The cast is brilliant. Ossie Davis and Sean Connery steal the film but the rest of the cast of Brits make this film unforgettable.
shareI just got through watching this for the first time; it is simply amazing. I had no idea that Ossie Davis was even in this but he and Connery both steal this picture.
I now have to re-arrange my top ten movie list.
Yes they are both great in this movie. I think Harry Andrews is spectacular and Ian Hendry too.
I agree. Just seen it on TCM and enjoyed it a lot. They should have had a special award for best vocal cords. I would have lost my voice after all that yelling.
Yes, Ossie Davis and Sean Connery were great.
Hey everyone acted their ar**s off, Connery, Andrews, Hendry, Davis, Bannen and especially Kinnear, but it's quite disengenuous to single any out any particular name wth which to garland extra credit to. Having expressed this I quite openly admit to the contradiction of asserting that this film belongs to one of the most criminally underated UK actors of his era. Alfred Lynch.
Supernatural perhaps, baloney perhaps not
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> Why don't we get performances like this today?
Because we don't get writing like this very often. A great film with a linear plot. One location serves the entire film. Notice how the NCOs gang up on literally everyone, probe for weaknesses, and keep them off balance. In the end they pulled the right chains and won.
Just watched it on TCM after not seeing it for a decade, not seen it on terrestrial UK for a long time.
Harry Andrews is phenomenal in his part as prison leader and I love the fact that there's no music and during the exteriors you can see all the other soldiers doing their routines and drills - it really adds to realistic feel of the film.
Don't forget Sean Connery had done this AFTER starting Bond so was a very different type of role to do after making his name.
There's some also quite fantastic directing going on, and some scenes are several minutes long and comprise of one single take - quite remarkable with today's quick editing techniques.
Overall it's the atmosphere, script, setting and great acting that make this a classic.
The actors in this movie are "MEN", not the pretty boys in movies these days. You just can't get this kinda casting outa Holly Weird, who would they use? I could maybe see the Coen brothers pulling it off though....
"We all have it coming kid."