck stop Shirley, Jackie Ellis,who unlike Terry who was blindfolded with a sack tied over his head escaped and could identify them.Terry also later finds out that his good friend and business partner Jim Brady, Ronald Hines, is working for the Cater hijack gang and in fact set him up. This all leads to Shirley getting kidnapped and held hostage by Carter's boys until they pull one one job, a truck loaded with ladies cosmetics, and then check out of the country. We also get the impression that Shirley's behind bars husband Tim, Douglas Livingstone, is somehow also involved with the hijacking team and is blackmailed by Shirley to spill the beans on them to the police. That or else she's testify against him in court on a number of other crimes that he committed that can extend his jail sentence from three months to thirty years! ***SPOILERS****It's Terry and some two dozen police lead by Inspector Grayson, Patrick Cargill, who finally come to Shirley's rescues in the gangs hideout in the country with the head man Carter knowing that he's beat not offering any resistance at all. Unlike his cohorts who fought like hell and got the hell beat out of them by Inspetor Grayson's men as well as Terry Carter saw the writing on the wall and meekly gave himself up, smoking a cheap .5 cigar, with out a fight! The what seemed like out of of the blue scene in the prison with Shirley and her jailbird husband Tim was a bit difficult to follow since it seems to have nothing to do with the story about hijacking. And Tim's non stop babbling about things that seemed to make no sense confused more then clarified his association with the Carter gang if in fact he had anything to do with it at all!

THE HI-JACKERS is an efficient and entertaining British B-picture which ticks most of the right boxes when it comes to film-making. As a film about truck drivers it's not a patch on the excellent HELL DRIVERS but as a low budget B-movie it's a pleasing timewaster with some good action and an incident-packed plot line to recommend it. Director Jim O'Connolly later helmed the excellent horror flick TOWER OF EVIL.A youthful Anthony Booth stars as a trucker who finds himself the victim of a gang of hi-jackers who take his truck as well as his load. He swears vengeance on the crew, and the rest of the film is a back-and-forth game between the villains and everyone else pitted against them. The cast is populated by some pretty good character actors who give engaging performances, although the likable Booth gives the best turn. The inclusion of a love interest for the hero drags the pace down a little but for the most part this works well and proves a nice time capsule of the early '60s.

This is the sort of film that would turn up on the bottom half of a double bill at your local ABC cinema in the 1960s.It is all fairly routine.However it is rather spoiled by plot contrivances.Firstly there is the coincidence that Jacquleine Ellis's ex husband just happens to be a criminal who is banged up in prison.Then the fact that he can not only identify the gang member but can provide his address.Then like all true B movie heroines,instead of informing the police,she goes straight over to Carter's house,peeks in the window sees him,thinks she has made her getaway and is promptly caught by a gang member.Then Booths partner who has given inside information to the gang is caught and spills the beans,and hey presto the gang is caught on the job.Quite a pleasant way to spend an hour.

A young lorry driver called Terry McKinley (Anthony Booth) picks up a young runaway called Shirley (Jacqueline Ellis) en route to London with a consignment of whiskey worth £20,000. As they make their way down a quiet country b road, they are set upon by a gang of hijackers lead by Jack Carter (Derek Francis) who make off with the lorry and its valuable goods. Shirley who managed to escape is able to get a good look at Carter and is able to give a description to Inspector Grayson (Patrick Cargill). Terry invites Shirley to stay with him at his London flat and we learn that his business partner, Jim Brady (Ronald Hines), is working for Carter's gang. He tipped them off as to what valuable goods he was carrying and the route he was taking. Unfortunately, Brady learns that Shirley is able to identify his boss and later that night, Terry and Shirley receive a visit from a couple of Carter's thugs who deliver a sinister warning. By now, Terry strongly suspects his old friend Brady and drags him off to the police where he is forced to tell them of the gang's whereabouts. Meanwhile, Shirley visits her ex husband, Tim, who is doing time at Wormwood Scrubs. She threatens to tell the police about other crimes he was connected with, which could put him behind bars for longer unless she tells him where the gang are hiding out. She goes to Carter's house in Hampstead but she is overpowered by the gang. But fortunately, Brady has cracked and informs Terry and Inspector Grayson that the gang are pulling off another job, a lorry carrying £30,000 worth of cosmetics. As it happens the lorry is being driven by one of Terry's mates, a guy known as Scouse (Harold Goodwin). Terry and the police trace the gang to an abandoned farm but not until after they have hijacked the truck but in time to save the goods and rescue Shirley...A routine b-pic thriller from Butcher's, Britain's poverty row studio who churned out numerous pot boilers such as this. Anybody who has seen a great number of them will probably agree that many were pretty awful. This one is utterly routine in terms of its plot but it is kept watchable thanks to brisk paced direction by Jim O' Connolly here working from his own screenplay who even throws in a few effective directorial touches, which you would not expect from such a routine production. Derek Francis is good as the gang leader, Jack Carter, who as well as planning ingenious hijacking methods also has a passion for cookery. "I find it creative rather like art or sculpture" he tells one of his accomplices. "I took it up when I was in Parkhurst and I ended up cooking for the prison governor and I think he was sorry when I left". Anthony Booth enjoys himself in the lead as Terry and he goes through his role cheerfully. He clearly enjoys the opportunity to do the odd fight scene and jump through a window (without the glass I might add) and knock a couple of hoodlums for six. Jacqueline Ellis is very competent as Shirley but the love angle is very blandly worked out and you cannot really imagine her character falling for Terry. There is an amusing little scene where Scouse approaches a road block, which he assumes to be the hijackers so he drives straight through it so pleased with himself that he narrowly avoids a deadly collision with a tree. He is surprised when he learns that it was a genuine road block. But later he approaches another one and assumes this one to be genuine as well so he stops and - you've guessed it - this time it is the hijackers!