"A fascinating look at the human psyche based on Z Cars scriptwriter John Hopkins' acclaimed stage play This Story of Yours, The Offence is an expertly crafted study of evil and human weakness that demands to be watched in its entirety. The nurse, in turn, falls in love with Charles' ne'er-do-well nephew Anthony, who plots ways to gain control of his uncle's fortune. On 20 October 2008, the film was again released on DVD in the UK by Optimum Releasing, again without extras or trailers. COLLABORATIONS WITH SIDNEY LUMET. As a result, his character's inability to deal with anything but his job (and consequently, even that) gives us marvelous clues as to why he does what he does. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976), and The Verdict (1982) and one for Best Adapted Screenplay for Prince of the City (1981). In April 2010, MGM put the film out on a U.S. DVD-R "on demand" for the first time. Bypassing these cretinous comments, it must be noted that The Hill is an above-the-norm entry in the "military prison" genre. Certificate: GP Sean Connery . The Offence (197) IMDb 7.0 1 h 52 min 1973 R Sidney Lumet directs Sean Connery as a British police detective whose 20 years of handling murder, rape and other violent cases culminate in a deadly loss of control during a routine interrogation. Lumet went to Sean Connery first, saying that if you get the biggest star, the rest will come along. The Offence Sidney Lumet Cast: Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Rosanna DeSoto, Janet Carroll, Victoria Jackson, Bill McCutcheon, Deborah Rush, Marilyn Cooper, Salem Ludwig, Rex Everhart, James Tolkan, Marilyn Sokol, Thomas A. Carlin, Tony DiBenedetto In a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards. Take a look back at these Hollywood icons in their early days to see how far they've come in their careers—and how little they've visibly aged. Connery has never been better, playing a character who is anything but invulnerable, instead being a bundle of nerves and frustrations which explode into violence at crucial moments. “The Hill” by Sidney Lumet (1965) Harry Andrews and Sean Connery in movie set near Cortijo Hoya Altica, dunas (backside) de Cabo de Gata. ", "Less well-known than his other British pictures (The Hill, The Deadly Affair, Murder on the Orient Express), this unrelentingly somber policier inaugurates a newfound force in Lumet’s work. The Carnival Public House, Battersea, London, England, UK. Connery’s role of an aging, bald, overweight police officer, given to violent fits of rage and cruelty, was not something most bankable Hollywood stars would opt for. A French Region 2 DVD, preserving the film's original ratio of 1:1.66, became available in 2009. Two British former soldiers decide to set themselves up as Kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great. It stars Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Bored with his highway traffic duties, Arizona motorcycle patrolman John Wintergreen is assigned to Homicide where his polite investigative style irks his macho boss. Detective-Sergeant Johnson has been a police officer for 20 years and is deeply affected by the murders, rapes, and other violent crimes he has investigated. The Hill is a 1965 British-American prison drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, set in an army prison in North Africa at the end of the Second World War.It stars Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Ossie Davis, Ian Hendry, Alfred Lynch, Roy Kinnear and Michael Redgrave.. A pathetic police chief, humiliated by everyone around him, suddenly wants a clean slate in life - and resorts to drastic means to do so. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Drama. From there, the film examines what drove the detective to do it, through individual scenes with his wife (Vivien Merchant) and the internal affairs officer investigating the beating (Trevor Howard). The flashbacks portray Baxter - whose guilt or innocence is left ambiguous - taunting Johnson, insinuating that he secretly wants to commit the sort of sex crimes he investigates. Although he is on familiar ground - cops under intolerable pressure - the dream-like cinematic textures achieved here are reminiscent (though not imitative) of Welles and Tarkovsky. When a suspect (Ian Bannen) is arrested, the detective takes it upon himself to interrogate the man -- and ends up beating him to death. Sidney Lumet has never quite made a film like this before or since. Johnson is suspended for the beating and returns home for the night, getting into a violent argument with his wife Maureen. Directed by Sidney Lumet. All the same, definitely a film worth seeing if you're tired of watching detective films where Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson blow away half of Los Angeles.Rating: ****. He is plagued by images of violence and is losing his mind under the strain. United Artists released The Offence early in 1973. A burnt-out British police detective finally snaps whilst interrogating a suspected child molester. