The Hi-Jackers
{{Short description|1963 British film by Jim O'Connolly}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Hi-Jackers
| image = The_Hi-Jackers_(1963_film).jpg
| caption = British quad poster
| director = Jim O'Connolly
| producer = John I. Phillips
Ronald Liles
| writer = Jim O'Connolly
| narrator =
| starring = Anthony Booth
| music = Johnny Douglas
| cinematography = Walter J. Harvey
| editing = Henry Richardson
| studio = Butcher's Film Service
| distributor = Butcher's Film Distributors (UK)
| released = {{Film date|1963|12}}
| runtime = 69 min.
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
The Hi-Jackers is a 1963 British black and white second feature ('B'){{Cite book |last1=Chibnall |first1=Steve |title=The British 'B' Film |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=163}} crime thriller film written and directed by Jim O'Connolly, starring Anthony Booth and Jacqueline Ellis.{{Cite web |title=The Hi-Jackers |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150055465 |access-date=30 October 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}
Plot
Long-distance independent lorry driver Terry meets homeless and unemployed Shirley at a transport cafe and gives her a lift. His vehicle, carrying a valuable shipment of whisky, is then hijacked under cover of a fake road accident. Who tipped off the hijackers about the route Terry would take? Police Inspector Grayson investigates.
Cast
- Anthony Booth as Terry McKinley
- Jacqueline Ellis as Shirley
- Derek Francis as Jack Carter
- Patrick Cargill as Inspector Grayson
- Glynn Edwards as Bluey
- David Gregory as Pete
- Harold Goodwin as Scouse
- Tony Wager as Smithy
- Arthur English as Bert
- Michael Beint as Forbes
- Tommy Eytle as Sam Reynolds
- Romo Gorrara as Joe
- Ronald Hines as Jim Brady
- Douglas Livingstone as Tim
- Marianne Stone as Lil
Critical reception
Monthly Film Bulletin said: "One or two aspirations towards originality – Carter's proficiency as a cook, a gangster's almost prudish refusal to take advantage of Shirley's helplessness – cannot disguise the formulary nature of this crime melodrama. The plot is thin and unconvincing; the heroine is one of those tiresomely well-spoken young women whose bursts of spirit (she is not averse to moral blackmail) strike one as both incongruous and unsympathetic. The lorry-drivers are quite well characterised, and Derek Francis brings a touch of class to the gourmet-mastermind which seems, less aptly, to have spilled over into the film as a whole. For a struggling haulage contractor Terry has a remarkably luxurious apartment; there's something gratuitously 'snob', too, about Patrick Cargill's supercilious police inspector."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1964 |title=The Hi-Jackers |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305832118 |journal=Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=31 |issue=360 |pages=74 |via=ProQuest}}
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This low-budget crime thriller from the Butcher's studio is set in the rough-and-ready world of trucking. However, British lorry drivers don't have the cinematic glamour of their American counterparts, so identifying the familiar British faces – Anthony Booth (Tony Blair's father-in-law), Patrick Cargill, Glynn Edwards – is the main point of interest here."{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=Immediate Media Company |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=416}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0057140|title=The Hi-Jackers}}
- [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/hi-jackers-the/ The Hi-Jackers] at ReelStreets
{{Jim O'Connolly}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hi-Jackers, The}}
Category:British crime thriller films
Category:Films directed by Jim O'Connolly
Category:Butcher's Film Service films