Hell Drivers (film)

Hell Drivers
Directed by Cy Endfield
Produced by Benjamin Fisz
Earl St. John
Written by Cy Endfield
John Kruse
Starring Stanley Baker
Herbert Lom
Peggy Cummins
Music by Hubert Clifford
Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by John D. Guthridge
Production
company
Aqua Film Productions
Distributed by Rank Organisation
Release dates
  • 23 July 1957 (1957-07-23)
Running time
 108 min.
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Hell Drivers (1957) is a British film drama directed by Cy Endfield and starring Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom and Peggy Cummins. The film was produced by the Rank Organisation and Aqua Film Productions.

Plot

Joe Yately, (although everybody calls him Tom), has just been released from prison and is determined to start a new life.

Tom arrives at Hawletts, a contractors that transports loads of ballast gravel from a nearby quarry.

Tom explains that he is looking for a job. Harry the gate keeper does not think that Tom has much chance of getting a job, but lets him in and tells Tom to ask for Mr. Cartley who is the Manager.

Next Tom meets Lucy, (Mr. Cartley's Secretary) and again explains that he is looking for a job. Lucy, like Harry, does not think that Tom has much chance of getting a job.

Tom says that he met "Leggy" Legubin who used to be a truck driver for Hawletts until he had an accident whilst driving which resulted in Legubin having to have a silver plate put in his skull. Legubin also told Tom that Hawletts offered good money to its drivers.

The fact that Legubin no longer drives for Hawletts made Tom think that there might be a job available.

Tom is granted an interview with Mr. Cartley after Lucy puts in a good word for Tom telling Mr. Cartley that Tom knows Legubin and that Tom is a friend of hers.

Next Tom is interviewed by Mr. Cartley. Although Mr. Cartley is not impressed by Tom Mr. Cartley decides to let Tom have a trial run.

Mr. Cartley tells Tom that the drivers that he needs need to be fast an that the roads that the drivers must travel on are bad roads and that the drivers are expected to work in both wet or fine conditions. Also each load of ballast weighs ten tons.

Tom asks about the speed limit. Mr. Cartley says that it is up to the individual driver as to whether he observes the limit or not, but if the driver's are caught they pay their own fine.

Mr. Cartley then tells Tom that a bonus system is worked at Hawletts. The drivers receive seven shillings a load plus four shillings an hour. The drivers are expected to complete a minimum of twelve loads a day. If any driver completes fewer loads than that in a day then that driver is fired. The distance of each run is ten miles each way.

Tom questions the pace, but Mr. Cartley tells him that one driver completes eighteen runs a day.

Mr. Cartley also explains that the drivers are also responsible for maintaining their trucks at night and that any subsequent breakdowns are the fault of the individual driver. Additionally the vehicles should be kept clean as another bonus is offered for the best looking truck at the end of each week.

Following the meeting with Mr. Cartley, Tom goes out on the trial run with Ed the mechanic, which consists of a complete single run from Hawletts yard to the quarry and then back from the quarry to the yard with a ten ton load of ballast.

During the trial run Tom is told by Ed that Tom should always travel faster than thirty miles an hour, as going slower than that means that Tom will be out of a job. Ed also tells Tom how to maximize speed, especially on corners etc. Ed compliments Tom a couple of times for his driving during the trial run.

Despite running off the road into a field of cows and also been run off the road by two of Hawletts drivers', (Trucks Numbers One and Nineteen), that were coming in the opposite direction, as well as Ed judging Tom's overall performance as "so so", Mr. Cartley decides to take Tom on.

The truck-drivers are offered bonuses by the manager Cartley for delivering their loads at dangerously high speeds along narrow roads. Tom is accepted by all the other drivers except Red, the foreman and head driver and also a violent bully. Tom soon becomes friends with Gino, an Italian driver who is in love with Cartley's secretary Lucy. Red offers a bonus, (in the form of a £250 gold cigarette case), to any driver who can make more runs than him in a day and Tom is determined to try.

One evening, the drivers go to a dance at a nearby hall and start a fight. When the police are called, Tom flees the scene, fearful that his criminal record will return him to prison. Red calls Tom a coward and all of the other drivers except Gino turn on Tom, bullying him incessantly.

Lucy and Tom soon begin to be attracted to each other but Tom is hesitant out of loyalty to Gino. The other drivers continue to pick on him but, determined to escape his criminal past, he does not fight back. However, Tom finds out that Cartley and Red have been scamming money by hiring fewer drivers than the budget allows for and then pocketing the difference, forcing the drivers to risk their lives by hauling extra loads at high speeds. Tom confronts Red and the two engage in a fist-fight which Tom wins. Gino finds out that Red plans to kill Tom by sabotaging his truck; so he offers to exchange vehicles with Tom. Lucy breaks up with Gino who then finds out that she and Tom are secretly seeing each other. Despite his heartbreak, Gino continues to help Tom by driving the latter's truck which is sabotaged by Red. Gino is fatally injured in the subsequent crash. Distraught, Tom is tempted to leave and return to his life as a criminal but Lucy convinces him to stay.

Tom discovers that Red has been keeping his place as top driver through cheating by taking a risky short-cut through a quarry. Tom attempts to do the same but Red and Cartley in another truck try to force him off the road and over a cliff. Tom is injured and his truck dangles on the edge of the quarry. The over-eager Red loses control and goes over the side. He and Cartley are both killed whilst Tom manages to escape.

Cast

Hell Drivers is notable in being among the first films for several actors who later went on to more illustrious careers. It provided early appearances for Jill Ireland and David McCallum — who met and married each other during the film's production — and was only the third film to give a role to Sean Connery (though not the first, as is sometimes reported).

Production

The character of Yately comes from Blaenllechau in the Rhondda, near actor Stanley Baker's birthplace of Ferndale.

Footage of a Hawlett's lorry going over the edge of a quarry was reused in the "The Heiress" episode of the Rank Organisation television series Interpol Calling.

The vehicles used in the film were the Dodge 100 "Kew" parrot nosed truck with tipper body.

Home media

The film was released on DVD in 2007 with many extras on the film including documentaries.

External links

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