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Bannen is every bit his match as a complex, manipulative character who is at the same time sympathetic (as Connery's victim) and repulsive (for the sadistic delight he takes in pushing Connery's buttons). Connery made five films directed by Sidney Lumet: The Hill (1965), The Anderson Tapes (1971), The Offence (1973), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and Family Business (1989). An Arab chief triggers an international incident when he kidnaps an American widow and her children. Directed by Christopher Morahan, it opened at London's Royal Court Theatre on 11 December 1968. In Sidney Lumet's harrowing portrayal of police brutality, Detective Sergeant Johnson's been on the police force for 12 years. Ex-con Duke Anderson (Connery), backed by an underground mobster, assembles a skilled criminal gang with the intention of burgling every apartment in the block where his girlfriend (Cannon) lives. Connery is a Duke Anderson, a con just recently released from prison and he's got some attitudes similar to that other Connery character from Family Business has Jesse McMullen. Trevor Howard and Vivien Merchant appear in major supporting roles. He then tearfully begs Baxter to help him. Overview In The Offence, Sean Connery plays Johnson, a normally unflappable British police inspector who is emotionally shaken by a case of child molestation. I’ve not yet seen The Offence, in which Connery plays a burnt-out police detective who beats a suspected pedophile to death while interrogating him. United Artists pulled out of the deal and the other project, a film version of Macbeth that Connery was to direct, was scotched by Roman Polanski's adaptation. I n a primer for the New York Times on the seven films featuring Sean Connery as the first and, in the eyes of most, best James Bond, Thomas Vinciguerra notes that Connery once referred to the role that made him an international star as “a cross, a privilege, a joke, a challenge. Thomas Sean Connery was born Aug. 25, 1930, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the first of two sons of a long-distance truck driver and a domestic worker. In Sidney Lumet's harrowing portrayal of police brutality, Detective Sergeant Johnson's been on the police force for 12 years. Lumet thought the best way to acquire an all-star cast was to sign the biggest star first. The film ends with another flashback, this time of Johnson attacking the police officers who pulled him off Baxter, and muttering "God...my God..." as he realises what he has done. In a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards. No’. The Hill (1965) was unfairly subjected to ridicule by the more obtuse "critics" of '65 who harped on the fact that it starred Sean Connery and, unlike Connery's Bond pictures, had no women in it. ... 'Hitchcock's Marnie, Sidney Lumet… the hill sidney lumet sean connery harry andrews movie set cortijo hoya altica dunas cabo de gata almeria cinema During their long confrontation, flashbacks show the events of the previous night, when Johnson beats Baxter. England, 1850s. Sean Connery, the Scottish-born actor who was film’s first — and for many viewers, the only — “Bond, James Bond,” and whose charismatic swagger enlivened dozens … He starred opposite Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock's last great masterwork, "Marnie" (1964), which he followed with the British-made crime thriller "Women of Straw" (1964) and Sidney Lumet's underrated war drama, "The Hill" (1965). Simultaneous releases from MGM were made in other PAL format countries, such as Germany and Australia. In a Scandinavian country, national security chief Colonel Tahlvik is tasked to rescue the passengers of a high-jacked British airliner while the British Ambassador is being held hostage at his residence by another terrorist team. Connery was keen to shake off the image of James Bond and expand his range as an actor. [4], Having made two films with Sidney Lumet, The Hill and The Anderson Tapes Connery appreciated his straightforward approach and offered him the job of directing. Sean Connery (Actor), Trevor Howard (Actor), Sidney Lumet (Director) Title: Directed by Sidney Lumet. Bergman was initially offered the role of Princess Dragomiroff, but … Instead, the film is more about internal demons -- how we all have them, and how we can either control or be controlled by them.Howard is solid in what is perhaps the least