Moviecut—The Long Haul

source: The Long Haul

Remarkably similar to Cy Endfield's 'Hell Drivers', which came out slightly earlier; but that was probably a coincidence. This probably owes it's provenance more to Hollywood blue collar road movies of the forties like 'They Drive by Night' and 'Thieves Highway' - with a bit 'The Wages of Fear' thrown in - while the Brylcreemed, zoot-suited villain Joe Easy is presumably based on Johnny Friendly in 'On the Waterfront' and his sidekick played by Peter Reynolds on Rod Steiger's Charley.

There is a sort of inevitability about casting Victor Mature and Diana Dors. That is if you the reader have any passion for 1950's films as I do. They were larger than life then, and their physicality alone caught people's attention back then even if it does not now. Imagine the star of ' Demetrius and the Gladiators ' and the star of ' Passport to Shame ' meeting in a dream and insisting on their acting together and you have it. A dream for many came true to them as well as us, both with the male and female audience. Ken Hughes was a good director for them, and the screen is in stark and beautiful black and white showing off their mutual acting and physical abilities. Typecast as bad girl we all loved back then, but good at heart even when she kills in ' Yield to the Night ' (arguably her best performance) Dors shows yet again how well she could handle her sexual allure and her skills as a fine actor. Victor Mature in his rough, beat up good looks, and his equal power as a very strong actor make as I said a perfect match. And Hughes given a complex Film Noir plot does not let the audience down with trucks burning up the asphalt quite literally and corrupt men manipulating the weak and the good. No spoilers but Mature is a married man, but despite falling in love with Dors, duty to a mistaken marriage haunts him to the film's end. I enjoyed every minute of this very thrilling and sexy film (more so if the censor would have allowed) and it is well worth seeing once, and maybe more than once. Not a great film and a little bit derivative of others it somehow holds its own, and corruption in the long haul trucking business shows well the underside of British life in the mid-1950's.

THE LONG HAUL is a good and tough little British thriller that benefits from a tight script and decent casting. Victor Mature falls into the bracket of 'entertaining' rather than stodgy when it comes to imported American stars, and he's given fine support from femme fatale Diana Dors at her sultriest. The story itself, of conspiracy and smuggling, is similar to that of the later HELL DRIVERS, and inevitably not as good - although I find HELL DRIVERS one of the best of the decade - but still worthwhile. Patrick Allen makes for a tough opponent and the cinematography is lively and action-packed, building to a fraught climax that also reminds one of THE WAGES OF FEAR.

A most deftly dingy and stupendously noirish account of crooked road hauling with dreamboat Diana Dors getting her dress ripped off and horrifyingly pugnacious Patrick Allen having his competitors bashed up at the drop of a hijacked hat. Good old Victor Mature turns in a riotously hammy account of the harassed hero, but the acting honors are stolen by Liam Redmond as a jaunty rogue. Directed with style, pace and stacks of noir atmosphere by Ken Hughes from his own screenplay based on the novel by Mervyn Mills, plus superbly stylish photography by Basil Emmot for the main unit. Tom Morahan (director) and Hyton Craig (photographer) contribute some marvelous 2nd unit work, and best of all, film editor Raymound Poulton has seen to it that the film moves like the proverbial boomerang from Bonnyrigg for its entire 100 minutes.

The problem with "The Long Haul" was that it came out only a month after Cy Endfield's much better "Hell Drivers" to which it bore quite a resemblance, They were both British made thrillers about corruption in the trucking business though this had at least one eye on the American market with Victor Mature cast as the honest trucker who goes astray and Diana Dors as the femme fatale who leads him away from dull wife and family. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the film is that Dors actually manages to give a half-way decent performance, though really she's much too glamorous for the character she's playing. Mature's his usual thick lug with a granite jaw and a granite brain though Patrick Allen isn't bad as the main villain and there's a certain seedy authenticity about the locations. It's largely been forgotten, (whereas "Hell Drivers" has built up quite a reputation), but it will pass a rainy afternoon amicably enough.

Forget Diana Dors, I want that Leyland Octopus truck! It's the real hero. For some reason in the 50's there were a lot of British films revolving around trucks. Most creditably 1957's Hell Drivers, 1960's The Highjackers, another where a couple drive overland to South Africa - and get stuck in the middle of a shallow river. This film is literally a composite of all those with a little of Tread Softly, Stranger thrown in. It suffers rather than gains because it has too many subplots so that it lacks focus. But back to the truck, I guess, as did another reviewer who clearly knows his trucks, that for Leyland this was a great opportunity to showcase their vehicle on a very challenging but very scenic route over the top of a mountain. It is the high point for me at least. .

"The long haul" is another Ken Hughes movie who directed interesting B crime movies like "Joe Macbeth" and " Wicked as they come" (with the magnificent Arlene Dahl). American Victor Mature wishes to go back home in US, but stays a few months in Scotland to please his wife (so funny to see Mature in a duffle coat). Mature becomes involved in nasty business as a truckdriver getting deeper and deeper in problems, when he meets the angelic Diana Dors, struggling against Nigel Patrick who excells at being nasty. All that part makes me think of "Thieves' Highway". And the last part with the run in a Leyland truck is impressive , it reminds me of "Wages of fear" by Clouzot. Though Ken Hughes is less more talentuous than Dassin and Clouzot, and there are a few ridiculous dialogues.

There is a big problem with this film because it just doesn't hold together.He is married to a rather dull English woman who rather unbelievably doesn't want to relocate to the states and escape her very drab surroundings.Mature has to stay around otherwise there would be no distribution contract and thus no film.On to the scene comes glamorous Diana For a,she is slapper around and wade through a raging river but her beautiful blond hair remains as immaculate as ever.Given the chance to go off with glamorousDors or go back to his wife and sick child he chooses the later even though it means being arrested by the police.Not nearly as good as He'll Drivers.