interesting role in the film, but Merchant is phenomenal as Connery's plain wife, who has withstood his emotional abuse and neglect for years, sometimes in silence, sometimes not, but always with dignity. Ian Bannen, who had also appeared in The Hill was hired as co-star. Robin Hood, aging none too gracefully, returns exhausted from the Crusades to woo and win Maid Marian one last time. [1] The fight sequences between Connery and Bannen were choreographed, uncredited, by Bob Simmons, who had designed similar action scenes for the Bond films. Merchant's lines following that are less important for their text, than for her reading of them -- wounded, but still confronting her husband like a prize fighter who's determined not be knocked out by a cheap shot in the fifteenth round.Perhaps the greatest tragedy of this film is that it is practically unknown in the United States, and that it did not air in enough American theaters to qualify for the Oscars. [5], The film was shot on a small budget of £385,000 in March and April 1972 in and around Bracknell, Berkshire - notably the Wildridings Mill Pond area and Easthampstead's Point Royal. Sean Connery (1930-2020) was much more than just James Bond. In 2004, MGM UK released a DVD of the film which contained no extras or trailers. The film remains Sir Harrison Birtwistle's only film score.[6]. [3], Connery had previously worked with Hopkins when the writer had co-scripted Thunderball and had seen the play during its original run in London in 1968. Sidney Lumet’s The Hill saw Sean Connery at the height of his Bond fame deliver his boldest, and best, performance By Mark Allison | November 2, 2020 | Share on Facebook (opens in … He was a consummate artist who played a wide range of characters and established himself as … Two of Johnson's colleagues come to inform him that Baxter died in hospital and that Johnson must come to the station right away. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. 72 of 77 people found this review helpful. Otherwise, it would quite likely have resulted in Oscar nominations for Connery (in an otherwise weak year for the Best Actor category, the only comparable performance nominated was Al Pacino's in "Serpico"), Bannen, and Merchant, not to mention Hopkins and possibly Lumet. Sean Connery, the Scottish actor best known for his portrayal of James Bond, has died aged 90. The cast was as follows:[7], The first major revival of the play was directed by Jack Gold at London's Hampstead Theatre, opening on 5 February 1987 with the following cast:[8], Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/14/the-offence-sidney-lumet-dvd-review-sean-connery, http://www.londonpubtheatres.com/this-story-of-yours/4594169452, http://screenanarchy.com/2015/05/learning-from-the-masters-of-cinema-sidney-lumets-the-offence.html, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Offence&oldid=994704826, Articles needing additional references from March 2016, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Policemen - Edward Clayton, Steven Barnes, Oliver Maguire, Colin Pinney, Police Constables - Paul Fryer, Frederick Lane, This page was last edited on 17 December 2020, at 03:16. But he does need a backer and that's where organized crime boss Alan King comes in. Seeing potential in the story, Connery bought the option on the film rights and asked Hopkins to adapt the script for the big screen. In that time, the number murders, rapes, and other felony crimes he's investigated has left a terrible mark on his psyche. His first project was the timeless 12 Angry Men, which was in collaboration with Henry Fonda and a huge critical success. The story, adapted by John Hopkins from his play, abounds in stylistic tics (recurring visual motifs, various events replayed several times, color coding), but the flashiness that pockmarked much of the director’s earlier work has been pruned to hushed, concentrated intensity. Sidney Lumet's direction -- his third venture with Connery (previously the two worked on two of Connery's best films: "The Hill" (1965) and "The Anderson Tapes" (1971)) -- utilizes the stagy conventions well to advance the story and to enhance the performances.As for the performances, these are uniformly excellent. The Closest Sean Connery Ever Came To Playing Sherlock Holmes, Sean Connery Appreciation: Screen Legend Left Audiences Shaken, Stirred, as Bond and Beyond, Sean Connery movies: 20 greatest films, ranked worst to best, include ‘Goldfinger,’ ‘The Untouchables,’ ‘Dr. The film is an acting tour de force: Connery and Bannen give the performances of their lives. Of course, Connery managed to make other films besides Bond, though not nearly with as much success. By the end of the interrogation, Johnson has severely beaten Baxter who is then taken to the hospital where he later dies. Family Business is a 1989 American neo noir crime film directed by Sidney Lumet with a screenplay by Vincent Patrick, based on his novel. Tyrannical, but ailing, tycoon Charles Richmond becomes very fond of his attractive Italian nurse, Maria. The final third of the film takes us step by step through the interrogation, as Bannen turns the psychological tables on Connery, making the detective see exactly the sort of animal that he has become as a result of twenty years of dealing unrelentingly with violence and death.John Hopkins' screenplay plays very much like a stage play (it was adapted from Hopkins' play "This Story of Yours"), but in this case it works to the film's advantage as Connery's life is compartmentalized (by virtue of the scene structure) in a way that makes his personal life seem completely walled-off from his job, and his job completely walled off from the interrogation. (1973). From his success on 12 Angry Men in 1957, Sidney Lumet has created many gritty, excellent, well crafted films for over 50 years. The Anderson Tapes (1971) “It’s just dog eat dog, but I want the first bite.” Connery … An all-star cast, a juicy whodunit, and A-list director (Sidney Lumet) lured Connery after he walked away from Bond (well, for the most part). Johnson at first flies into a rage and strikes Baxter, but he eventually admits that he does indeed harbour obsessive fantasies of murder and rape. The third of the Connery Bonds … His bottled-up anger and rage finally explodes whilst interviewing Baxter - a suspect in a series of brutal attacks on young girls, Throughout the interview, Johnson brutally beats Baxter, and reveals the state of his own mind's probably no better than some of the offenders who've comitted the crimes which disgusted Johnson originally. After Duke Anderson is released from prison after ten years for taking the rap for a scion of a Mafia family, he cashes in a debt of honor with the mob to bankroll a caper. David Claydon , This is a superb psychological thriller with a brilliant lead performance from Sean Connery.Connery plays a police detective nearing burn-out, the fuse for which is provided by a child molester on the loose. The cause is not yet known. The film explores Johnson's varied, often aggressive attempts at rationalizing what he did, revealing his true motives for killing the suspect in a series of flashbacks. When Baxter recoils from him in disgust, Johnson brutally beats him up, Baxter still taunting and laughing at Johnson as he falls to the ground, killing him. Indeed, one of the strengths of the story is that it is never revealed whether Bannen did in fact molest the children in question -- by doing so, the film makes us understand that this is not the issue. When Connery agreed to return as James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, David V. Picker, CEO of United Artists, pledged to back two of Connery's own film projects, provided they cost $2 million or less, in association with Connery's own production company, Tantallon Films. [...] it still packs quite a punch and features compelling performances from both Sean Connery and Ian Bannen. ... a military-prison drama directed by Sidney Lumet. For reasons he cannot explain, he is driven to kill the suspect while interrogating him and is suspended from the force. Adam asks his criminal grandpa for help. Security is incredibly tight and the task seems an impossible one. [1] It stars Sean Connery as police detective Johnson, who kills suspected child molester Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen) while interrogating him. Can they convince Adam's now honest dad to join? Add the first question. He did not win an individual Academy Award, but did receive an Academy Honorary Award, and 14 of his films were nominated for Oscars, including Network, which was nominat… Was this review helpful to you? However, he has a plan and just the right people to carry it out. Adam asks his criminal grandpa for help. Un film interessant de Sidney LUMET qui donnait un role different à Sean CONNERY qui essayais de se detacher du personage de James BOND qui lui collait trop à la peau. The Offence is a 1973 British crime neo noir drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, based upon the 1968 stage play This Story of Yours by John Hopkins. It is available as an exclusive from Amazon.com and contains no extras. Action, Certificate: M In the Pennsylvanian coal mines of 1876, a group of Irish immigrant workers begin to retaliate against the cruelty of their work environment. In 2014 the film was released on Blu-ray in the US, and in 2015 it was released in the UK in the same format. 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